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Help!! Cloudy tank. (New here and new to "dry" ferts)

N

Nooch

New Member
Joined
1 Mar 2022
Messages
3
Location
Michigan
Hello from the USA. I have come here from the recommendation of Happi.

Setup is as follows:
50 gallon aquarium running on 20 gallon diy sump.
I have fluval 3.0 light
Black Diamond Blasting sand - Medium grit
Target 4 dGH - 0 dKH
Co2 injection targeting 1-1.2 drop in PH
Estimate 54% weekly water change with Macros front loaded.

Fighting BBA for a long time.

I was dosing CSM+B daily for Micros, but switched to Topica Premium Nutrition dosed daily for Micros.


I have been switching over from low tech to high tech the past 4 weeks or so.

This was my starting point into dry ferts.
Starting point.jpg

I want to get away from dosing sulfer. So I switched the MgS04 for Mg Gluconate and K2SO4 for Potassium Chloride. Did my normal water change yesterday and today when I got home form work. I have cloudy water. This is my first time with cloudy water in years. Something to note. I dosed the tank on Saturday with API algaefix
Current.jpg

Cloudy 50 gallon after switching to Mg Gluconate and Potassium Chloride. Water was clear right after water change and the rest of the day with Co2 injection.
IMG_6241.jpg

Skipped water change on the 30 today due to cloudy 50 gallon.
IMG_6242.jpg
 
Nooch said:
Hello from the USA. I have come here from the recommendation of Happi.

Setup is as follows:
50 gallon aquarium running on 20 gallon diy sump.
I have fluval 3.0 light
Black Diamond Blasting sand - Medium grit
Target 4 dGH - 0 dKH
Co2 injection targeting 1-1.2 drop in PH
Estimate 54% weekly water change with Macros front loaded.

Fighting BBA for a long time.

I was dosing CSM+B daily for Micros, but switched to Topica Premium Nutrition dosed daily for Micros.


I have been switching over from low tech to high tech the past 4 weeks or so.

This was my starting point into dry ferts.
View attachment 183784

I want to get away from dosing sulfer. So I switched the MgS04 for Mg Gluconate and K2SO4 for Potassium Chloride. Did my normal water change yesterday and today when I got home form work. I have cloudy water. This is my first time with cloudy water in years. Something to note. I dosed the tank on Saturday with API algaefix
View attachment 183786

Cloudy 50 gallon after switching to Mg Gluconate and Potassium Chloride. Water was clear right after water change and the rest of the day with Co2 injection.
View attachment 183787

Skipped water change on the 30 today due to cloudy 50 gallon.
View attachment 183788
Click to expand...

Hi @Nooch If the cloudy water just happened on the first occurrence after switching in the Mg Gluconate, its probably safe to blame to Gluconate. If so, the water should clear up in a couple of days. At your next WC I would cut the Mg Gluconate amount in half and compensate with MgSO4 to reach your Mg target (i.e. 3.2 ppm of Mg Gluconate and 3.2 ppm of MgSo4 to reach your goal of 6.4 ppm) . It's not clear to me if the reaction is due to precipitation, bacteria bloom or something else. I just kept lowering the Gluconate amounts until the water stopped getting cloudy after the WCs. In my own tanks, I am right now getting 2/3rd of my Mg from Mg Gluconate and 1/3rd from Mg(NO3) (which covers my N/NO3 target as well).

Welcome to UKAPS! 🙂

Cheers,
Michael
 
it could be related to Bacteria bloom because Gluconate is sugar and bacteria love this stuff. but it could also be that too much Mg gluconate isn't fully soluble depending on how much you add.

@Nooch

Remineralizing question

I am using RO. I have been remineralizing my tank for the past year (Ca:Mg / 3:1 / 20ppm:6.67ppm) with CaSO4 and MgSO4 not really considering the amount of sulfate being added, but considering I have had most my Panda Garra die one after the other for the past weeks I am looking for answers. I...
www.ukaps.org www.ukaps.org

you can also look into using different source of chemicals to make your GH booster, members of this community can help answer all of your questions.
 
Last edited:
MichaelJ said:
Hi @Nooch If the cloudy water just happened on the first occurrence after switching in the Mg Gluconate, its probably safe to blame to Gluconate. If so, the water should clear up in a couple of days. At your next WC I would cut the Mg Gluconate amount in half and compensate with MgSO4 to reach your Mg target (i.e. 3.2 ppm of Mg Gluconate and 3.2 ppm of MgSo4 to reach your goal of 6.4 ppm) . It's not clear to me if the reaction is due to precipitation, bacteria bloom or something else. I just kept lowering the Gluconate amounts until the water stopped getting cloudy after the WCs. In my own tanks, I am right now getting 2/3rd of my Mg from Mg Gluconate and 1/3rd from Mg(NO3) (which covers my N/NO3 target as well).

Welcome to UKAPS! 🙂

Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Hi Michael. Thanks for the response. It seems it must be the Gluconate. Not sure what direction I'll go from here, but I do know I want to reduce the So4. Maybe I'll just keep doing WC's until its sorted out. I'll also look into cutting the Mg gluc with some MgNo3.

Very interested to find a Ca source without So4 or Cl. CaNo3 is not an option as I dont dose much N/No3 due to fish load.

BR,
Dennis
 
Happi said:
it could be related to Bacteria bloom because Gluconate is sugar and bacteria love this stuff. but it could also be that too much Mg gluconate isn't fully soluble depending on how much you add.

@Nooch

Remineralizing question

I am using RO. I have been remineralizing my tank for the past year (Ca:Mg / 3:1 / 20ppm:6.67ppm) with CaSO4 and MgSO4 not really considering the amount of sulfate being added, but considering I have had most my Panda Garra die one after the other for the past weeks I am looking for answers. I...
www.ukaps.org www.ukaps.org

you can also look into using different source of chemicals to make your GH booster, members of this community can help answer all of your questions.
Click to expand...
Hi Happi! Where do you source most of your salts/elements?

BR,
Dennis
 
Nooch said:
Hi Michael. Thanks for the response. It seems it must be the Gluconate. Not sure what direction I'll go from here, but I do know I want to reduce the So4. Maybe I'll just keep doing WC's until its sorted out. I'll also look into cutting the Mg gluc with some MgNo3.

Very interested to find a Ca source without So4 or Cl. CaNo3 is not an option as I dont dose much N/No3 due to fish load.

BR,
Dennis
Click to expand...
Hi @Nooch take a look at this thread Lowering TDS.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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