Need advice!

MCFish23 · Jul 15, 2016

I have a 75 gallon reef tank with 30 gallon sump. I been battling "whatever this is" for a while now and I'm just not getting anywhere. From my research it appears to be what others have referred to as "white slime" and is a bacteria. I don't get algae on my glass. I get a white film that covers it. It also covers my rocks if I don't siphon it often

I have tried scrubbing it off the rocks and doing water changes, running gfo, ran a UV sterilizer. Tried dosing vineager (made it worse).

Tank parameters:
Alk 8.5
Ca: 405
Sal: 35
Phosphate: 0 (hannah checker) assume it is being consumed by bacteria so it is showing 0

Did not have a nitrate test kit..

I have been battling it almost since I have had the tank set up which is 1.5 years....

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!!

jsker · Jul 15, 2016

Welcome to your first Post on R2R.
Were is
Mg
and yes I would get a test kit for No3's
I am calling in the [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] for some help on this one

twilliard · Jul 15, 2016

Are you able to take out a small rock and apply some h2o2 to it?
If so take it out, apply h2o2 to an area wait 3 to 4 minutes and put back into the tank.
Observe it for up to 72 hours
This will help identify it

dbl · Jul 15, 2016

First of all, welcome to the R2R family. You will quickly discover there are a lot of people willing and able to help. Another question for you...what is your water source? Are you using RODI or something else?

twilliard · Jul 15, 2016

Sorry I missed that!
Welcome to the R2R community!

MCFish23 · Jul 15, 2016

I have a bulk reef supply RODI unit.

I do have a rock that I can remove and try the h202.

twilliard · Jul 15, 2016

MCFish23 said:
I have a bulk reef supply RODI unit.

I do have a rock that I can remove and try the h202.

Let's start with that and we will see if we can come up with an idea that will help you.

Tahoe61 · Jul 15, 2016

Looks like marine Chrystophytes. Some hobbyist report treating it like Dino.

http://chucksaddiction.thefishestate.net/conditions.html

I agree it dose look bacterial, are you dosing anything besides the one time vinegar?

MCFish23 · Jul 15, 2016

I place Kalk in my auto top off. Other then that I dose nothing.

MCFish23 · Jul 15, 2016

twilliard said:
Let's start with that and we will see if we can come up with an idea that will help you.

I will report back! I took some before pics and will take more along the way!

melypr1985 · Jul 15, 2016

Welcome to R2R! Glad to have you with us! I've never seen this white slime before so I can't help with that part, but Twilliard has a great idea. I look forward to seeing the results of the experiment.

Salty1962 · Jul 16, 2016

Welcome to R2R! Good luck with your battle, I hope you can get it under control.

MCFish23 · Jul 16, 2016

Here are pictures of the rock 24 hrs apart after applying the H202.

MCFish23 · Jul 16, 2016

It does appear to be better, but hard to see from picture but it is definitely still there.

MCFish23 · Jul 17, 2016

48 hrs. It appears the H202 did not kill the bacteria.

What's my next step?

MCFish23 · Jul 18, 2016

72 hours later the problem still exists on the rocks that I used H202 on.

Other possibilities maybe??

Dr tims Waste away and/or refresh

Chemiclean or another similar product?

Huge water change?

Tear down and start over...

Tahoe61 · Jul 18, 2016

Tanks looks fabulous, I sure would not tear it down and start over. I am sure the unknown growth is an eye sore to you but overall it's a nice looking tank.

I would start with Dr.Tims refresh and waste away.