low water chemistry and floating particulates

[capdippe]

2 months ago I set up my 180, and I was amazed at how clear the water was. I used about 60% new water, and the other 40% was from the old tank. Then a few weeks ago I began noticing large amounts of particulate matter in the water column. So I did a 30% water change to clear the tank of matter, and had no luck. I checked the water and got:

Mag 1250
Cal 320
Alk 8.5
Potassium 175
Am 0
Nitr 0
Po .3
Sal 1.025
Temp 77.0-78.6

I then corrected the water levels to read:

Mag 1400
Cal 420
Alk 9.5
Potassium 230
Am 0
Nitr 0
Po .3
Sal 1.025
Temp 77.0-78.6

The problem went away, and the water once again is almost 100% free of particulates. I am wondering if there is a correlation between water chem and susspeded matter in the water column. It seems a little odd to me, but I noticed this with my old 100G tank. When I'd add large amounts of mag to the water, the floating particles would vanish. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Slate]

Kind of hard to say. Can you describe the particulates at all? Did it appear like a white cloud in the upper half of your tank? The fact that it is a new set up makes me wonder if it was actually a bacteria cloud. Did you add anything to add to bioload around this time?

 

[the6goat6man6]

If your Alk and cal were high before hand, it will make it snow and reduce your levels in the water column. Thats all I can think of.

 

[capdippe]

Slate, the paticulates were large enough to see, much like floating sand. I looked at the sand bed and didn't see much getting kicked up by the powerheads a little (a here and there). I do have three clams, and every once and while they'll throug up a sand cloud. It wasn't until I elevated the mineral levels that the particulates began to decline. As far as livestock, I've added 4 new sps's, a copperdanded butterfly, and a blue powder tang. I used 100lbs of my old rock, 60 lbs of new man made rock, and 60 lbs of new sand. I bought some bio magnet stuff to clear it up, but havent needed to put it in since I'm now seeing a decline in floating matter. The6goat6man6, I haven't seen any precip falling out of solution, or any on power heads/pumps, but It's not a bad idea. I kind of want to reduce the mineral levels and see if the problem comes back, but don't quite want to make my system a test bed LOL.

 

[Slate]

Well if the particulates were that large it def wasn't your typical bacteria cloud. I think we need to get one of these lazy mods to move this Boomer's forum.
:banplease:

 

[capdippe]

hahaha nice. It's not a real problem, just trying to make sense of it. It'd be nice to judge the mineral content by how many particulates I see hahah.

 

[returnofsid]

Alright. I'll put my laziness aside, this one time, and move it lol.

 

[Boomer]

Cap, sorry for my laziness also. How is this tank filtered ? It looks to me like poor mechanical filtration. By any chance do you use SeaChems Labs Marine Buffer ??

 

[capdippe]

No, just a 7" filter sock, skimmer (RO3000), two phosoban reactors (1 carbon, the other bio pellets), and two ehime 1262's. The sump is rather clean. I am second guessing my thoughts now. The last week I've added a MP40W ES, and I've noticed a lot of particulates in the water. I'll be adding the second MP40 later this week (maybe blowing junk off the rocks). The sand is calm, very few bubbles, water tests are in check like posted above. I had the same problem in my last tank, It's got to be something I'm doing. I know every tank has particulates in them, but mine seem to be fairly more than other tanks. I have 3 clams and a tiger pistol shrimp, they do kick some sand, but not all the time. I don't know my last mag dose was about 3 weeks ago, I've noticed that after a mag dose the particulates subside. Hwo know, just some food for thought.

 

[Boomer]

It may be that your current is just to low, as you seem to be suggesting, where the particulates settle out, where then it does not take much to put them back in the water column from just a fish fluffing its tail. It may be that when you add things, like Mg++, you are getting some Magnesium hydroxide precip that may be working as a flocculent causing the particles to settle out at first.

 

[dailydriven911]

I'm also having this problem...tank is now 2 months old and I noticed yesterday I had a major pod explosion and particles floating just as you're describing. I did a 30% w/c also with no luck. I started adding phyto for the last week or so and noticed a huge explosion of pods all over the glass and within the tank. How long did it take for the water to clear back up?