water clarity question

[kmmcgra]

I have a 3-4 week old tank. When the 250w MH lamp comes on the water is crystal clear. After about 2-3 hours of lighting the water starts to get hazy. Is this normal? I haven't experienced this on any of my tanks in the past. It is on the tail end of the cycle( 0 ammonia/0 nitrates). There is still some diatoms existing on the sand. It this just cloudiness of the diatom bloom when the lamps come on? I'm guessing as the tank matures it will go away.
Any thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting. Don't know it, but if you have a microscope handy, try to see if you can collect the particle that cause the haze, and see if they are diatom... :?

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like some type of bacterial bloom to me. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

[Anonymous]

What she said. They will typically go away with propoer tank maintenance. Do you have live rock, cured? Any critters, fish or coral? Please describe your set-up.

 

[Len]

I also think bacterial bloom.

Oh and ....
:welcome:

 

[kmmcgra]

Wow. Thanks for your responses. I posted on "another forum" and got a lot of views but no Reponses.
Although it doesn't show up as good in pictures here are a couple of pictures. Sorry if the pics are big...still learning how to post pics.
clear:

hazy:

It not terrible but it's like a sludgy haze not a milky type haze.
As I said above I've set up a few salt tanks in my day and haven't seen anything like this. It's clearly the lights coming on that starts the gradual increase of the haze. It doesn't seem to be getting better as days go by. There is still some diatom growth on the sand when the lights come on. I'm going to give it a few days and see how it goes. Again tanks for your responses...

Info.

I bought this tank to replace my 12g Aquapod which I filled up quickly. My plan was to set this tank up and slowly move the aquapod corals over.

Tank is:
40 gal. cube acrylic with open top..2 1" drains 2 3/4" returns..1000gph pump
20 gallon sump with baffles with 10 gallons of water
waiting for delivery on a tunze 9010 skimmer
running some filter floss to clean water during setup
running some carbon on a hang on canister to help clean water during initial setup.
probably around 20lbs of live rock..some cured...some not(got from original owner)
no fish..couple of snails..1 small piece of GSP..all doing well

 

[fungia]

it looks pretty clear to me. hmmm. maybe use some polyfilter or mechanical filtration for a week to see if it helps.

 

[shavo]

no skimmer running on the tank now?

also if you used a UV sterilizer it might help out alot if it continues to be a problem...