Clouded Mess

Hey guys,

I just started my new 40 gallon breeder yesterday and when i woke up this morning to check its salinity I found my water very cloudy and it smells a bit. I bought 50lbs of dry Fiji rock and cleaned it before I placed it in my tank. Scrubbed it and soaked it in the tub. The sand i did the same, cleaned it before hand. I think its from the rock leaching? possibly? if so what can I do besides draining my tank and wasting more salt! This is my third tank and ive never ran into this situation before.

I also have a filter running trying to clean it up a bit.
If you need any other specs please let me know!

 

It could be dieoff from your rock, especially if it smells bad. I would suggest putting a protein skimmer on the tank if you haven't already.

 

What kind of salt did you use. I noticed this problem when I used IO salt.. the smell almost stings. If that's the case then it will go away in about a week or so. Whatever this is, it didn't show up on my test kits and I am attributing it to the loss of the few items i did lose in the tank transfer.

 

Running Carbon in your filter may help if you can do it properly.

 

Thanks guys, im running carbon and i didn't run the remora because I wanted to cycle and, from what Ive known, Skimming during the cycle is bad. Salt wise, Ive been using the same salt for 3 years, never a problem. I think its die off from deep in the porous rock and what kills me is i scrubbed and soaked it before i added it!

So what should i do, just continue with the cycle? run the skimmer and cycle? or just drain and refill??? I hope not the last option lol!

 

I would leave it and it might not hurt to get rid of some of the waste by running a skimmer for just a few days. It is hard to scrub the inside of a rock. Also have you added any LR

 

I have not added any live rock since the initial start. The same 45lbs from the beginning. Im going to try the skimmer for a couple days, im sure its going to pull out some nasty stuff. Thanks for the advice guys. Chime in if you got some other advice too

 

I would give it 72hrs first.

 

You should be fine to skim. I know cycling a tank is a pain, but hurrying it when you are having LR die off is just going to lead to more trouble later. Best of luck =)