White stringy slime.

[tmabry]

Hey all. Ive had a nuvo 10 up and running for about 3-4 months now. Reef Glass skimmer. Media basket with filter floss and chemi pure blue. About 3 weeks ago I noticed white stringy stuff attached to the glass. Cleaned it off and it returns a few days later. The same stringy stuff is on the rocks and the gravel substrate as well. Did a deep clean of the rear sump and cleaned out a lot of brown snot and such. Found an article about air freshners and cleaners causing the issue so I ceased using them. Also started the using Dr Tims refresh followed by waste away according to (http://store.drtimsaquatics.com/assets/images/recipes/DrTims_Treat_Cyano_Recipe_27Mar15.pdf)


With the refresh it seemed to help the problem slightly but ive finished the last dose of waste away with no real change. Did another deep clean of the sump area and it wasent as bad but still not great. NO3 and PO4 are undetectable.

Weekly 2 gallon water change and once a month 4 gallon change. 2 clowns in the tank right now and 2 small coral frags. Want to hold off on buying any more corals until I can get this problem resolved.




Any ideas?



Ill try to add some pics later.



Thanks

 

[tmabry]

Just did a quick vaccum of the tank and was working on reorganizing cables...OCD worst nightmare ...and happened to take a look at my chaeto reactor. The chaeto was covered in the white slime as well. So were the grates at the top and bottom of the reactor. Needless to say I pulled the reactor and will keep it out till I can get everything in the tank back to normal

Chaeto reactor is new to the tank..only added it last week

 

[tmabry]

Heres a few pictures. The ones of the reactor are the easiest to see what Im refering to. I just cleaned the tank earlier so the little bit on the glass was all i could find.

 

[reeftivo]

bacterial bloom. Don't Stress

fairly common with new systems until bacterial balance is established. I'm not positive but i think Dr. Tims refresh is a carbon source. you may want to cut back on that and let it run it's course. adding carbon sources can increase baterial blooms as they feed the bacteria. If you can't stand it a UV sterilizer will knock it down fast.

 

[tmabry]

Thanks that’s kinda what I figured from the research on this forum but just wanted to make sure and ask those that know more than me (aka anyone ).....

Im gonna stop any kind of treatment then and just let it run it’s course for a month and hope it clears up.

 

[reeftivo]

i had same issue with my 60 gal cube when i started it up. after a few months i started some light carbon dosing with NO3 PO4X and a bloom started. i stopped dosing and ran my UV sterilizer for a day and it subsided.

good luch and happy reefing

Tivo

 

[tmabry]

Thanks all. I believe you had it nailed. Stopped the dr tims and picked up a cheap 3w uv sterilizer from amazon. After just a few days the stringy stuff on the rocks has disappeared and the sand bed is starting to clear up as well! Time to get some more corals!

 

[reeftivo]

that's great. Now you can enjoy your tank again!

Happy reefin'

 

[tmabry]

that's great. Now you can enjoy your tank again!

Happy reefin'

Thanks. The one troubling thing now is the lack of nutrients. Nitrates and Phosphates are both reading 0. Is it possible that the added bacteria have consumed the N+P and that the further dosing has just added that much more bacteria and lead to the slime? I started cutting back on the feeding and started to skim a little more wet.

Should I take the opposite approach? turn off the skimmer.keep uv on. remove the chemipure blue. feed a little more heavilly? try to actually up the N+P to beat out the bacteria? then add everything back slowly to keep them at a more correct level.

Pretty sure the bloom started with the use of febreeze..never really caused cloudy water just the slime. Then the addition of the refresh and waste away only added to the problem...


Found this idea in this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/white-slim-bacterial-bloom.355963/

Thoughts?

Thanks!!

 

[reeftivo]

just feed more for now (easier to control) then decrease if perams rise too much.

you'll have better luck with some nitrate NO3 and phosphate PO4. Whenever i ran with zeros i always had tissue recession at the base of my corals or burnt tips with poor color. A range of 0.02 to 0.05 PO4 and 5 to 10 ppm of NO3 works well for most of us to get good growth and color.

edit: to your question of whether the carbon source dropped NO3 and PO4 tooo much. most likely

 

[tmabry]

just feed more for now (easier to control) then decrease if perams rise too much.

you'll have better luck with some nitrate NO3 and phosphate PO4. Whenever i ran with zeros i always had tissue recession at the base of my corals or burnt tips with poor color. A range of 0.02 to 0.05 PO4 and 5 to 10 ppm of NO3 works well for most of us to get good growth and color.

Thanks! Thats kind of along the lines of what I was thinking. I only have 2 small frags in the tank (chalice and zoa) and would rather get the tank under control now than wait and risk loosing more. The other odd thing is that Ive never really seen algae in the tank. Im guessing this would point to an overabundance of bacteria in the tank as well?

 

[tmabry]

Also wondering if the best course would be to stay the course. UV, wet skim and minimal feedings or to try to overfeed until N03 and P04 are registering again .

 

[tmabry]

#reefsquad ?

 

[Lasse]

If you want some NO3 and PO4 - you must feed normally - otherwise - it will take time.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[tmabry]

If you want some NO3 and PO4 - you must feed normally - otherwise - it will take time.

Sincerely Lasse

How would UV/ skimmining or the lack of effect that process?

 

[Lasse]

IMO - UV-C will not affect either NO3 or PO4.

Skimming - a little bit more complicated.

PO3 - IMO no major effect but if there is a lot of bacteria in the water column (that previous have taken up some P) skimming can alter the PO4 concentration a little
NO3 - skimming means heavy aeration and a lot of gas exchange. Prior to NO3 - before the bacterial nitrification process - the nitrogen in the water column are in the form of NH3/NH4. NH3 will be aerated out through the skimmer and hence lower the NO3 content because there is not so much N going through the nitrification process.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[tmabry]

IMO - UV-C will not affect either NO3 or PO4.

Skimming - a little bit more complicated.

PO3 - IMO no major effect but if there is a lot of bacteria in the water column (that previous have taken up some P) skimming can alter the PO4 concentration a little
NO3 - skimming means heavy aeration and a lot of gas exchange. Prior to NO3 - before the bacterial nitrification process - the nitrogen in the water column are in the form of NH3/NH4. NH3 will be aerated out through the skimmer and hence lower the NO3 content because there is not so much N going through the nitrification process.

Sincerely Lasse

Thanks Lasse. Great explanation. Seems like regular feeding and holding off on the skimming may be the way to go to help slowly raise the nitrate level back up. Hopefully the bacterial bloom will go away over time as what ever carbon source they are feeding on is depleted.

 

[baslewprime]

Thanks Lasse. Great explanation. Seems like regular feeding and holding off on the skimming may be the way to go to help slowly raise the nitrate level back up. Hopefully the bacterial bloom will go away over time as what ever carbon source they are feeding on is depleted.

any update buddy?

 

[Robert Binz]

bacterial bloom. Don't Stress

fairly common with new systems until bacterial balance is established. I'm not positive but i think Dr. Tims refresh is a carbon source. you may want to cut back on that and let it run it's course. adding carbon sources can increase baterial blooms as they feed the bacteria. If you can't stand it a UV sterilizer will knock it down fast.

Still feel this way? My system is two weeks old and suffering a bad bacteria bloom (white stringy bacteria everywhere). Some people in this forum told me to throw refresh in there so I did and I think that made it worse haha

 

[Lasse]

Do you use any form of organic carbon additives (like NoPox, vodka - you name it)?

Sincerely Lasse