floating junk on water surface

pyro

pyro

Active Member
Ok, still fighting red slime bloom fairly unsuccessfully. Still no reading of any NO3 or PO4 and keep adding powerheads, but doesn't seem to be affecting it all. Lights are 2 X 96W of PC and are on about 5-6 hours a day.
I have noticed there are floating "flakes" on the water surface of my display tank. I am wondering if something went sexual with my plants and they are putting spores out or anything along those lines. I havent' gotten a chance to take a picture of it, bu tthey almost look like tons of small greenish brown fish food flakes.
I have an emperor 400 and an overflow for surface agitation, but doesn't seem to be helping.
Any suggestions?
Thanks.
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
Bulbs are about 3-4 months old, they should still be very good on the specturm.
Overflow goes down to a 10g sump. The macro's aren't tightly jammed in there, I'm pretty good about pulling them out to keep them growing. There is myricle mud in the sump though, thinking that might be the root of all my problems now that it's been over a year.
Do you guys think between 45lbs of liverock and my emperor 400 on my 30g reef I have enough biological filtration to just replace the mud and clean the sump out completely? I want to add a baffle runnign length wise so I can do half one macro half another, and then can replace the mud by the half easily. I don't feed heavily at all and there are only 3 or 4 fish.
 
jester805

jester805

Member
I have similar lighting and noticed (what looks like) dust floating on the top of my display tank. I added a 20 gallon sump a month ago and figured it was somehow related to that. I also have an Emperor 400 and about 60 pounds of LR. My display tank is a 75 gallon.
I think my lights should be replaced because they are 1 year old. But would lights cause stuff to float on the top of the water????
 
W

winstew

Guest
Turn your pump and filters/ powerheaders off and let the water settle. See if the "dust" is actually moving around. Just an idea maybe the surface is one of the lowest flow spots in your tank.....
 
jester805

jester805

Member
Originally Posted by Winstew
Turn your pump and filters/ powerheaders off and let the water settle. See if the "dust" is actually moving around. Just an idea maybe the surface is one of the lowest flow spots in your tank.....
Ok, I turned off all of my pumps for a little bit and watched the water. The surface still looks like there's dust on it..... BUT.....it only looks that way directly below the lights. All around the outside of the surface water it looks very clear. What do you think???
 
W

winstew

Guest
I don't want to jump to anything but it almost seems like you have something in your water. A contaminent of some sort. Somehing that floats on water and creates a prism under light. Kind of light what oil does with water. I would say maybe next time you do your water change take it off of the surface vice in the tank.
 
jester805

jester805

Member
Originally Posted by Winstew
I don't want to jump to anything but it almost seems like you have something in your water. A contaminent of some sort. Somehing that floats on water and creates a prism under light. Kind of light what oil does with water. I would say maybe next time you do your water change take it off of the surface vice in the tank.
It just seemed to happen since I added the sump tank to my system. I pulled my Emperor 400 off of the display tank and put it in my sump. I also moved one powerhead from the DT to the sump.
By doing this, I have less surface agitation. Could that be why I am just now noticing this? I do 10% to 20% water changes every weekend. My water is pretty clear, but my nitrAtes are up around 40 parts per million.
 
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winstew

Guest
those trates are kinda high... It is very possible that you might have had it the whole time and just not noticed it or maybe there was a film on the inside of the sump when you bought it or if you made it the silicone could not have quite cured yet.....
 
jester805

jester805

Member
Originally Posted by Winstew
those trates are kinda high... It is very possible that you might have had it the whole time and just not noticed it or maybe there was a film on the inside of the sump when you bought it or if you made it the silicone could not have quite cured yet.....
Now that you mention it, I did use silicone to install some baffles in the sump tank. I was supposed to let it cure for 24 to 48 hours. I think it only cured for about 23 hours or so. If that's the problem...what can I do about it??
 
W

winstew

Guest
its hard to say. Some of the thicker spots or the corners might not have cured yet. Uncured silicone can kill small animals. Not just fish but cats and what not. How long ago did you use it? What is the water volume of the tank? How many and what size were the baffles? What kind of silicone did you use?
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
Mine's not a film, it's actual crum/slime. I can actually skim large chunks of it with the net and I have a ring of it around the glass at the water line. I'm really wondering if it is off the Myricle Mud in the sump. Either that, or with my luck, plant spores or something from something bad.
Thanks for the help so far =)
 
jester805

jester805

Member

Originally Posted by Winstew
its hard to say. Some of the thicker spots or the corners might not have cured yet. Uncured silicone can kill small animals. Not just fish but cats and what not. How long ago did you use it? What is the water volume of the tank? How many and what size were the baffles? What kind of silicone did you use?
I used a kind from Menard's that is specifically for aquarium's. (Don't know the brand name off the top of my head). I have 4 acrylic baffles that are all smaller than 1/4 inch. I glued all of the baffles in several weeks ago. One of them came loose a week later. I think it was last week sometime when I tore the sump down and re-glued that one baffle.
Hey Pyro, I 'm sorry... I didn't mean to hijack your thread.
 
pyro

pyro

Active Member
Not a problem at all.
I think I'm just gonna go ahead and pull the whole sump out and make a couple modifications (gate valve =P), clean it out really well, and put new mud and everything in it. I should have plenty of biological filtration with the dual biowheels and all the live rock. Plus, dont' feel much anyways.
...Now I just gotta wait and get money in to buy the stuff with =P. Prom burns a whole in the wallet real quick. I dunno though, if that doesn't work I have no idea what it could be. Ohh well.
Thanks for all the help everybody =)
 
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