Confused about Bacterial Bloom

[SMurray]

I am confused. I've had my 55 gallon tank running for 3 or 4 months now. I have not added any new fish in well over a month probably closer to 2 months. I do a 75% water change every 2 weeks. I alternate sides that I vacuum gravel each water change. I always use API water conditioner in my tap water. The only change is that I bought a bigger bottle.

2 weeks ago, I changed my water and cleaned the right side only. The next day I had a small bacteria bloom that was over within 24 hours. I just changed my water again Sunday. This time, I cleaned the left side only. Well I come in Monday evening, and I'm having another bacteria bloom. This one was a little cloudier and almost totally cleared up when I got woke up this morning.

I don't understand why this has started happening. Is it just gonna be that way temporarily when I vacuum my gravel?Any thoughts?



Post reply
Attach photos/files
Conversation info
Participants3
Replies0
Last reply dateYesterday at 8:39 PM
Last reply fromSMurray
Conversation participants
CindiL
CindiL
Fishlore Legend
SMurray
Active Member
StarGirl
StarGirl
Fishlore Legend
Invite more
Conversations
Style chooser
Change style
Contact us
TOS and Rules
Privacy Policy
Help
Home
FacebookTwitteryoutubeInstagramPinterestContact us
RSS
Fish Lore's aquarium fish forum - aquarium hobbyists helping hobbyists since 2005!

Fish Lore is an amazon affiliate and some pages may contain links to aquarium related products on amazon: Affiliate Disclosure

Aquarium forum statistics
Threads406,527
Messages4,552,633
Members120,014
Latest memberLivMac
Share
Advertise with us!

 

[SparkyJones]

generally speaking, if it's over in 24 hours, it's not a bacterial bloom or diatom bloom. it's fine particulate sediment being kicked up out of the substrate that has to resettle again.

the tank is a living ecosystem, even the substrate, at the 3-4 month mark, there's many microorganisms and bacteria that died off and become fine particles and "mulm" at the very bottom under the substrate. some will go with the vacuum, some gets kick up and suspends until it settles again. You could slow down on vacuuming some which might get more of the fine particulate in the vacuum instead of kicked up, you can try a 30% every week, and vacuum a quarter to half of the substrate slower to capture more of it and stop if it starts getting cloudy.
There's another option to dealing with it, and is to get a strong current, stir the substrate to kick it all up and use a fine micron water polishing cloth in the filter to capture the small particulate out of the water column. it's less involved than vacuuming, but you have to keep your eye on the cloth, it gets jammed up with bigger stuff and fine stuff and blocks filter flow.

 

[SMurray]

generally speaking, if it's over in 24 hours, it's not a bacterial bloom or diatom bloom. it's fine particulate sediment being kicked up out of the substrate that has to resettle again.

the tank is a living ecosystem, even the substrate, at the 3-4 month mark, there's many microorganisms and bacteria that died off and become fine particles and "mulm" at the very bottom under the substrate. some will go with the vacuum, some gets kick up and suspends until it settles again. You could slow down on vacuuming some which might get more of the fine particulate in the vacuum instead of kicked up, you can try a 30% every week, and vacuum a quarter to half of the substrate slower to capture more of it and stop if it starts getting cloudy.
There's another option to dealing with it, and is to get a strong current, stir the substrate to kick it all up and use a fine micron water polishing cloth in the filter to capture the small particulate out of the water column. it's less involved than vacuuming, but you have to keep your eye on the cloth, it gets jammed up with bigger stuff and fine stuff and blocks filter flow.

Ok. So basically then I'm just seeing cloudiness from stirring up the gravel. I thought that by doing the gravel before draining the water, I would empty out most of that. I guess it doesn't get as much as I thought. I ordered some new cloth filter covers for my Upettetools gravel cleaner. That will probably help. If it continues to do it, I will change to the smaller weekly water changes and clean less gravel at a time. Thanks for your response!

 

[SparkyJones]

Ok. So basically then I'm just seeing cloudiness from stirring up the gravel. I thought that by doing the gravel before draining the water, I would empty out most of that. I guess it doesn't get as much as I thought. I ordered some new cloth filter covers for my Upettetools gravel cleaner. That will probably help. If it continues to do it, I will change to the smaller weekly water changes and clean less gravel at a time. Thanks for your response!

it's normal to happen when you clean the substrate. Most do it before they are going to look at it like late in the afternoon and no company coming so it settles overnight and doesn't vex you looking at it. LOL

It will continue to do it, everyone gets it, but if you do less water change, more often, you'll get more of it out and there will be less buildup between vacuumings to get kicked up. the other option is to water change only and hit the substrate with the vacuum really hard once a month. and then let it settle the 24 hours and you have most of the month with the water looking good, nitrates usually go higher though because a month of that stuff breaking down gives it time to really break down and become nitrates, where more frequent removal keeps that from doing the slow releases as waste decays.

 

[SMurray]

it's normal to happen when you clean the substrate. Most do it before they are going to look at it like late in the afternoon and no company coming so it settles overnight and doesn't vex you looking at it. LOL

It will continue to do it, everyone gets it, but if you do less water change, more often, you'll get more of it out and there will be less buildup between vacuumings to get kicked up. the other option is to water change only and hit the substrate with the vacuum really hard once a month. and then let it settle the 24 hours and you have most of the month with the water looking good, nitrates usually go higher though because a month of that stuff breaking down gives it time to really break down and become nitrates, where more frequent removal keeps that from doing the slow releases as waste decays.

Gotcha. I'm just glad to know it's normal, and there's nothing wrong. Thanks for your help!

 

[SparkyJones]

Gotcha. I'm just glad to know it's normal, and there's nothing wrong. Thanks for your help!

when it's not settling in 2-3-4 days, that's when it's bacterial or algae bloom, it just suspends forever because it's microorganisms.