Bacterial Bloom in New Tank

AugustWest

AugustWest

Premium Member
It's been a long time since I started a new reef but just did due to a move. It's a 93 Gallon Marineland.

Started it 3 weeks ago. Added ammonia chloride and Dr Tims Bacteria to get the cycle started.

I have 50 lbs of Walt Smith man made dry rock along with 10 lbs of Manado Live Rock to seed it. The tank is barebottom.

I didn't want a ton of rock in the tank this time around so to compensate for so little rock and no sand I added 8"x8"x4" Marinepure Plate in the sump.

I have a Reef Octopus skimmer and am running activated carbon and Rowaphos passively in bags in the sump.

Ammonia has spiked and come down and Nitrite is about .25 at this time.

Last week I started getting some bacteria growth on the rock, started as white cottony slime balls and is now a white stringy growth.I've been blowing it off the rocks in hopes it will be removed by the skimmer and I'm running a filter sock.

My question , is it normal to have a bacterial bloom in a new tank? I am not dosing a carbon source and have not added anything to the tank that I haven't already mentioned.

Should I just leave it alone and let it run it's course? Anything I should be doing to get rid of it?
 
At this point I think I might just let it run its course. I would speculate it should burn itself out by the end of the cycle. Just my 2 cents worth good luck
 
Yeah, I'm hoping it'll just run its course. Was just wondering if it's not uncommon to have a bacterial bloom during the cycle? Concerned if maybe it's something to do with the man-made Rock.
 
I have not a had a bloom like you described during a cycle, I did have one like that while carbon dosing with vodka. I have zero experience with the man made rocks so I can't say one way or the other if this is causing any blooms like your describing.
 
I just finished cycling my 40 breeder with Dr. Tim's and i'm experiencing the same thing you described. I went with dry rock so I know it's not a hitchhiker of some kind. It's like webby, stringy snot that waves from the rock. My NWB-110 is pulling lots of snotty and foul smelling stuff, so I assume this is what i'm seeing on the rocks.
 
I have seen that when re-using rock from other tanks, even after they were re-cured for a couple weeks.

Other than that source of carbon...I have also seen it when the tank was set up around the same time some weird dust/aerosolized or home improvement project was going on.

Other than those two..in a brand new tank, id be stumped.
 
Allentown said:
...I have also seen it when the tank was set up around the same time some weird dust/aerosolized or home improvement project was going on.
Click to expand...

Funny you say that because my tank is right next to a bathroom which was just redone. There was a lot of dust from the tile and drywall patch while I was cycling, but I kept the door closed during the work. I'm real curious to see if OP also has this in common.

I also ran an AquaClear HOB packed top to bottom with filter floss, did a 20% WC, ran skimmer and am currently running ROX carbon in a BRS mini reactor and it's still there, so you got me.
 
No home improvement projects going on currently but the house was just built, completed a couple of months ago.

My wife does use those "scentsy" wax air freshners although the tank is in another room. Was wondering if it could be related to that.
 
My money is on aerosolized particles then.


Like I said, we put in hardwood floors in the entire house about a week after we moved the 90 and set up the 225. That dust was every where and very thick.


Now both tanks are going through a cloudy water stage, the filter socks cycle clog frequently, the skimmers produce massive amounts of honey like skimmate, both tanks have undetectable ammonia and nitrate and the algae all completely died off in the 90.


I was u could tag Randy Holmes, I'd really like to know what substance in dry wall, floor dust doubles as a carbon source because to me....those symptoms can ONLY be a bacterial bloom.

The only two other sources I can point to would be either my reef crystals or my live rock which was previously ran with biopellets up until a month or so ago.
 
Last edited:
Got a pic of it before work this morning:

I use Red Sea Coral Pro salt and have never used biopellets before.

mR8aALSh.jpg
 
I went through the same mess. Basically all I could do was water changes and add Dr. Tim's products. Eventually other bacteria outcompeted the goo species and things improved.

It may be an aerosolized carbon source, although I'm begining to wonder if it is not related to the use of dry rock.
 
My rock had been in a 90g reef for 3 years prior to being moved.

25G water change per week and changing carbon ever 10 days isn't helping that I can see. Changing the filter socks every 12 hours and running wet skimmate clears it up. I suppose it's possible the water changes and carbon are helping in ways I can't observe though.

fish are fine, nutrients test at 0, pH at 8.2 and my ORP is 405, by all accounts it's a very health fowlr system, just with cloudy water.

I used pink Fiji sand from BRS.

What sand did everyone else use?
 
StrangeDejavu said:
I also used Fiji Pink, but mine came from Amazon and Drs. F&S. I did not use the water clarifier that comes with the sand.
Click to expand...

I did, big mistake. First and last time. I eliminated that as the culprit already due to it happening in other tanks I run that didn't get the clarifier.

Happening in multiple tanks with different equipment, stock and maintanence is what lead me down to find what's common between the tanks.

1) Air in the house
2) Rodi water
3) Salt mix
4) Food brands
5) some of the rock.

That's it....that's what the tanks have in common. Has to be one right? Other wise the issue would be limited to only 1 tank.
 
Update on my tank. White stringy growth ( exactly like the pic a couple of posts up) seems to have slowed down

I have been blowing the rocks off a couple of times a day using a power head. Also have changed my filter sock daily. Ran some extra carbon. 20 Gallon water change.

Bacteria on the rocks has pretty much stopped growing back like it has previously. Filter socks are still clogging in less than 24 hours and water is cloudy now so i'm sure there is bacteria still present.

Hoping this is the end stages. If the water doesn't clear i'm debating on using Dr Tim's Waste Away, i've read of people having success with it. I'll update if I give it a try, have a bottle on the way from amazon.
 
Was weird on the two last tanks I setup, we had no bloom or real cycle.

Used dry rock and sand and added bottled bacteria.

Tank 1: 470 gallon + 200 gallon sump
Tank 2: 150 gallon + 75 gallon sump

Our last tanks always had them, but they were smaller and had live rock to start out with.
 
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