Cloudy Water

[baker89]

Hey guys,

So I had some cloudy water for about 2 days. Here is my system.
110g tank
large Octopus 250 Skimmer
30g sump with refugium
2 MP40w
2 K4s
about 150lbs LR
enough CC to cover 1" on the front and sides
2 clowns
1 Gramma
1 Kole Tang
Tanks about 3 months old

Here is what I did the day before.
-10G water change out of the Sump only
-put a little shelf made of PVC and clear plastic to push the skimmer pumps closer to the surface (Out of sump Skimmer)
-I had the skimmer off for about an hour because I was having problems getting one of the pumps to cooperate
-removed about 2lbs of LR

Then I added carbon and 24 hours later the water is crystal clear.

So my question is what caused the cloudy water? I realized its all better but I would like to understand why it happened to learn from previous experience. It defiantly wasn't sand considering I didn't stir it up and CC is pretty heavy. So my assumption is I had a bacteria bloom but I'm not sure what triggered the bloom. The only thing I can think of is by removing the 2 LBS of LR I created a bit of a mini cycle, but I didn't think that would do much considering the small % I took out. Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,
Dennis

 

[eww]

Hey Dennis. I doubt it was any kind of a cycle since you only removed a very small amount of rock. It sounds like maybe you stirred up some detritus in the sump while moving things around down there. Maybe some others will chime in here with more knowledge and experience with this but thats my immediate thought.

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[Krish]

I agree with Eric. Probably just stirred up the tank and a bit of detritus a bit. Bacterial blooms from my past experiences have lasted a lot longer than just one day so I doubt it was that. Most important thing is all is well in the tank now.


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[baker89]

Hey Dennis. I doubt it was any kind of a cycle since you only removed a very small amount of rock. It sounds like maybe you stirred up some detritus in the sump while moving things around down there. Maybe some others will chime in here with more knowledge and experience with this but thats my immediate thought.

I agree with Eric. Probably just stirred up the tank and a bit of detritus a bit. Bacterial blooms from my past experiences have lasted a lot longer than just one day so I doubt it was that. Most important thing is all is well in the tank now.

Okay that makes sense. When I turned my return pump back on it pumped a little bit of what I can only assume is detritus into the display tank. (little white bits) I imagine there is some stuck in the pump or something. I ordered some filter socks that will hopefully catch all that and then I can take them out. I didn't think that did it only because it seemed to settle and was noticeable cloudy the next day. Thanks for the help guys hard to learn from mistakes when you don't understand them.

Dennis