Slime build up

[LeighannW]

Help!!! We recently bought a reef dyanamic bio pellet reactor

And now we have a clear gooey slime in everything ...skimmer, pumps, ect. Does anyone have a clue why? And how to avoid it building up again?? It took hours to clean out everything.

 

[sawdonkey]

Bacterial bloom from the pellets. You should add the pellets slowly, and not all at once. How much pellets did you add and how many gallons is your system?

 

[LeighannW]

160 gallon mixed reef I put 1bag in last month n added 1more bag this week (needed 2 total)

 

[sawdonkey]

I've found that the recommended amount is WAAAAy too much on my tank. I run about 200 ml on my 260 gallon system.

 

[CastAway]

LeighannW - do you guys have any kind of back-up power? I hear a power outage can be much more risky with the increased bacteria. They consume oxygen very quickly if flow stops.

 

[LeighannW]

No back up

 

[CastAway]

In another thread, there was some talk of battery powered air pumps w/stones, just something to assure some gas exchange at the surface. Tanks that are dosed, or that run pellets, are just more impacted by an outage.

 

[LeighannW]

Ok thanks

 

[Ole Man]

Sawdonky is correct Leighann you need to start out less on the pellets in the beginning and even then you will get a little build up to start with a lot of nitrates present the pellets work overtime cause its more food for them,my sugestion is clean everything up cut back to at least 300 mil. of pellets and leter run mines been up now for 5 months and has finally calmed down remember the words "nothing good happens fast in saltwater hobby"....