Hazy water

[Instar]

Joshua, thats a complicated question. Failing racemosa or some other simple macro algae spores, there are many organisms that are motile, flagellated, etc. Including a cycling of the coraline algaes. Coralines shed, take to the water column and then attach to a rock in cycles too. Organisms in the rock or sand may bloom or take to the water column at certain times of the day. I get a slight haze as the lights start to dim and then on some days some very agile little zooplankton and on other days a small shrimp following lights off and the water column is alive with all sorts of things for the corals to eat. In the morning its crystal clear till something starts turning things over again. You should have tons of little tiny filter feeders in and on the rocks as well as the sump walls and refugium that live for those blooms. And then those little creature spawn too, creating some microplanktons. Some authors have also suggested that zooxanthellae (someday I'll learn how that is really spelled) will take to the water column, leaving their hosts daily as well, and then returning again to their hosts. Most likely you have more than one thing on different days cycling in the water column. The more robust the reef, the greater the variety of daily and life cycles you'll have.

[Instar]

Sand bed and rock that is immature is quite likely to add bacteria blooms as well as spores for all kinds of things. Some of the bacteria is motile and swims too. I've had tanks get so cloudy from algae crashes and spores that you can't even see into them and then they'll be clear a few hours. I try not to solve things and let them work through cause these are all kinds of things that are growing in there. I also definitely don't filter or skim an immature tank.

[matt]

I don't know how you're adding calcium, but maybe you're having an occasional calcium precipitate. Or maybe it's your eyesight? We are, after all, ummm, "maturing"....haha

[Instar]

I would recommend that you don't skim at all for the first 4 months. Keep everything in there that you possibly can. You shouldn't have any sps in there anyway till well after that point. Provide good flow and air and feed those rocks and micro life forms. It may be 6 to 8 months before I start skimming. I usually keep a very light fish load for the first year too. It grows some great softies and things during that time; the little sponges and tunicates can take nearly a year to show up sometimes.