PeregrinTook Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 So I have three tanks running but I just encountered a problem with my largest which has been running for a couple months now. MY 160 Gal Stats (I took this tank over from someone who previously crashed the tank) 160 Gallon Acrylic Tank its taller than it is long Substrate is live sand I have good amount of live rock, also I did dry out some of the pieces that went through the crash rinsed them and added them 40 Gallon homemade sump/fuge (came with tank, I don't really like the layout and would like to replace) Water first passes through two filter socks fills chamber then flows into the refugium in which I have chaeto and a larger piece of LR and a 4-5 inch sand bed,from the refugium the water goes through a chamber filled only with LR rubble, and then a filter sponge. In the return chamber I have the skimmer and intake for GFO reactor. And Back up to the display the water goes. Lights are two 250w metal halides and two twenty four inch HO actinic fixtures ANYWAYS TO THE PROBLEM! The tank has been running for a couple months now cycled quick and water parameters are good. Anyways I have always noticed the filter sock overflow with water and are clogged quickly. Thought that was just the tank settling and kept up on my changes. However yesterday I did my weekly maintenance which included a ten percent water change, filter socks changed, sponged rinsed out, and I cleaned out my skimmer. While changing out my socks and cleaning my sponge I noticed they were coated in a clear gelatinous slim. The sponge took forever to rinse out.Today I look at my tank and its cloudy. Not sure if they are correlated in anyway because I added a couple pieces of LR and stirred up the sand bed a bit during water change. The main thing that worries me is the slime because the socks are already overflowing again today, no doubt from the mysterious gelatinous slime. What could this be? It has been a few days since my last water test but everything should still be on par. Extra info that probably may not matter........... recently had a diatom bloom I'm guessing will go away as the tank ages, also within the last couple weeks my refugium has gotten quite dirty, and I added a few CUC members in there. This is my first refugium out of all of my tanks. P.S I know this is very long and probably has a lot of extra info, However I never had a problem like this before that I found no info on Link to comment
Blubbernaut Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 A clear gelatinous slime? That sounds really funky. Is it 100% clear, or is there a little bit of stuff in it? If the murkiness doesn't go away, it's not from the sand..... Link to comment
PeregrinTook Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 It may have a little pigment to it. You can't really see it you can mostly feel it and I can tell its gun king up my sock. And I'm sure its not from my sand its been settled for a long time. Link to comment
Blubbernaut Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 That's really funky.... I honestly have no idea what it could be, beyond eggs of some sort. Keep an eye on it. Link to comment
TristanC Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I had a really weird slime in my previous tank too. It would build up in the return line, then randomly release and end up all over my tank. The 2 times it got released into my tank I was home and sucked it all out but to this day I have no idea what it was. Maybe some super intense biofilm. Either way I have no such issues in my current tank. Link to comment
PeregrinTook Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Yea it's stressing me out, I guess I will keep changing filter socks and hope they catch it all. My tank is cloudy now too. Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Bacterial bloom most likely. Run a skimmer and aeration. It should clear up on it's own. If it gets worse you can try products like Dr Tims, microbacter 7, or a very *very* light dosage of peroxide. Bacterial blooms are not harmful as long as you keep the tank over oxygenated. Link to comment
PeregrinTook Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Bacterial bloom most likely. Run a skimmer and aeration. It should clear up on it's own. If it gets worse you can try products like Dr Tims, microbacter 7, or a very *very* light dosage of peroxide. Bacterial blooms are not harmful as long as you keep the tank over oxygenated. Wow thanks for the first solid info I have gotten on three different forums. I have never been stumped like this before it's one of my three tanks and I have been doing this for almost three years now. Link to comment
metrokat Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Young tanks which are still ramping up their biological filtration, actually even old ones can get a bacterial bloom when you stir stuff up. It's just that the bacteria would need to be exported out other wise it can be harmful as it deprives the water of oxygenation. I also believe (but cannot prove with like a paper or scientific vocabulary) that starting a tank with a shrimp or ammonia, artificially (so to speak) as opposed to using uncured rock or live rock takes a lot longer for a natural bio filter to become established and complete. I can't explain it any better, but I feel that if you need say 10 strains of bacteria to make a complete bio filter, starting your cycle with ammonia dosing or table shrimp gets you to the 10 a lot later than if you started with established live rock. In the meantime any changes like stirring up detritus or whatever cannot be handled quickly enough by the existing filter. Hence issues like a bloom. I don't know if that made sense. Link to comment
PeregrinTook Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Yes it made sense great info. I did use LR and live sand to cycle. Link to comment
PeregrinTook Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 Still battling this, my tank still hasn't cleared up and my socks are clogged with this gunk within twenty four hours. I even added extra blue and white filter pad,floss to catch more and it is also clogging up daily. I have done two test in the last four days and water was perfect the first time and almost perfect the second time with my phosphate just under .25, but that was before my weekly water change and after I stopped running my GFO for a week because I was thinking that could have been a problem somewhere. I am running the gfo and carbon again. My last Idea I have is to find a uv sterilizer. Anyone think this may help or have any input. Link to comment
andym172001 Posted November 29, 2015 Share Posted November 29, 2015 So I have three tanks running but I just encountered a problem with my largest which has been running for a couple months now. MY 160 Gal Stats (I took this tank over from someone who previously crashed the tank) 160 Gallon Acrylic Tank its taller than it is long Substrate is live sand I have good amount of live rock, also I did dry out some of the pieces that went through the crash rinsed them and added them 40 Gallon homemade sump/fuge (came with tank, I don't really like the layout and would like to replace) Water first passes through two filter socks fills chamber then flows into the refugium in which I have chaeto and a larger piece of LR and a 4-5 inch sand bed,from the refugium the water goes through a chamber filled only with LR rubble, and then a filter sponge. In the return chamber I have the skimmer and intake for GFO reactor. And Back up to the display the water goes. Lights are two 250w metal halides and two twenty four inch HO actinic fixtures ANYWAYS TO THE PROBLEM! The tank has been running for a couple months now cycled quick and water parameters are good. Anyways I have always noticed the filter sock overflow with water and are clogged quickly. Thought that was just the tank settling and kept up on my changes. However yesterday I did my weekly maintenance which included a ten percent water change, filter socks changed, sponged rinsed out, and I cleaned out my skimmer. While changing out my socks and cleaning my sponge I noticed they were coated in a clear gelatinous slim. The sponge took forever to rinse out.Today I look at my tank and its cloudy. Not sure if they are correlated in anyway because I added a couple pieces of LR and stirred up the sand bed a bit during water change. The main thing that worries me is the slime because the socks are already overflowing again today, no doubt from the mysterious gelatinous slime. What could this be? It has been a few days since my last water test but everything should still be on par. Extra info that probably may not matter........... recently had a diatom bloom I'm guessing will go away as the tank ages, also within the last couple weeks my refugium has gotten quite dirty, and I added a few CUC members in there. This is my first refugium out of all of my tanks. P.S I know this is very long and probably has a lot of extra info, However I never had a problem like this before that I found no info on Still battling this, my tank still hasn't cleared up and my socks are clogged with this gunk within twenty four hours. I even added extra blue and white filter pad,floss to catch more and it is also clogging up daily. I have done two test in the last four days and water was perfect the first time and almost perfect the second time with my phosphate just under .25, but that was before my weekly water change and after I stopped running my GFO for a week because I was thinking that could have been a problem somewhere. I am running the gfo and carbon again. My last Idea I have is to find a uv sterilizer. Anyone think this may help or have any input. Still battling this, my tank still hasn't cleared up and my socks are clogged with this gunk within twenty four hours. I even added extra blue and white filter pad,floss to catch more and it is also clogging up daily. I have done two test in the last four days and water was perfect the first time and almost perfect the second time with my phosphate just under .25, but that was before my weekly water change and after I stopped running my GFO for a week because I was thinking that could have been a problem somewhere. I am running the gfo and carbon again. My last Idea I have is to find a uv sterilizer. Anyone think this may help or have any input. Still battling this, my tank still hasn't cleared up and my socks are clogged with this gunk within twenty four hours. I even added extra blue and white filter pad,floss to catch more and it is also clogging up daily. I have done two test in the last four days and water was perfect the first time and almost perfect the second time with my phosphate just under .25, but that was before my weekly water change and after I stopped running my GFO for a week because I was thinking that could have been a problem somewhere. I am running the gfo and carbon again. My last Idea I have is to find a uv sterilizer. Anyone think this may help or have any input. I have this problem for four years. If you solved problem please help me. thanks Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted November 30, 2015 Share Posted November 30, 2015 As Kat mentioned, 'slime' is often due to a bacterial outbreak, but can also be produced by corals naturally and in over abundance when they are stressed (some corals/organisms can produce a lot of it, too). Would help if you post a tank pic so we can see what organisms are present, in what quantity, etc. Also, do you feed heavy or use any form of carbon dosing? If it is bacterial, they must be feeding on something in the tank. Link to comment
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