Can anyone tell me what this is on my filter sock?

[msavoy]

So I’ve had this brownish coloured film starting to develop on my filter sock now daily. Before it would slowly build up but now it’s to the point where it clogs the mesh filter sock in less than 24 hours. My phosphates are at 0 and my nitrates are between 5-10. Does anyone know what this is and what is causing it? You can see it sprays off very easily in the sink with the nozzle sprayer. Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Hydrored]

More than likely a bacterial bloom. Growing on rocks? How is your water clarity? Any type of Carbon dosing? Air fresheners or candles burning near the tank?

As an FYI IMO nothing good comes from 0 phosphates from experience

 

[msavoy]

I was carbon dosing with vinegar but I’ve stopped recently. It does seem to have gotten worse since I was doing the carbon dosing. The glass in the tank gets brown like this everyday as well it needs to be scraped clean. Do you know why phosphates would be so low?

 

[BlennyTime]

How are you washing the socks?

 

[Alexreefer]

how old is your tank? Also why were you carbon dosing? Any particular reason

 

[msavoy]

I’ve been washing them in the washing machine with bleach. And then after they’re washed I rinse them in the sink just to make sure there is no bleach left on them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Kind of unusual to see half clean and half dirty. Looks like diatoms and other waste product from tank and at least sock is doing its job by eliminating it from being in your tank

 

[msavoy]

Kind of unusual to see half clean and half dirty. Looks like diatoms and other waste product from tank and at least sock is doing its job by eliminating it from being in your tank

Yeah exactly it’s definitely filtering stuff out. I just cleaned half the sock to show how much buildup there is after only 24 hours.

 

[msavoy]

how old is your tank? Also why were you carbon dosing? Any particular reason

The tank is almost 5 months old. I started carbon dosing because I was starting to develop some hair algae and I thought it could have been from the nutrients from the nitrates.

 

[Hydrored]

Carbon dosing lowers phosphates also, just not nearly as fast as nitrates

 

[Alexreefer]

With 0 Po4 I would stop carbon dosing and let it rise back up and just control it with water changes.

 

[msavoy]

Carbon dosing lowers phosphates also, just not nearly as fast as nitrates

With 0 Po4 I would stop carbon dosing and let it rise back up and just control it with water changes.

Yeah that’s good advice, that’s what I’m gonna do and see how it goes. I never really had this issue until I started carbon dosing so I’m hoping this will fix it

 

[laverda]

You sock looks normal to me. Just doing what it is ment to do. Collecting detrus.