help with cloudy water

[smokin reefer]

Recently I have been having some days with slightly cloudy water. I have been skimming like crazy, and have even used carbon filters for several days. Which cleared it up temporarily, but comes back. All levels checked out ok. Calcium is at about 400ppm to 450ppm. Alk stays at about 3.0meq. to 3.5meq. I have a 75gal. tank, with a 30 gal. sump. About 120lbs. of LR, 4in. sand bed (HD sand). The tank is 9 months old. I have two true perc clown fish, and on desjardin tang, two pepperment shrimp, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, lots of snails, two tigertail cucs. Have a mag. 12 as the return pump. Everything in the tank looks like it is doing fine. The tank is on and off cloudy now for about 2 weeks. I currently drip kalk with the addition of 5% vinagar at 15ml per liter. I am kind of thinking this may have something to do with it, because after the drip stops, say at night, by the end of the next day the water has cleared up quite nice. I am currently cutting back on the amount of vinegar I am adding. Just started though. Anyone out there trying this method of kalk drip please let me know if you have ever had this happen to you. Breifcase I know you have had expience with this type of kalk mix. Thanx

 

[smokin reefer]

up we go

 

[waterloomarc]

I can't comment on the Kalk connection as I don't use it. I hope you get to the root of the problem here, and someone else can probably tell you if the kalk has anything to do with it, but you might try a micron mesh filter bag to get rid of the cloudiness in the interim. I know, it's only treating the symptom but you have to do start somewhere right.

 

[smokin reefer]

Thanks for the response waterloomarc, but looking for some advice from someone that has used the kalk vinegar mix for quite some time. Back to the top with this one.

 

[BRichards]

Do you let your kalk/vinegar solution settle out for a while before you start the drip? I let my kalk/water solution settle out overnight before I start the drip.HTH, Bruce

 

[smokin reefer]

Yes I usally let the kalk set for about 2 to 3 hrs. But I have read in other post that it is ok to drip immediatly. Thanks, any one else.

 

[mtellin]

I drip kalk/vinegar mix on my 75 as well and had cloudy water, for me it was because I had accidently gotten a little of the precip on the bottom into my dosing jug which clouded my tank up pretty bad, you couldnt hardly see it in the dosing jug but it was enough to cloud up the water, now I end up taking less out of my mixing jug to avoid getting the precip out and havent had a problem with cloudiness since.

HTH
Mike

 

[smokin reefer]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by smokin reefer:
<strong>Recently I have been having some days with slightly cloudy water. I have been skimming like crazy, and have even used carbon filters for several days. Which cleared it up temporarily, but comes back. All levels checked out ok. Calcium is at about 400ppm to 450ppm. Alk stays at about 3.0meq. to 3.5meq. I have a 75gal. tank, with a 30 gal. sump. About 120lbs. of LR, 4in. sand bed (HD sand). The tank is 9 months old. I have two true perc clown fish, and on desjardin tang, two pepperment shrimp, hermit crabs, emerald crabs, lots of snails, two tigertail cucs. Have a mag. 12 as the return pump. Everything in the tank looks like it is doing fine. The tank is on and off cloudy now for about 2 weeks. I currently drip kalk with the addition of 5% vinagar at 15ml per liter. I am kind of thinking this may have something to do with it, because after the drip stops, say at night, by the end of the next day the water has cleared up quite nice. I am currently cutting back on the amount of vinegar I am adding. Just started though. Anyone out there trying this method of kalk drip please let me know if you have ever had this happen to you. Breifcase I know you have had expience with this type of kalk mix. Thanx

</strong><hr></blockquote>
^

 

[31-2c]

Smokin,

I recently did a search in here on Kalkwasser. There is a great thread discussing the use of Kalkwasser and Vinegar. Most of the information was supplied by breefcase. If I recall, his recommendation was 5 ml per liter to start, then adjust up from there. This propable isn't much help. Find that thread, it may answer your questions.

 

[smokin reefer]

Thanks 31, I have read that post in great detail. Even posted in it. It is indeed a good thread. I believe the problem lies in the drip of kalk. Because after the drip has stopped for some time the water returns to cystal clear. I am just wondering if i have just noticed this, because I did not notice it in the past. And I have been using the same method of kalk drip the whole time. For the time being I am going to let the kalk mix settle at least over night, and drip at a slower rate, and a few other minor adjustments to the kalk drip. I will see if this makes any difference in the water clarity.

Anyone else feel free to post on this subject. Thanks.

 

[smokin reefer]

Ok, I have been dripping the kalk at a very very slow rate. No help there. Also cut back on amount of kalk added to water, vinegar mix. No help. Also have been letting the mix sit for a least 8 hours. No help there. What is causing this. Someone please help me here. As stated before, after the kalk drip stops for several hours the water clears up perfectly. I at this point have no clue. HEEEELLLPPP!!!!!

 

[Luna Sea]

Smokin Reefer,

Question for you? Are you dripping the kalkwasser mix during the day or at night. If during the day, don't you find your pH shooting through the roof. IME, I recommend you drip at night when your lights are off. Personally I never tried to add vinegar to my kalkwasser mix, instead I seldomly use two part solution when alk. gets low. Make sure you are not over precipitating your calcium level(you'll see flakes coming out of your drip). Only once did I cloud my tank due to dripping kalkwasser(this was a long time ago with my 30 gallon reef tank). What had happen was, during the summer time, I was away for 2 days and have not been topping off my tank with freshwater. I had just recently started using kalkwasser mix and did not know about it's potency and how, if applied incorrectly, can be very devastating. Anyway I tried to make up for the days I was away and dripped more kalkwasser than I bargained for(about twice the amount of top-off kalkwasser mix). The next day my reef tank was so clouded(chalk like) that I couldn't even see the other side of it. Fortunately, I only lost a xenia colony for my mistake. From this day on, I don't try to mess around with the kalkwasser mix that much. Maybe you're dripping too much top-off kalkwasser mix due to your evaporation rate or you're making too strong of a kalkwasser mix(for me it's 1 3/4 teaspoon per 1 gallon of freshwater maximum). Lastly, I strongly recommend that you always clean the kalkwasser resevoir for every use. Hope this helps and goodluck.

Lunasea

[ November 13, 2001: Message edited by: Luna Sea ]</p>

 

[Anonymous]

Many times a fluctuation in PH may cause cloudy water. If you PH is constantly swinging you may get cloudy water.

Another idea is that you have a sand sifting fish who is constantly stirring the sand. Clownfishes are notorious for stirring sand. That also goes for damsels. A powerhead could also be the culprit.

GL

Dan

 

[tazdevil]

now if I remember correctly, vinegar is acidic. Kalk can lower ph as well. The only thing I could recommend is Turbo buffer dkh, but I would wonder if some sort of lime deposit is reacting w/vinegar, would cause cloudy water. good luck!

 

[smokin reefer]

[Luna Sea, I drip the kalk mainly at night. The water clouds no matter when i drip. The PH is staying solid throu all the cloudy spells. As far as flakes go, I have never seen them in the tank. Also I have been dripping at a super slow rate. So I don't see precipate happening. I am now cleaning the resivior out. Thinking that mabe the calcium on the side of it and the hose is causing it.

ANEMONEBUFF, Like I said up there the PH is solid. And I know it isn't sand, cause it stays crystal clear as long as I don't drip.

Thanks guys, keep the ideas coming.

 

[Luna Sea]

Try dosing kalkwasser without vinegar(worked for me for 3 yrs). If cloudiness persists then my only advice is to totally reduce amount kalkwasser. Meaning to start with 1/4 or less teaspoon per one gallon of freshwater, is it still cloudy? If not, slowly increase dosage and so on. Try to find the right level(when cloudiness occurs at certain amount of kalkwasser then use a little bit less than that amount. This will be a long process). If proper level of kalkwasser is established then check it's effect on calcium. If it has decreased your desired calcium level then dose tank with a 2 part solution. Hope this helps and goodluck!

Lunasea

 

[smokin reefer]

Taz, mabe you are on to something here. this morning I started soaking my hose, which is 3/4in. and the drip spout of my kalk jug. Could the deposits of lime on the sides of the hose and spout be causing this? Time will tell, the thing will be spotless for the next dripping. I will let you all know the results. In the mean time any other ideas are welcome. Thanks

 

[smokin reefer]

UPDATE, Tried cleaning everything, did not work. Next I tried just the kalk, no vinegar. No cloudy water at all with the standard tea. per gal. Have dripped 3 gal. to this date. Seems there is a connection with the vinegar and the cloudy water. I will drip with no vinegar for about 2 months, and then mabe try to ease back into the vinegar mix. Hope this helps someone. Thanks for all your replys.

 

[esmithiii]

Taz- Kalk RAISES pH, not lowers it.

E

 

[Emperator]

Stop dripping kalk for a few days and see if you have anymore cloudy spells. If you don't, then you know the root of the issue is the kalk drip. If the water still becomes intermittently cloudy, then you will have to continue hunting for the cause.