clear/white mucus/slime in tank help

[noobtothereef]

OK, here goes, i have a 120 gallon tank running about 5000gph of flow in it via closed loop and return, going to a sump refugium that holds about 60 gallons, i have 150lbs of marco dry rock and 120lbs dry bahamma sand in it. Im using a large filter sock that i clean every day with top off, tank has been running for 3 weeks , after the first week with no livestock all parameters were at 0, so then i added a bottle of birospira and a clown fish to add some ammonia to help it cycle. Now the tank is getting a clear/white slime crap, i use rodi water that is at 0ppm and use reef crystals at 1.026. The slime isnt covering anything really but its hairy like green hair algea, on my coast to coast box the strings are probably 3-4" long, and also on my filter sock it grows stupid fast, the stuff does have some bubbles stuck to. The slime also collects on the water surface around my filter sock and gets kind of thick and the part of the slime thats exposed to air turns a tan/brown color, i also have an reef octo extreme 200 skimmer running with the red demon pinwheel producing less than 1 skimmer cup of skimmate per week and is set wet.............. i have no idea what this stuff is, doesnt look like cyano, dyno's, green hair algea......hmmmmmmmmm.......HELP!!!!!!

And also the ammonia is .25ppm, nitrite 1ppm, and nitrates at 10ppm, i checked phosphates last week and were at 0

[HighlandReefer]

The slimy stuff on the surface could be a bacteria or a cyanobacteria. Possibly a mix of things. You want to keep it removed from your tank. The same with the algae. Brushing the rock and siphoning the algae will help.

You ammonia level is a concern. Ammonia at that level is toxic to fish. I would treat the tank with an ammonia remover asap.

Running GFO and GAC will help when fighting an algae problem.

[noobtothereef]

i know the ammonia levels are a concern, i added that fish to add the ammonia to get the tank to cycle with the bio spira bacteria as nothing im using is "live", the thing is, is that there isnt anything green in the tank, all this stuff is clearish white, there inst any type of growth on the sand, just strings of this stuff snagged on the rocks, and were i mentioned earlier, i really dont think its cyano, its colorless and isnt the sludge like growth that cyano has and also doesnt have air bubbles in it internalls, just some stuck to the exterior of the stuff, i have noticed a thin film on all of the glass just now also, its like it should be green hair algea but its colorless, is there anything that would make green hair algea colorless? Also cyano doesnt make strings like this either does it? The strings are thin if not thinner than thread

[HighlandReefer]

Sounds more like a bacteria growth. I would siphon it out as best as possible. With a high ammonia level, this will cause the bacterial populations to grow quickly and can lead to your situation in some cases. In other senerios, your water can turn a milky color from increased bacterial growth.

[noobtothereef]

i have been siphoning it just about every day, i did a 40 gallon water change (25%) day before yesterday, it does seem to clear up after a good sipononing and cleaning as if it gros slower, the water is a little foggy, not crystal clear like it should be but thats normal with a cycling tank from what ive seen, if it is a bacteria bloom which i think it is, turning the lights off probably would help anything correct? I will keep, wiping, siponing and cleaning it out. I think the main cause of this is the marco rock im using, it says 0 organics bla bla bla but ive never seen a tank get this high of ammonia and nitrites spike before, ive had ammonia detectable in the tank for over 2 weeks now, and i only feed that fish once every 3 days, think im just going to take him out and give him away as i know theres more than enough ammonia in the tank to cycle it. I think theres alot more organics on marco rocks than is advertised............................if i would have known this i would have cured it in some tubs for a month.......... i also think that bio spira is a joke....... says "fish can emmediately be added" yeah right..............

I also think that my nitrates are lower (10-15ppm) because i have cheato in the fuge that has doubled in size in 2 weeks, started out as softball size and is now volleyball size

[noobtothereef]

and i forgot to add, thank you highlander for the help

[HighlandReefer]

Your welcome.




If your bacterial slime develops to these proportions, you have a real problem:

[noobtothereef]

wow, thats what my crap looks like hanging off of my filter sock actually........ not that bad though......

[HighlandReefer]

I would remove the fish and agree you have plenty of ammonia to cycle your tank. I would just keep cleaning the bacterial growth out until your ammonia and nitrates drop to proper levels. Removing the bacterial growth exports the excess nutrients.

[noobtothereef]

what would you recomend for water changes? i have only done 1-25% water change, 170gallon total volume system

[noobtothereef]

and that would explain why there is more of the slime around the filter sock as its holding nitrates etc........ makes me feel better that its not dyno's or cyano...

[HighlandReefer]

I would change 30% of your total water volume per month. If your nitrates rise, you can change out more, but not more than 30% at one time.

Your filter sock is collecting the bacterial growth in your water column and it will continue to grow if not removed. Cleaning often is the best option.

[capy]

Sorry to jump in on your problem i've had my tank up and running for about six months with no problem i dose nothing and have a forty breeder with 20 long refugium sump and filter sock and skimmer.All my my tests on water come back perfect and i have crystal clear water,water changes and siphoning does not help. i just recently asked some people on the forum and they said lights out for a couple days.When turned on after two back again.Was wondering if you have any results or could give me advice if you solve your problem thanks and sorry for your troubles.

[HighlandReefer]

What are you having problems with that requires lights out?

[capy]

What i believe to be bacteria clear stringy mucas like slime.

[HighlandReefer]

Well, if it is a bacteria, they do not need light unlike algae and some cyanobacteria. Lights out for bacteria will most likely have little effect on them since they don't depend on photosynthesis.

[capy]

Heres what mine looks like.

[HighlandReefer]

Looks like bacteria to me.

[capy]

Have you ever seen this ? i thought my corals, turbo snails but way to much. water changes only help for a day i use rodi water and change once a week.Still knew to the hobby and wanna keep my livestock in good health thanks.

[noobtothereef]

thats the exact same stuff i have posted in the picture above

[capy]

I was gonna rinse my koralias off in vinager and my local store has me treating it for red slime so i have to air stones in the tank and change my filter sock every couple days been fighting for almost two weeks. my lights are out and im worried about the few corals i have.

[capy]

From now on i think im gonna dip anything before going in the tank.Any suggestions for my bacteria?

[noobtothereef]

Originally Posted by capy

I was gonna rinse my koralias off in vinager and my local store has me treating it for red slime so i have to air stones in the tank and change my filter sock every couple days been fighting for almost two weeks. my lights are out and im worried about the few corals i have.

its definately not red slime, ive seen red slime at lfs's, and friends tanks, its not red slime

[HighlandReefer]

Capy,

Have you checked your ammonia level?

[noobtothereef]

Originally Posted by capy

From now on i think im gonna dip anything before going in the tank.Any suggestions for my bacteria?

Do you clean the slime off? I am currently sucking it out using a ppiece of airline tubing siphoning it out, comes off everything really easy, also im cleaning the glass and then shutting off my return pump and siphoning the crap out of my return section of the sump and cleaning the filter sock 1x a day, am siphoning off maybe 3-4 gallons a day and replacing with new sw, all i can do it wait for the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates to go down, im looking for a suggestion for an ammonia remover thats reef safe, also after adding ammonia removers does it show the ammonia has been removed on the test kit? or does it show its still there just nutrilized by the ammonia remover