cloudy milky water after water change

[tarpon12]

Guys, I need a little help figuring this out. Everytime I do a water change, the tank turns cloudy / milky. Its not churned water or debris. Here's what I know; I use RO DI water, doing 5% every week, I change out the filter sock which I wash in the washer with no detergent or bleach, im using reef crystals, running carbon through a phosban reactor, corals seem to be fine nothing is closed, it takes a week to clear up. I dont have any water parameters yet. My thought is that washing the filter socks in the washer is a bad idea, possibly residual detergent. Any thoughts?

[tarpon12]

Could this be a chemical in balance in the water?

[thegrun]

I would guess your magnesium is low and the cloudy water is calcium precipitating out of the water table. Without your water parameters, it is difficult to be sure.

[tarpon12]

So everytime I do a WC im adding more calcium which causes it to precipitate out? thats one test kit I dont have.

[evsalty]

How long do you let your water change water mix up for and are you using a pump to mix it?

We really need to know water params of Ca alk and mag to know if you are expiriencing percipitation.

What is your salinity of your wc water and your tanks water and how are you measuring it?

[tarpon12]

24hrs for wc, using a power head to mix it in a trash can. 1.025 for WC which is the same for the tank using a refrac. Gonna be a while before I can get parameters to you guys.

[evsalty]

Well so far nothing stands out so we will have to see what your params look like.

Also is this a new batch of salt by chance?

[tarpon12]

Come to think about it. I have had this problem for 3 months now, all using the same batch of reef crystals. I will be switching over to something else on my next. I will be uploading a pic shortly.

[bluezx636]

Happens to me to with red sea coral pro but only takes 1-2 hours to clear up

[tarpon12]

Ok, my PH is at 7.9 and Ca is at 480mg/L. I dont have a Mg test kit yet but its on the way.

[tarpon12]

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1405/6199830/23051818/394796907.jpg
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1405/6199830/23051818/394796904.jpg

[tarpon12]

Does this still look like Ca Precip?

[Fish4Me2]

I had this same thing happen with RC. The water would take days to clear. I typically waited until it cleared in the mixing bucket before adding it to the tank, but if I didn't, the tank would get cloudy.

I switched salts, and haven't had the problem since. How does your livestock react after a water change?

[tarpon12]

Mostly fine, i had a brain coral close up along with my BTA. What about yours?

[James404]

Do you add the salt first and then add water to that or are you making water and adding salt afterwords?

[Anemonebuff]

Could be the salt or how you mixed it. Usually this happens when your Ca is high and your alk is low, not just Mag but all buffers. Judging by a pH of 7.9 your alk was low and you added a salt mix with a higher pH/alk. It clears when the newly mixed water drops to the rest of the tanks levels. Plus the salt mix added even more ca to the tank. I say it's a chemical imbalance that is causing your cloudiness.

[Ntvper]

couple of questions for ya. whats your sand bed? live sand or argonite? how new is the sand? could be caused by the sand 'resettling' if that makes sense to ya. if argonite how well did ya clean it before adding? argonite has loads of calc in it and when disturbed causing that cloudyness due to it mixing with the water column then needs to settle again or be used up by your LR and corals or bind with alk and mag

[Anemonebuff]

Does this still look like Ca Precip?

Usually when Ca precipitates it will get cloudy and look like it is snowing in the tank. The snow is the precip and the the cloudiness is the chemical imbalance(usually alk and/or pH).

[tchndie]

Do you heat your rodi water up to desired temp before adding the salt?

[jeffeg]

I was having the exact same issues using Reef Crystals. I would heat the water to 78, slowly, slowly pour the salt in, it made no difference whatsoever. It still would be cloudy.

I switched to IO and can pour all the salt in at once and it turns crystal clear in 10 min. I do supplement it with a little extra calcium and mag though.

[tarpon12]

I add water then salt, I do have a heater in the bin. Live sand about 8 years old. The sand is never distrubed during WC's. RO DI water temp is around 70 degrees. It does not appear to rain in the tank. Its just milky. How do you test for alk? and what is the corrective action for it?

[Sohal Tang Tim]

May I ask how long you are letting the new mixture of saltwater
circulate before you put in main tank and are you using a HEATER
in the mixing tank?

Tim