Cloudy Water-Clear Solution? Dear piscatorial guardians: <Wow- Cool title! You can just call me Scott, however!> I am baffled with the abovementioned subject. I've done everything to the best of my knowledge/experience but am still having problems with hazy waters. I installed the AquaC Remora per your recommendation last week and the very next day, the water looked crisp. Then after a few days, the haziness seems to return. I also had this problem prior to installing the skimmer thinking that it was excess DOC's but that should not be the case anymore as the skimmer is producing a healthy (euphemism here :))  amount of skimmate daily. <The good skimmate production is important- at least you're removing much of the dissolved organics present in the water> HARDWARE: 1. 46G Oceanic bowfront F.O. tank - 4 months old 2. Rio 1700 powerhead - 611GPH 3. AquaC Remora w/Rio 800 4. Hang-over the back Power-Filter w/activated carbon - dual spillway <Do change the carbon regularly> 5. 200 Watt Titanium heater LIVESTOCK: 1. Chrysiptera cyanea - pair 2. Chrysiptera hemicyanea 3. Rhinecanthus aculeatus 4. Canthigaster Solandri 5. Cirrhitichthys falco 6. Sphaeramia nematoptera - pair 7. Hermit Crabs (unknown sp.) - 3" pair WATER: 1. pH 8.0 - 8.2 2. SPG 1.023 3. NH4 - 0 4. N03 - 0 5. N04 - 5 ppm 6. TEMP - 80-82 F 7. RO/DI water 8. Instant Ocean Salt <Your water parameters seem in line!> OTHER: 1. 2" Carib Sea Aragonite 2. Various dead coral e.g. Blue Ridge, Cats Paw, Sea Fan for decor. 3. Food - SF Bay Brine shrimp w/Zoecon (weekly soak), OSI Marine Flakes, Hikari Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp, chopped shrimp/scallop (occasionally) 4. Photoperiod - 6 hours I was repeatedly told of a putative bacteria bloom but no reason as to why it occurs. And it can be happening sporadically can it? I've also tried adding Kent's Pro-Clear but to no avail, so it's not any macro free-floating organics. <You mean "micro organics"?> Is this problem indelible? If I could only locate it's provenance... Please advice and thanks in advance.  BC <Well, I'm thinking that it could be anything from a bloom of free-floating algae to some very fine particulate stirred up by your trigger or your puffer...Could even be microbubbles getting in somewhere through the plumbing. It seems to me that your water parameters are fine, and the skimmer is doing it's job. I'd consider a few possible "solutions". The first would be to utilize a "micron filter sock" or pad somewhere in the system to remove some of this fine particulate. The other thought (and unfortunately, it's more expensive) would be to incorporate a U/V sterilizer in your system's plumbing configuration...Check all possibilities and don't give up...Regards, Scott F>

Help! (Tossed the nitrate generating mechanical media in the wet dry...) bob, Steve, Anthony, Jason!, little error just made, I had discussed my nitrates with you guys (mainly Anthony and Steve), I have a well stocked 130g tank,160 pounds of live rockiness tang, queen angel, blue tang, red Coris wrasse, lionfish (all 4 inchers), Picasso trigger, tomato clown (2 inchers) and a snowflake eel (7 inch), I have a good skimmer, and a wet/dry, the tank is around 8 months old, all fine except for the nitrates, I mentioned that I had a large floss on top of the bio balls in the sump which I was told never to change not by you guys), Steve mentioned he didn't like having this in the main section of the wet/dry, in the first tray I have floss which I change regularly, and rotate weekly a phosphate pad and carbon, I just did a 20g water change, and removed the floss I had over the balls, now my tank is a milky cloud, an obvious bacteria bloom which I kind of was hoping wouldn't happen, you thoughts on what to expect now?, should I worry?, anything I should prepare for?, thanks guys, I appreciate it.....riot.... <This too shall clear... as a matter of fact, what is going on is a sort of "changing of the guard" and your system will be cleaner, and much less nitrate-plagued soon... I'd just do your regular maintenance and wait. Bob Fenner>

Re: help! (Wet dry to sump to refugium to?) thanks bob, if in my situation, what would you do as for filtration?, keep the main tray with floss and carbons, and leave the bio balls in the main section?, remove the bio balls and replace with something else?, I highly respect your opinions, your site is the best on the net, hands down..... <I would remove the bio-balls and any other wet-dry or mechanical media here... and convert this "box" to a sump... in the way of a refugium if you have the interest. Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/refugium.htm and the associated FAQs files (there's a bunch!). Bob Fenner>

Filtration Question/Problem Hi Bob, I have a 72 gal bow front marine aquarium. It is a fish only tank with sand and Tufa rock. I have 2 hang-on type wet/dry trickle filters, AquaC Remora Pro protein skimmer, UV sterilizer and a powerhead for circulation. Lighting is 2 standard fluorescent tubes. 1 - Hagen Power-Glo 48" 40w T10 ( Lumens 2200, Lux 180, Kelvin 18000K) The other is a Hagen Marine-Glo 48" 40w T10 Actinic Blue (Lux 105) <This isn't much light> Live Stock is: Panther Grouper, Snowflake Moray, Clown Trigger, Yellow Tang, Blueface Angel (juv), 4 Damsels and a FFExpress cleanup crew. Every 4 or 5 days I measure a slight trace of ammonia (.2 or less) <Yikes... this is a bunch of fish... and will be way too much soon> - it comes and goes. The fish do not show any signs of stress. I suspect that my wet/dry filter is not adequate (too small maybe)!!! So I'm thinking of upgrading to a larger sump type wet/dry system. Do you think this is the right way to go?  <It's one way to go... please read over the "Marine Filtration" sections and FAQs stored on our site: www.WetWebMedia.com for more input> If so, which size and type would you suggest if any? This being a $300-$400 investment, would it be better to spend that $$$$ and stock the tank with live rock instead?  <A better choice yes... but you will have to reduce the bioload of fishes at any length> If so, what type of rock and how should I introduce the rock into an established tank so as not to risk going through another cycle? <See the sections on the WWM site re this...> Thanks always for your help. Ed <Much more to chat over my friend. Bob Fenner>