Cloudy water for over a week

[jonesdeini]

1. Total water volume of the entire system (including oil sump, etc.) - US gallons / imperial gallons / liters
around 150 gallons
2. Water purification (including oil sump, etc.) - US gallons / imperial gallons / liters
not sure what this means
3. Are you using a CaCO2 reactor or other technology?
no
You are using the PO4 reactor (how long, how long ago, etc.)
no
Are you using ozone?
no
Are you using ultraviolet light?
no
7. What skimmers do you use (model, rated water)
Reef Octopus nw 150 6530b
8. What is your actual PO4 and NO3 level?
PO4: 0.06
NO3: 5-10 ppm
9. What is your actual Ca, Alk and Mg content?
alk is around 7.6 last I checked. Since I have no coral I haven't tested recently
10. What filtering method do you use (refugium, DSB, Miracle Mud, etc.)
protein skimmer only
11. Type of lamp (watt, color temperature, how big, etc.)
6 bulb T5 fixture
What coral do you keep?
zoas and clams
13. Organize the color (light or dark)
what?
14. How long has the tank been running?
almost 2 years
15. Why use the ZEOvit system?
my lfs uses it and I want to keep the same sps they have
16. Any supplemental dose (type, quantity, cause, etc.)
not sure what this means
17. Live rock (how much, how old, etc.)
none. just dry rock
18. Any existing issues
no
19. Description of the problem (organizational loss tips, tissue loss basis, algae, algae, etc.)
very cloudy water. can't even see into the tank
20. What test kit do you use (how old, recently switched, etc.)
red sea and api. both brand new
21. Current dose, quantity and interval (ZEOvit, ZEObak, ZEOfood, ZEOstart, ZEOspur2, etc.)
ZEObak twice week about 7 drops
ZEOstart every day 1.2 mL
spongepower 3 times/week about 7 drops
ZEOFood plus 3 times/week about 12 drops
ZEOvit around 1.1L
I've used coral snow randomly, maybe once a week at most. Haven't used it recently because of the cloudiness
I was also using automatic elements, but they were added months ago. I have since removed them over 2 weeks ago when this problem began

22. Other water parameters and water stability (salinity, temperature, etc.)
temp 78-80
salinity 1.025
23. Which salt brand do you use?
red sea

[G.Alexander]

Might be a bacterial based cloudiness, do you notice some kind of white film on the glass of the display system also ? I would try to run UV temporary, it just need to be switched off for one hour while doing.

Your ZeoStart dosage is to high, lets reduce it to 0.45 ml 2 x daily and replace the ZeoVit material every 6 weeks. Also reduce ZeoFood to 5 drops 2 x weekly.

Also do not use a probiotic salt, not sure which one you use exactly.

G.Alexander

[jonesdeini]

Yes there appears to be a white film on the glass; almost like slime.

I will order a UV and use the reduced dosages you've mentioned.

I just changed the ZeoVit material a few days ago so I've been dosing ZeoBac daily as I understand that is required when changing the material. I believe I learned that from this forum. Should I still be doing that?

Not sure what you mean by probiotic salt I use this salt specifically: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/aquar...x-red-sea.html

My LFS who got me into Zeo uses the exact same salt.

[G.Alexander]

The salt you use is fine, lets see if the UV does remove the cloudiness. From your description it really sounds like it is bacterial based.

After each ZeoVit exchange dose ZeoBac daily for 10 days, otherwise 2 x weekly. Because of the cloudiness and as you have recently changed the material dose it every other day a couple of times to keep the dosage on the lower side.

G.Alexander