Snowstorm
From RTAW Reefpedia
Contents |
Introduction
The sudden appearance of white clouds or a 'snowstorm look in a reef aquarium can be due to four different events:
- precipitation
- bacterial bloom
- spawning
- sediment
Precipitation
Precipitation of calcium carbonate is the most common one to occur and is due to the system becoming super saturation with either calcium, alkalinity or both. Once this happens, precipitation of calcium carbonate is rapid, forming the snowstorm. After this point, the balance between calcium and alkalinity levels can be significantly disrupted.
The below images show an example of a reef tank with normal pH, calcium and alkalinity. Sodium carbonate was then dosed too quickly, to increase the alkalinity. This moved the system to conditions where the solubility of the alkalinity components was exceeded, becoming super saturated with respect to the alkalinity. This imbalance caused calcium carbonate to be formed, causing the snowstorm appearance.
 Tank before addition of too much sodium carbonate. |
 Tank during precipitation event caused by addition of too much sodium carbonate. |
 Tank after calcium carbonate precipitate has settled out, which was caused by addition of too much sodium carbonate. |
Spawning
Spawning of something within the system can cause the water to go white. Most commonly this will be an anemone, coral, or algae.
Bacterial Bloom
If there is a sudden increase in nutrients within the system it can cause a bacterial bloom that turns the water cloudy. This is due to the rapid increase in the bacteria population within the water and will be short lived. It will clear up within a couple of days.
Sediment
A fish or dislodged pump can stir up a sand bed and the small sediment particles it contains. This can including detritus and the smaller substrate particles and will suspend them in the water. This will settle down again after a short period of time or it can be accelerated by the use of mechanical filtration.
