i use a brute 20-gal barrel for my mixing station, and i’ve seen a patches of bacterial/algal film develop between cleanings. i’ve never thought of it as mold (can mold grow underwater?)
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I did not see this earlier but I have the exact same set up issue. Mine is much worse. My setup is also a 44 gallon brut, but set up in the basement pretty constant temperature at 65 degrees I do not heat it and only circulate when I am mixing the salt. I use use the Neptune for AWC so not concerned about the temperature. About once a month I disconnect the barrel and wash with bleach. It comes back in a couple weeks. I have also worried about it a lot. I was glad to see Randy say he was not concerned.
Would still interested in further input from others if anyone was able to get rid of it or figured out what it is looks like mold to me. I don’t get any visible in the RO barrel.
Why did you go back to Reef Crystals? Just curious, I run reef Crystals also. To be honest, I've had way better growth with it than TMP.I haven't noticed it for 3 months now. This is only because I switched back to IORC. The bucket might have all that residue but no more mysterious black spots.
I recommend heating up smaller buckets of premix salt water right before you do water changes. And keep the big one for plain RO water. That's what I've been doing and it's worked since I started doing it.It has not returned after cleaning the barrel. I also removed my heater after cleaning as well. Mine could have been some kind of bacteria from the heater. If it doesn't come back then that is what I am chalking it up to.