brown/green slim on filter....

[sinner's girl]

I don't ever remember seeing this before, sinner says it's normal. I have a hang on filter (no clue what brand, sorry). On the two filters that you put carbon in, the outside is covered in a green/brown yucky slime. I'm charging my batteries for the diginal camera now, but can anyone help me without a pic?
75gl, set up 2 years, cc, 2 ph's, hang on filter
at least 100# of lr
currently not running lights.
No fish, just inverts for the past two years
currently I have:
CBS
Serpent (five years old)
Decorator crab
cc star
green brittle star
emerald crab (I assume he's still there, he hides well, I only see him every few days)
2 urchins, I forget which kind
assorted hermits
I feed my inverts raw unseasoned shrimp, the cc star and urchins get seaweed. The invert were added this summer from swf.com
Last water levels were nitrites and am 0 and nitrates under 20. My sg and temp are changes a bit. The weather got cooler so the tank temp is cooler, about 78. The power was off for a bit two weeks ago and the filter didn't run till we got back home (say power went out early saturday, we got home Monday early afternoon). Thursday night the power was off again-no clue how long. I add to add water to the filter to get it started. Sg is 1.024, when it was 1.025 (this was lowered over a few days, I just didn't catch it till after I added water). Last water change was a few weeks ago, I was going to do one last night, but didn't when I saw the slime.
is this stuff normal? should I rinse it off? if so, with ro water or saltwater? do I need to add new carbon? is anything wrong with my tank?

 

[bigarn]

You need to take the filter out and clean it ... try doing it every couple of weeks, that's why you have the slime build up. For the critters you have keep the SG around 1.025-1.026 and temp 80-82. They need a higher salinity. I'd also invest in some lights.

 

[sinner's girl]

Thanks!
yep, I know they need a higher sg, it was higher, I had to add water to start the filter...didn't have any salt water mixed up. Plus, I kept it 1.023 for years without ever having a problem.
You need to take the filter out and clean it ... try doing it every couple of weeks, that's why you have the slime build up.
Cool, I'll do that. But what I'm wondering is why now? I've had this filter for while, it ran on my 55gl, it's been onthe 75gl for two years and I've never had build up. Does me feeding the star algea daily have anything do to with it?
Do I rinse it in ro water or saltwater? That's why I didn't do my water change last night, in case I needed the water to rinse the filter.
Had lights, they tried to burn the house down. Lights went bye bye. I have my lights from the 55gl on there now, but I haven't plugged them in yet. I have a temp issue in the summer, it's better if I keep the lights off.

 

[bigarn]

RO water would probably be best to rinse with, but I do it with tapwater with no problems.

 

[sinner's girl]

thanks, I didn't know if tap water would kill anything good in the filter.

 

[pbienkiewi]

The best way to get algae off anything is bleach and water. I soak my overflow box and tubes in the bleach and water. You only need a little bleach. It works mint.
Ps, Make sure you rinse the bleach off.