Re:cloudy water

Dear hobby:

I can think of two possible reasons why the saltwater you mixed up may have turned the aquarium cloudy. The first of these reasons is a precipitation problem. When mixing saltwater for your marine aquarium, it’s important to fill your container with all the water you will need BEFORE adding the salt mix. In other words, if you are mixing up 5 gallons of new saltwater, fill the mixing containing with 5 gallons of water and then add the salt. If you do it the other way around — dump the salt mix in the container and then start filling it with water, the water can become saturated with salt to the point that the calcium precipitates out. This calcium precipitation will turn the water milky and can also lower the pH to dangerous levels if the precipitation keeps occurring during subsequent water changes.

The second reason adding the salt water could have turned the aquarium cloudy is that it may have stirred up some fine sediment from a calcareous substrate. If that’s the case, the mechanical filtration in the aquarium will soon remove the suspended particles and the aquarium will begin to clear as the sediment that was stirred up gets filtered out of the water again.

So wait and see if the aquarium water clears up overnight. If not, if it’s still cloudy the next morning, let us know and we can help you figure out how to make your aquarium crystal clear again.

Here are some more suggestions for mixing your own saltwater and making regular partial water changes in your seahorse setup:

Water Changing Tips

If you find that performing a major water change seems to cause your seahorses distress, try adjusting your water changing schedule so that you are performing smaller water changes more frequently rather than larger water changes less often. For instance, if you have been performing 25%-50% water changes monthly, switch to administering a 10% water changes every week or try making 5% water changes biweekly instead. You’ll find the smaller water changes are much less stressful on the aquarium inhabitants.

Be sure to observe all of the usual water changing precautions as well. For example, it’s an excellent idea to use Reverse Osmosis (RO) or Deionized (DI) or RO/DI water for your changes because it’s much more pure than tap water. However, water purified by such methods is very soft and must be buffered before it’s used so it won’t drop the pH in your aquarium when it’s added.

When mixing saltwater for your marine aquarium, it’s important to fill your container with all the water you will need BEFORE adding the salt mix. In other words, if you are mixing up 5 gallons of new saltwater, fill the mixing containing with 5 gallons of water and then add the salt. If you do it the other way around — dump the salt mix in the container and then start filling it with water, the water can become saturated with salt to the point that the calcium precipitates out. This calcium precipitation will turn the water milky and can also lower the pH to dangerous levels.

Water changes can also sometimes be a problem because of the supersaturation of gases in tap water. Tap water distribution systems are maintained under pressure at all times, both to insure adequate flow and to prevent polluted water from outside the pipes from entering in at leaks. Any additional gas introduced into these pipes (from a leaky manifold, for example) will be dissolved at these higher partial pressures, and will often be supersaturated when it emerges from the tap. Also, gases are more soluble in cold water than warm, so when gas-saturated cold water emerges from the tap and warms up in an aquarium, or is warmed up and preadjusted to aquarium temps prior to making a water change, the water can become supersaturated. This must be avoided at all costs because gas supersaturation is one of the contributing factors that can cause Gas Bubble Syndrome in seahorses and other fish. To prevent this, tap water should be allowed to sit for several days beforehand or gentle aeration can be used to remove gas supersaturation before a water change (just make sure your airstones are not be submerged greater than 18 inches while you’re aerating your freshly mixed water).

There are a few accessories you should keep on hand to make water changing easier: one or more large capacity plastic garbage cans or Rubbermaid vats for mixing up new saltwater; a small powerhead for stirring and circulating the water while it mixes; a submersible heater to adjust the temperature of the newly mixed water; a large diameter siphon hose; a couple of new plastic buckets that hold 3-5 gallons.

First use a clean plastic bucket to fill up the garbage can with 10, 20 or 30 gallons of water or however much you want to mix up at one time. Add the proper amount of artificial salt mix for that much water, and toss your small, cheap powerhead into the garbage can to stir it up. While it’s mixing, put the submersible heater in to adjust the water temp, and add dechlorinator or detox if using tap water (if using reverse osmosis deionized water, or another softened source, be sure to add a pH buffer to the new water). Let the new batch of water mix, aerate, and stabilize for 24-48 hours before you perform the water change and check to make sure the temperature and pH of the new water matches your aquarium. Some artificial salt mixes produce residual amounts of ammonia when newly mixed; aerating the freshly mixed saltwater for 24-48 hours will dissipate and remaining traces of chlorine or ammonia.

If you follow the steps outlined above when mixing up new saltwater prior to performing a water change, the water cannot become saturated with salts, the calcium will not precipitate out, the newly mixed saltwater will be crystal clear and the water exchange should go smoothly.

Regarding your previous post which was edited, hobby, you should leave the mechanical and biological filtration media in place while your TruVu Aquasystem cycles. But it’s best to remove chemical filtration media, such as Chemi-Pure, Polyfilter Pads (by PolyBioMarine, Inc.), and activated carbon while the nitrogen cycle is being established in a new aquarium. This is because you want a nice high ammonia spike followed by a nitrate spike to start the nitrogen cycle, and it is counterproductive to use chemical filtration media that will absorb our remove nitrogenous wastes while the aquarium cycles. That’s also why it’s important not to operate a protein skimmer until after a new aquarium has finished cycling and the biological filtration is fully established.

So, while you want to avoid adding chemical filtration media to the aquarium filter until after the aquarium has finished cycling, by all means leave the mechanical filtration and the biological filtration media (e.g., bioballs, ceramic rings or cylinders, bio stars, sponge filters, etc.) in place so that they can serve as a substrate for a large population of the beneficial nitrifying bacteria that carry out the nitrogen cycle.

Best of luck preparing your new aquarium for seahorses!

Happy Trails!
Pete Giwojna