Help, My Tank's Been Cloudy Forever

well, I am stumped

 

What brand salt mix are you using? I ask because when using Red Sea coral pro I once experienced cloudiness after adding ro/di water to an already mixed bucket of saltwater.The cloudiness lasted a few hours not weeks but if an ato is adding it often it might be possible.

 

I use Tropic Marin Pro Reef, and remember, the ATO does not add salt water.

The help is much appreciated all. I'm starting to feel like I have a really good riddle that has stumped everyone.

 

you running a skimmer?

How's it performing? As an anecdote, I was having some water cloudy issues myself and I realized my impeller on my skimmer was cracked so it was not performing optimally. I switched to a new needle wheel impeller (old one was mesh wheel) and my 150 cleared up in about 2 days, 1/2 gallon of sludge pulled right out of the water.

Start with the basics though. Mix up a gallon of your salt water, check it's cloudiness level, make sure it's not that. Get a glass of your tank water and let it sit for a few hours, check to see if there's any precipitate after removing the flow, might just be suspended particles from the sand bed if you have a good flow or anything that digs.

 

Nothing about my skimmer would suggest it isn't working except that it does not appear to pull out much sludge. It is a bubble king mini 180 and it appears outwardly to be working optimally. Clearly though it is not removing the bloom.

The salt mix is not cloudy and the cloudiness is not the result of a percipitate. I am fairly confident it is a bloom. It, for instance, increases during the light cycle. I believe because of the color it is bacterial, but I suppose I can't rule out some other bloom.

 

try exchanging your skimmer for a new one, if possible. I'm thinking it's the skimmer too

 

Any chance you can post a picture of your sump setup

 

Sure, here is my sump setup.



And for those that think its the skimmer, this is what the cup looks like this morning.



I'm not saying the skimmer is fine, but it sure looks like its working. The problem looks more like there isn't enough for it to skim.

 

Are you running a filter sock bag? And what kind of pellets were those again?
IMHEO- nix the pellets also, I think you said you had changed pellets recently?

HOw big is the system again?

And, the filter sock/bag? Any powerheads/ return pumps sucking microbubbles into the column?

Enquiring minds want to know ;-)

 

There are no pellets. They have been gone for a week. Sorry, there is a lot of information here and I didn't highlight that enough.

I ran a filter sock for a few days to no effect. There are definitely no micro bubbles.