cloudy water

Sounds like a bacterial bloom.  I would give a day or two before getting to worried.

its been about 2 months all i have is 3 small clowns  5 small snails and 4 turbo snails 3 hermit crabs i have 2 aquaclear 70's i tryed a pic but it says its too lage to post

Edited by daranged - May 19 2011 at 2:46am

it smells a little fish like, alot of rock like 60 lbs or 70 lbs i think, some from my LFS and some from 2 people from thier tanks, and the turbo snail has been in for about a week i put all 4 of them in at the same time and every night around 12 midnight when i get home from work they are up and seem to be doing fine, and yes i put new carbon in every 2 weeks or so, i have a powerhead running the skimmer  and one in each corner in the back, like i said everthing was fine till i added the 2 caps of kordon amquel plus, it all started about 1 hour after and it has just gotten worse since ...

Edited by daranged - May 17 2011 at 12:28am

A healthy reef aquarium should smell like the ocean. To me, a "fish like" smell may mean something is dieing and there isn't enough biofiltration to handle it. In a new tank, dead stuff should be removed ASAP. This is sometimes typical for a new tank but it doesn't have to be that way. Using more of the four live components from an existing tank is the answer. You added LR from another hobbyists tank. Was it moved submerged or if it was removed from the water, was it twisted, turned and shook to remove air bubbles after submerging in your tank
How much of the other live components were added 

I looked up AmQuel Plus on the manufacturers website. It is supposed to be completely safe for reef tanks. According to the manufacturer, it can be used to detoxify a wide range of things in freshwater and saltwater. Sorry, but it really sounds like "snake oil" to me.

"...purpose of AmQuel+ is to detoxify nitrogen compounds that accumulate in the aquarium and pond water over time, including noxious pheromones released by fish and aquatic invertebrates to signal and repel each other...
"AmQuel+ (also referred to as AmQuel Plus) is a recent chemical invention with patents pending that has the extraordinary ability to make the "nitrogen cycle" (involving ammonium/ammonia/nitrites/nitrates) totally nontoxic in aquarium and pond keeping, without interfering with the cycle's  process in any way, and without interfering with the beneficial bacteria that are involved with the cycle.  Further, AmQuel+ detoxifies/removes all chlorine and chloramines added to the water by public water utilities and all of the toxic nitrogen compounds that can appear in aquarium and pond water over time, thereby making water changes less necessary, and providing a safer environment for fishes and aquatic life."

This kind of advertising bothers me. It makes many claims without telling us what it really is and how it works. It even has a shelf life of many years That alone tells me that it's some kind of inert substance and not even concentrated enough to go bad. Why can't they reveal it's ingredients?

Justin, after this cloudiness started you tested NO4, NO3, NO2 and pH. They all appeared acceptable. No problem there, but, was there a problem with these parameters before adding the AmQuel+
Was there a problem with toxins from fish and coral


Edited by Mark Peterson - May 17 2011 at 8:55am

yes the rock was submerged in a bucket of his water and it was only in the bucket for about 15-20 min, and yes i shook it to remove air bubbles, my sand was wet from 2 differnt running tanks, and i only add water from LFS in 5 gal jugs, and also no i dont think the  parameters where bad befor adding it i use it in my fresh water to help balance things so when i added the new filter i thought it would help to add a little to the tank, as far as testing the Alk and Ca, no i dont have a test kit for that but the LFS tested my water and said it was fine    and my LFS said dont do anything drastic this is a bacterial bloom and it will go away in a week or too after the filters catch up but IDK???

Edited by daranged - May 17 2011 at 9:36am

no they did not but like i said i use it in my fresh tank and i seen that it should do the same thing in a salt or reef tank so i took it upon myself to add it i thought it would help when adding a nother filter haha guess i was wrong...also i dont have anyway to test Alkalinity and Calcium and i would like to know what they are at the LFS said it was ok but gave me no numbers and i have no idea what they think is ok oh and thank you for the help    one more thing if some one close to provo has the test kit for Alk and Ca i would like to see just what mine is at   i would appreciate it

Edited by daranged - May 17 2011 at 3:59pm

 i hate to have you come that far but if no one els can do it that would be way cool, i work from 3pm till 11pm mon - thurs fri 12 - 4 pm and off sat and sun so what ever time works for you with in that time fram is cool with me, just pm me for the address and or phone # and thank you very much,  as of now i just got home from work and it looks like it is getting better about 20% better looking water, but the only thing i see moving is my fish the crabs and snails are not moving at least that i have seen, how do i tell if the snails are dead ? just if they dont open and eat for a day or 2 ???

ok sound great   also the turbo snails havent came out of the shell for about 24 hours now at all and no reaction when i pick them up they just stay closed up

WhiteReef wrote: Since this is a bacterial bloom there has been a few other threads related to this.  Basically the suggestion is use a UV filter as it will kill off the bacteria and the skimmer will be able to remove it more efficiently.  Water changes probably won't fix it, but rather provide more nutrients for it to grow.  I have been fortunate in the many years I have had a salt water tank to avoid this, so maybe others will chime in on what they have done to reduce it.

hydro phoenix wrote: though I live in SLC I'd be happy to run down and help with the ALK and Cal testing.

thank you sooooo much you have been a great help i hope i can rember everything lol oh and thanks again for the corals they look wonderful.......