Quick Advice Please?

The tank is a 40 Gallon Bowfront, 156W lights, 2 actnic, 2 10K white that run from about 11am to 6pm

Ok, so my tank crashed in the beginning of August, killing everything but 1 urchin and 2 hermits. Shortly before the crash I added a canister filter (fluval 405) which I ran for about two weeks and then shut off my HOB (emperor 400).

From the crash I have drained the tank, freshwater washed all the LR, multiple times, vacuumed the heck outta the LS and put it all back together. I'm back to running both filters, the HOB and the canister, params seem fine. I don't have corals yet so I'm just doing the normal tests, here are my numbers.

date pH NO3 NO2 Ammon Salinity
8/29 8.2 10ppm 0ppm 0 1.020
9/3 8.2 5ppm 0ppm .25ppm 1.022
9/15 8.2 0ppm 0ppm 0ppm 1.022

Question is this - my water still is very cloudy - kinda like a day or two after a new setup with new sand (ya know?) and I'm having a slime algae problem.

I'm really just looking for some advice to help clear up the water, combat the slime, and get me going in the right direction for a reef tank. I really want to start adding some soft corals (xenias, soft polyps, etc).

Any and all advice is welcome! Please just shoot me your ideas, I feel like I'm going around in circles!

 

do you have a test kit for PO4(phosphates)?

 

not yet. ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph and a hygrometer. next on the list (after this friday's paycheck are phosphate and calcium. Could the phosphates be causing the cloudy water? I have some Phos-buster additive but haven't used it since I couldn't test.

 

actually, i think we need to know if your using RO/DI or tapwater first.

 

you know, i dont really know if high phos levels can "cloud" water, but i know that alot of people who have trouble with algae have high phos levels, but not all times, every tank is different

 

mmm, well tap water - sort of. I'm in the country and its actually well water. Its in pretty decent shape, just a tad hard and with a tiny bit of iron. I don't have test to check these levels, but I use a tap water conditioner for water changes. (10 gallons or 25% about every two weeks). I also dose the new water for changes with Seachem's Marine Buffer.

 

How long had the tank been running before it crashed, and what were the inhabitants?
What are the inhabitants of the tank now?
You may have to change your filter media to help clear up the cloudiness. After removing, rinsing, and adding/moving all that stuff, it kicks up a lot of debris, and it may have over-run your media. Carbon will also help clear up the water a lot, and no tank should be without it, IMHO.
Other than those thoughts, the only thing that sticks out to me is that your salinity is a little low, and if you want to start a good reef tank, you should think about getting quite a bit more rock. General rule of thumb for a reef tank is about 1.5 to 2 pounds a gallon.

 

in my opinion, theres your algae problem, not sure about the cloudy water, but you should really invest in an RO unit quick, i dont know the affects of iron in a SW tank, but i dont think ts good news...

 

Yeah, I think its time to start saving for an RO/DI unit. I have been rinsing the debris off of the filter media when I do water changes. Anybody had any luck with the Chemi-Pure bags?

 

Cloudiness could also be a bacterial bloom....

Calcium test kit is worthless without a DKH and Mg test kit to go along with it.