murky looking water

hi does anyone know why my water is murky looking? my tank is about 2 months old and i have had quite a bit of trouble. i had it up for about a month and was doing fine. then all my fish died within about a week. all i have in it as of now, just a cleaner shrimp a few hermit crabs and about 40 snails. also have a candy coral that looks dead to me or dieing, i asked a friend and he said it might just be going through some sort of stage, a piece fell off about a week ago and now it does look somewhat healthier. i have a few other corals and mushrooms but not sure what they are. water parameters check out fine, temp is about 78 to 80 after light has been on all day.i have done 3 10 gallon water changes since the tank has been up. i put a hob filter on to see if it would help but hasnt done anything, it is only rated for a 20 gallon tank but i thought i would give it a try. i have a 15 gallon sump that i bought from a member on here that i use and have several filters in but my water still wont clear up. please someone help.


Edited by 93_fd - November 05 2009 at 6:26pm

yes i have a carbon filter in the hob filter also i have a sock full of it attached to the flow in on my sump and i have a some panty hose full of it in my sump.


Edited by 93_fd - November 05 2009 at 6:33pm

the pic of the coral is really blue so i dont know if anyone can help but is actually gray and hasnt opened for about 2 weeks.

What kind of skimmer?  Waterflow?

no skimmer its a 70 gallon. i just have a sock on my dump spout into my sump with carbon in it. i have some microalgae not sure what it is but i have some sort of algae in it. i have a filter that goes around my pump that is a filter plus carbon. no bio balls. my my overflow and return pump 600 gph. i tested for ammonia, salinity, ph, nitrate, nitrite.

I would also do a 10 gallon waterchange every week.

Do you have any critters that have been stirring it up? Or have you moved any rocks or corals off of the bottom?

Just curious...tap or RO(/DI) water?

Where did you get the sand? It looks really silty to me. That, combined with high water flow will cause cloudiness. You could add coarser substrate to the sand to give your existing fine sand something to cling onto. I agree a skimmer will help. Im sure evanston has good water, but i would still use RO.

Where did your rock come from? Did you watch any kind of cycle before you added fish? It looks like a bloom of bacteria to me. This tank might just need more time or more healthy live rock.