kmacc05 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 So on Sat. we had some friends over for a night of beer pong and I wanted my tank to remain lit up since none of the people showed up before 11 pm. So I changed the setting on the SOL from only 4% RB moon lights, to a combo of 20-45% on all three colors. Got a lot of great compliments on the tank which was awesome. I left the lights on until 4 am or so. Got up yesterday and the water is cloudy. None of the corals look like it had a bad affect so I'm hoping everything is ok. I did a 10 gallon WC hoping that would help. Last night before going to bed, it was still just as cloudy like the WC had done nothing. This morning, it looked better but was still a little on the cloudy side. Should I just wait it out and never increase the lighting schedule again?? I feel dumb for doing it. But I wanted to show off the tank. Also, is the reason the water is cloudy due to the increased lighting period? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I think the extended photo period and cloudy water are coincidental. I can't think of anything, light related, that would cause cloudy water. How old is the tank? Was anyone allowed near the fish food during the party? Vodka dosing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 No one was allowed near any food. It is all stored in the freezer or in the cabinet of the stand. The tank has been running very well just around two months. I remember dealing with cloudy water when the tank was cycling due to bacterial bloom but this is different. It is white/milky similar to the bacterial bloom, but not near as bad. Camera is dead so I can't take a picture. Now that I am thinking of it, I did feed that evening before everyone came over and included some coral frenzy in with it for the newly added birdsnest. Could that have been a little too much food at once and caused the cloudy water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjames Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 should have nothing to do with the lighting, i have left my halides on for almost 24 hours serveral deffrent times, when i first got started, but with no prob other then coral being pissed off, now if the clowdiness has a green tint to it then you may have an alge bloom, or considering your tank is fairly new, which means your sand is prob fairly new then even so much as a fish stirring it up could make this happen, and the only other time i have gotten cloudiness is when i was in a hurry and wasnt paying attention i dosed an alkalinity and calcium within a couple min of each other and this caused my water to fog up pretty bad for a couple of days, other than that your tank is still balancing out as a whole and if it is not causeing negative affects on your coral/fish then there should be no worries, My first tank actually clouded up several time when i had first set if up with no ryhm or reason, but always cleared up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 hmmm ok. The coral and fish seem to be fine so I won't worry about it. It isn't green in color, it is a milky white. It's also cleared up a little since last night. So hopefully it's on it's way out. I hope no one dropped/spilled anything in it during the party. I was able to keep an eye on it most of the time, but there were still parts of the night when I couldn't supervise the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 If you have a test kit, run a quick ammonia and nitrite test. I think you would have noticeable stress but the cloudiness could be an indication of ammonia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 I hope not. I'll check. But I haven't noticed any stress what so ever from anything in the tank. And I know ammonia will mess with them bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 possible that some of your macro went sexual with the lighting swap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 I have no idea...? I have chaeto in the fuge but it's light was off during the whole time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I have no idea...? I have chaeto in the fuge but it's light was off during the whole time. That wouldn't do it. It would have to be caulerpa, or possibly a few others. Also, when it happens the macro usually turns white / clear and dissolves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 wasnt sure if you had macro in the display or not Chaeto won't cause it. But Caluerpa will, and the plant will be white/clear after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 oh ok. Yeah only chaeto in the fuge. No other macro in the tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaysStanford Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I read that there is a chance that corals will start spawning when they are exposed to a longer photo-period. The article also explained the effects of coral spawning and it sounds pretty close to what you are experiencing. I may be completely wrong but its just something to keep in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaysStanford Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 The book that I was reading that information in is called "The Reef Aquarium Vol. 3" and its a pretty reputable book. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 Sounds interesting. I'm going to look online to see if I can find any info on this. Would this be considered a good thing? I guess it would lead to more growth and spread right? If that is what's happening... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I still don't consider myself an expert, but I think these correlate: lights on increases photosynthesis photosynthesis reduces CO2 a reduction in CO2 increases pH an increase of pH means an increase in alkalinity (bicarbonates) an increase in alkalinity can lead to abiotic precipitation of calcium abiotic precipitation of calcium is a snow storm Is that wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaysStanford Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Sounds interesting. I'm going to look online to see if I can find any info on this. Would this be considered a good thing? I guess it would lead to more growth and spread right? If that is what's happening... The book said coral spawning should be avoided since it dramatically changes the water quality in a very short period of time. I still don't consider myself an expert, but I think these correlate: lights on increases photosynthesis photosynthesis reduces CO2 a reduction in CO2 increases pH an increase of pH means an increase in alkalinity (bicarbonates) an increase in alkalinity can lead to abiotic precipitation of calcium abiotic precipitation of calcium is a snow storm Is that wrong? Im fairly positive you have the right idea, but I dont think leaving the display lights on while leaving the refugium lights off would cause an increase of ph. If anything I think it would lower the ph because all the algae in the refugium isnt carrying out photosynthesis and there probably isnt a large amount of algae in the display (the main source of algae being on corals) to produce a significant change in ph. But thats just my take on it, you very well could be right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Here's a graph of my pH versus DT lights on, kind of. My DT lights are on their own controllers, not the Apex (just on Apex to completely shut off if temperature too high), so I don't graph them. But my refugium light is controlled by the Apex and shown below. When the red graph is high, then the refugium light is on and the DT lights are off (a little overlap but negligible). I've been opening windows, using ATO with limewater, etc. to steady pH, but the photosynthesis in the DT just outweighs everything else. Granted I have 125g/190# LR DT and about 20g/10# LR of refugium so it may be different for others. Spikiness in pH yesterday was due to me doing a water change and thus messing with the sump level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaysStanford Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 You definitely have a good point. I think we need to know more about the system in order to get closer to a conclusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 kmacc05 (OP), have you taken a measurement of magnesium? If your alkalinity and calcium are high but magnesium is low, that leads to abiotic precipitation (snow storm) which could lead to a big drop in alkalinity and calcium and damage the health of your stuff. If you're near RCA, they'll test your water for alkalinity and calcium for free, but they don't test magnesium. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 My pH increases from the point the main lights come on until they turn off, an average of 0.25 per day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I was having a hard time connecting my own dots (at least the 3rd dot to the 4th one), so I posted the question on RC's chemistry forum. Tom, one of the gurus there, answered with this. (I fixed a few typos, the original is here.) Ph will not increase or decrease alkalinity. Ph is effected by CO2 and ultimately the addition or deletion of H protons resulting from CO2 levels. More H shifts carbonate bicarbonate concentrations toward bicarbonate and vice versa but without changing the overall number of alkalinity units. Increases in ph do however reduce the saturation level for calcium and carbonate ' date='ie at higher ph less will stay in solution and they will join resulting in calcium carbonate precipitation.. Ph rising into the 8.5 plus range or even less if the alkalinity and calcium are particularly high may cause precipitation of calcium carbonate (carbonate is a major component of alkalinity) as the saturation rate is exceeded. The precipitant looks like a snow storm. Having said that a bacterial bloom or algae bloom is more likely from an extended photo period , imo.[/quote'] So leaving the lights on can cause abiotic precipitation. But it could be a bloom, too (if a few extra hours can do it). I guess the only way to really know would be to test your parameters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 kmacc05 (OP), have you taken a measurement of magnesium? If your alkalinity and calcium are high but magnesium is low, that leads to abiotic precipitation (snow storm) which could lead to a big drop in alkalinity and calcium and damage the health of your stuff. If you're near RCA, they'll test your water for alkalinity and calcium for free, but they don't test magnesium. i tested alk and calcium the other day and it was good. Dont have mag test kit. After coming home from work it looks much better. Still a little cloudy but nowhere near sunday. So im guessing its ok. Steve at AT seemed to think it was caused by one of the corals not liking the extended photo period. But he said if everything looked fine and not stressed, dont worry about it. Just to keep an eye on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Monnat Jr Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 That's good news. Were the dkH and Ca tests after the cloudiness? If before, I'd redo them and see if they are significantly different (you can just do dkH, it moves more than Ca). If they are a lot lower, it may have been abiotic precipitation. If they are the same, I bet it was biological. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmacc05 Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 (edited) Just did all tests i have. Facepalm, spilled half of the titration from calcium test!! Nitrite 0 Po4 0 Dkh 7.5-8 same as before cloud Calcium ~400 calcium before cloud was 450 Also have noticed even more progress on it clearing up since dinner. Hopefully tomorrow it will be back to normal. Edited December 4, 2012 by kmacc05 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.