Bacterial Bloom

kstradtman88 · Oct 27, 2023

This is my 4th tank I’ve cycled over the years and the first time I’ve seen this string. I’m assuming bacterial bloom but every day it’s getting more and more. All parameters are fine.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Oct 27, 2023

Define "fine"

kstradtman88 · Oct 27, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
Define "fine"

Fine as in salinity is 1.026, stable temp, cycled for two months seeded with Microbacter 7, started with live sand and 6-month old live rock, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, Ph 8.0, and alkalinity is in the preferred range.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Oct 27, 2023

kstradtman88 said:
Fine as in salinity is 1.026, stable temp, cycled for two months seeded with Microbacter 7, started with live sand and 6-month old live rock, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, Ph 8.0, and alkalinity is in the preferred range.

Ok. Sorry, but that information doesn't lead me to any clear ID of what's going on in your tank.

But, if your nitrates are really zero, you definitely need to work on that. Zero nitrates means the tank might not be sufficiently cycled...

kstradtman88 · Oct 28, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
Ok. Sorry, but that information doesn't lead me to any clear ID of what's going on in your tank.

But, if your nitrates are really zero, you definitely need to work on that. Zero nitrates means the tank might not be sufficiently cycled...

Thanks for the feedback. Interesting about the nitrates. My main display (70 gal) is about 2 months old and i've since moved all of my soft coral in it after 2 weeks and have a pretty decent bioload. I never once had more than 0 nitrates and never had an ammonia spike. Heavily dosed with Microbacter and live sand, but the rock was dry. Wondering if I had a skipped cycle.

kstradtman88 · Oct 31, 2023

For anyone finding this thread with the same issue, the issue ended up being a cycling tank bacterial bloom. It's my fourth tank and I have never seen this so it was new to me. I was dosing Microbacter 7 (the spore-based bacteria) and my LFS told me to stop dosing. After researching myself, I decided to double-dosed Microbacter XLM (the live nitrifying bacteria). Overnight the stringy bacteria bloom decreased at least 80-90%.