Lingering bacteria bloom makes me wanna start over! (Unresolved)

This isn't a phosphate issue. This is a bacteria bloom causing my water to be cloudy. I'm trying to figure out why it happened, and phosphates are not the reason. Phoshpates may be the reason I get some algae on the glass, but not why my water is cloudy.

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The cloudy water was there weeks before I added the ats. I do not believe it has anything to do with the ats at all.

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maybe it was just a small problem before the ats and the ats made it worse?

 

The tap water is probably the biggest contributor.

 

I almost didn't want to post that, because it seems like anytime someone has a problem and they admit to using tap water, everyone automatically blames the problem on the tap water. I've been using it for almost a year now without problems, and I use it on my 29 gallon and its crystal clear with zero nitrates.

I'm wondering if it was a slow buildup of waste due to basically no cuc and not enough flow, coupled with the decaying of the feather duster tube?

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tap water is not the end of the world, the first tank i had was tap because i didnt know any better but i will say this, when constantly adding tap water to a system even if it is fairly good tap even the minute amount of nutrients that are contained in the water pile up, every time you top off water has evaporated but not the stuff inside of it and it will all add up over time but in all honesty its probably a combination of all 3 introducing organics, the tap adds some...small CuC doesnt remove detritus....decaying tubeworm adds organics etc, it all adds up with tap being the biggest factor, think about how small that tubeworm is and think how little you feed and then think about how often you top off etc and think how much volume has seen your tank so far

 

Again, bacteria is a result of inorganic nutrients and organic carbon. Phosphate is also an inorganic nutrient. It generally goes hand in hand with nitrate though. If you have inorganic nutrients, and a carbon source, you can get bacteria.

Something like the decaying feather duster will add carbon, but not likely enough to cause a bloom. Especially a bloom that persists, the carbon from the feather duster would be used up relatively quickly.

 

I thought the bacteria fed off of dissolved organics in the water column? So you are saying that the bacteria directly consumes nitrates? I wonder why this bloom will not go away? This is driving me nuts.

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By definition, heterotrophic bacteria can't fix carbon so, they need a source of organic carbon. Not necessarily organic nitrogen or phosphate. Think denitrifying bacteria, carbon dosing and all that good stuff

 

First of all, sorry that you're going through this. When I had the 29 I had gone through a very similar experience once. I could never figure out the cause. All I did was to aerate good so the critters didnt suffocate. I think I lost a cleaner shrimp because of the bloom. It smelled so bad, left all the windows open, and we practically had to live upstairs (the tank was at downstairs) for a week or so (if I remember correct). Never did the water change.
I know you had high NO3 forever, trying to point out the source/cause way before the bloom. I also know you havnt been adding tap water to the system, not because you slacked out on the water change, but because you were waiting/working on the ATS, wanting to see the effect of ATS.
So Id say, the algae on the scrubber is trying to survive against the bacteria that is winning at the moment, so hang tight, let it take its course.
But! remember, I could be TOTALLY wrong and missing the point. (not much of help, aint I?)