Dosing Vinegar - now growing white slime/bacteria?

[gobeach]

Hi all,
I began dosing vinegar in hopes of lowing my nitrates (reading over 75 using Hanna). My nitrates never lowered until I did a major cleaning of my sump, but they’re going down now slowly. However, recently I noticed that I’ve got some white slimy bacteria? Algae? That’s growing/clogging my sump. It’s not growing in my tank, only in the sump. Photo and short video included.

I’ve started slowly lowering my vinegar dosing (100 -> 90 -> 75ml/day) for my 200g tank.

Question: any other recommendations for getting rid of this stuff? I’m ok going slow as long as things move in the right direction.

 

[GARRIGA]

Stop dosing carbon and it goes away then start back at half dose and increase slowly until it shows again. Now you know how much it took to overdose and can adjust accordingly. Nothing more than bacterial slime.

 

[morris2015]

Hi all,
I began dosing vinegar in hopes of lowing my nitrates (reading over 75 using Hanna). My nitrates never lowered until I did a major cleaning of my sump, but they’re going down now slowly. However, recently I noticed that I’ve got some white slimy bacteria? Algae? That’s growing/clogging my sump. It’s not growing in my tank, only in the sump. Photo and short video included.

I’ve started slowly lowering my vinegar dosing (100 -> 90 -> 75ml/day) for my 200g tank.

Question: any other recommendations for getting rid of this stuff? I’m ok going slow as long as things move in the right direction.

Yes, 75ml daily is a lot… first of all reduce the dosing to 10-15 ml daily.
If you have a UV sterilizer make sure it’s working properly and check if the bulb is not expired (it could be lighting but if it’s working over 8 months you must replace it) and last but not less important, calibrate your skimmer properly and clean it every day until you get everything balance….

 

[seahuy]

Careful of Dino

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Switching to a different organic carbon source, such as vodkas, may help.

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

I had it growing in my return section of sump and pipes, as Vodka / Vinegar mix was getting dosed into that compartment… So, I gave it somewhere else to grow - I got a couple of nylon nets filled with bath scrunchies, put them in the first compartment after the rollermat and ran the carbon line straight into the middle of them. It’s making Carbon dosing far more effective and keeping the goop all in one place too!

 

[Tradevg]

Hey guys. Does this white slime have a strong sulfur rotten egg smell? I am getting a stringy smelly white slime around the edges of my mag flipper glass cleaner. Not dosing anything except Microbacter 7 one a week. Po4 are a little high but all else is good. Thoughts?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hey guys. Does this white slime have a strong sulfur rotten egg smell? I am getting a stringy smelly white slime around the edges of my mag flipper glass cleaner. Not dosing anything except Microbacter 7 one a week. Po4 are a little high but all else is good. Thoughts?

That is likely to only happen when organics get trapped in a low oxygen environment.

 

[Tradevg]

That is likely to only happen when organics get trapped in a low oxygen environment.

Is it cause for concern and what’s the solution? I do regular water changes, clean the sand bed, etc. It’s a 27 gallon nano not heavily stocked. Has a 1-1.5” sand bed, live rocks, zoas, Xenia and burning banana something. Seems to have good flow via the filter pump and a powerhead. Surface is well agitated. Thanks.

 

[Miami Reef]

Is it cause for concern and what’s the solution? I do regular water changes, clean the sand bed, etc. It’s a 27 gallon nano not heavily stocked. Has a 1-1.5” sand bed, live rocks, zoas, Xenia and burning banana something. Seems to have good flow via the filter pump and a powerhead. Surface is well agitated. Thanks.

Do you use activated carbon?

 

[Tradevg]

Do you use activated carbon?

Yes. No protein skimmer however. Also I use a canister filter and not a sump.

 

[Miami Reef]

Yes. No protein skimmer however. Also I use a canister filter and not a sump.

It seems like you’re doing everything right. I’m not sure what’s causing the smell. I hope you can figure it out.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Hey guys. Does this white slime have a strong sulfur rotten egg smell? I am getting a stringy smelly white slime around the edges of my mag flipper glass cleaner. Not dosing anything except Microbacter 7 one a week. Po4 are a little high but all else is good. Thoughts?

Whats the translation of good in Nitrate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You sure the smell is not stuff trapped under the flipper?

 

[Tradevg]

Whats the translation of good in Nitrate?

Nitrate ~5; Po4 .05
Po4 were as high as .5 in sept although i suspect a testing error because po4 was <.10 in June. So a rapid rise from June to sep.

 

[Tradevg]

You sure the smell is not stuff trapped under the flipper?

I suppose that’s possible. Although I washed it very well last week and let it dry. After which the smell was of algae. then the white stuff and smell came back after a few days in the tank. Yesterday I soaked the cleaner in a vinegar bath and added it back to the tank today. Let’s see what happens. The white slime issue started a few months back around when I added the zoas and part of that colony melted away. Wondering if the slime is related to that…. Fwiw the zoas seem to be happy now. So maybe in time the slime issue resolves itself.

 

[rishma]

FWIW, one of my tanks grew a nasty slime in a section of my sump. It didn’t seem to cause any issue and I kept dosing vinegar at the same rate. When I reduced the rate after nutrients were near target, the slime stopped happening. Since it never appeared in the main tank, I didn’t worry about it.

 

[Tradevg]

FWIW, one of my tanks grew a nasty slime in a section of my sump. It didn’t seem to cause any issue and I kept dosing vinegar at the same rate. When I reduced the rate after nutrients were near target, the slime stopped happening. Since it never appeared in the main tank, I didn’t worry about it.

Did the slime have that rotten egg dead snail smell?

 

[rishma]

Did the slime have that rotten egg dead snail smell?

No, it did not smell at all. If it did I would not have ignored it I’m sure.

 

[Tradevg]

No, it did not smell at all. If it did I would not have ignored it I’m sure.

No, it did not smell at all. If it did I would not have ignored it I’m sure.

I think what I have is different. Glad your slime issue got resolved.