Need help with tank please

[SereneAquatic]

We spent a couple of weeks about a month ago installing our skimmer and doing a series of water changes because the tank was becoming cloudy and the chaeto wasn't keeping it clean enough anymore. We did find that the chaeto wasn't growing as well anymore and was yellowing due to the lack of nutrients in the water now.

The skimmer helped and the tank looked great for a couple of weeks, and then right before we went to Reef A Palooza Orlando, we changed the flex hose on the return pump to hard pipe and cleaned a bunch of muck and some algae that was growing from the walls of the sump. The tank was crystal clear.

When we came home, after just 2.5 days away, the tank had reverted to extreme cloudiness and now has a very sour smell.

We think that there was a small chance that the flow was reduced quite a bit when the hard pipe was installed, but we installed a new return pump when we got home that should be turning the tank over by 1300 gallons per hour based on calculations for the turns, etc. in a 120 gallon tank. There are 3 powerheads in the tank cranking as well so flow doesn't seem to be the issue.

In the last two weeks since we got back, we've done 3 large water changes, cleaned the chaeto in RO water (it had a lot of detritus), continuously run the skimmer... nothing seems to be helping.

The tank remains very cloudy, and it still has this sour smell to it that hasn't been there before.

Has anyone ever run into this? I am wondering if it could be some kind of bacterial bloom or something else... but I dont know what to do about it.

There is no algae growing in the tank, no signs of excess nutrients, and all the tank inhabitants seem to be doing fine.

Any help or advise would be very welcome!

Tank Setup
Red Sea Reefer 425 XL (close to 120 gal total water) w/ stock sump and AI Hydra lights
Somatic 60S protein skimmer
Kessil H380 Refugium Light w/ Chaeto
Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 return pump
COBOLT Neo Flow DC powerhead
Aquatop powerheads (small and medium AC)

Inhabitants
2 Clownfish
1 Small (juvenile) Powder Blue Tang
1 Lemonpeel angel
1 Fire shrimp
1 Turbo snail
3 astraea snails - It's possible a small snail died about 4 weeks ago?

Feeding
Equivalent of about 1.5 cubes of frozen food daily w/ Selcon
Occasional New Life Spectrum pellets (not much)

[mcgyvr]

Wait? 1.5 cubes of food daily + pellets on occasion with only 4 small fish? Thats highly excessive IMO..
That to me sticks out as a very potential cause of cloudy water/bacterial bloom..

[rocsec1]

Run some carbon for a while to help clear up the water. Cut back the feeding.

[Sisterlimonpot]

SereneAquatic,

When you replaced the flex hose to hard plumbing, did you use glue to adhere the plumbing? and did you allow it to fully cure before sending saltwater through it? I don't know the cure time for pvc glue but I would venture to guess that 24 hours would be the ball park before there isn't any harmful/deadly chemicals that will enter your tanks ecosystem.

If that's the case, I would venture to say that your culprit isn't less turnover in your tank, it's the glue that leached into your system before it had time to render itself inert.

[Sisterlimonpot]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

Wait? 1.5 cubes of food daily + pellets on occasion with only 4 small fish? Thats highly excessive IMO..
That to me sticks out as a very potential cause of cloudy water/bacterial bloom..

If bioload is the culprit, I would start testing for ammonia and nitrites, that will either rule it out or point the finger at it.

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot

If bioload is the culprit, I would start testing for ammonia and nitrites, that will either rule it out or point the finger at it.

Not necessarily.. and really not likely at all...
With a sufficient bacterial load (or bloom) it would be rare to measure ammonia or nitrites as they would be processed quite rapidly even with excessive overfeeding..
All that extra food would drive bacterial quantities higher to match available food..

[on the spot]

A sour smell makes me think you are making bread...fungus maybe?

but the cloudy water without masses makes me think bacterial bloom.

cut out the frozen cubes/selcon for three/four days, do a couple water changes, and sparingly feed the spectrum pellets.

[Uncle99]

I with mcgyvr, that’s a lot of feed

[Sisterlimonpot]

over feeding would be low on the list to cause this event, I'm still sticking with the pvc glue, until I her more from SereneAquatic.

[homer1475]

Selcon will make the water cloudy if overused. I would agree with the rest, cut back on the feedings.

[homer1475]

Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot

over feeding would be low on the list to cause this event, I'm still sticking with the pvc glue, until I her more from SereneAquatic.

2 hours is use cure time for PVC cement. I have never seen 24 hours.

Heck I've done the glue, hold for a few minutes, then use a few minutes later without issue.

Most plumbers will tell you that about 5 or 10 minutes is all that's really needed.

[SereneAquatic]

Thank you all for the feedback. I had accidentally turned off notifications and didn't see the responses.

We let the pvc glue cure for about 20 minutes before using, which should be plenty, plus the problem existed BEFORE the hard piping. We initially installed the skimmer a few weeks prior to deal with it the first go around.

I use Selcon maybe 2x a week, at a couple drops.

It sounds like over feeding may be the issue... Although I see them eat nearly everything like little vacuums. I realize this also contributes to waste.

I will cut back a bit and see if it helps, and will repost if it doesn't help.

Thank you!

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[Sisterlimonpot]

mmm, I still disagree that over feeding is the issue, unless recently there was a sudden change in feeding habits the tanks boiload would handle it.

20 minutes might be plenty of time to become water tight, but not long enough for the reaction to fully cure thus introducing that into a delicate ecosystem.

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot

mmm, I still disagree that over feeding is the issue,

It certainly might not be the reason.. But 1.5 cubes a day for what seems like a tank with 4 small fish is highly excessive to me anyways..

[homer1475]

Originally Posted by Sisterlimonpot

20 minutes might be plenty of time to become water tight, but not long enough for the reaction to fully cure thus introducing that into a delicate ecosystem.

Come on really? You know how many people do a an emergency sump swap or pump swap and just glue and use with 0 problems. I've done it numerious times(glue, hold for 30, put into use 5 minutes later). It's not the pvc cement, give it up already.

And I still think 1.5 cubes of frozen for 4 small fish is excessive. It might not be the reason for the cloudiness, but it's a place to start. Better then blaming it on pvc cement not curing for 24 hours.

[SereneAquatic]

I hear what you are saying about the plumbing... But the problem existed BEFORE we heard piped. I don't think that is the problem unless somehow pvc glue climbed into the tank from the garage without us knowing. 🤪

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[SereneAquatic]

Originally Posted by SereneAquatic

I hear what you are saying about the plumbing... But the problem existed BEFORE we heard piped. I don't think that is the problem unless somehow pvc glue climbed into the tank from the garage without us knowing. 🤪

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Hard piped, I mean.

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