Grey Oily Substance

[KingfishJohn]

All,

A maintenance tank of mine has come into a weird issue that I cannot explain and I cannot seem to fix. For background the tank is:

~750 Gallons
*Sequence Dart Return
*Red Dragon II Closed Loop
*120w UV
*1000mg RK2 Ozone
*RK2 Fluidized Sand Bed Filter
*Wet/Dry Filter
*BK400 EXT skimmer, Deltec AP600 for ozone

I change carbon (4 Liters) monthly. The tank has a fake coral background (tank made by AGE). I've run the ozone at no more than 10% to keep the ORP above 300. Recently I've gotten a greyish oily substance accumulating on everything and killing the foam head of my skimmer (I think). It sticks to plastic (inside of PVC included) and is hard to wipe off.

Does anyone have any idea what it could be without seeing pictures? MY hypothesis is either ozone broken down carbon, ozone broken down algae, or ozone breaking down the background of the tank. I've discontinued the ozone completely for the time being and am doing 20% waterchanges weekly with 2 feet of poly filter as well.

Thanks for the help,

John

 

[jimsplace]

What kind of material is the background made of. One Randy's articals on ozone has a list of materials and how strongly they are affected by ozone. My guess is that the background material is being eaten up by the ozone.

 

[KingfishJohn]

The insert is actually fiberglass. I have no idea how well fiberglass holds up to ozone?

John

 

[mikedelgado]

Is it possible something mechanical like a pump or powerhead is leaching the oil

 

[KingfishJohn]

Hey Mike,

I don't think it is actually oil as there is far too much of it. Think of normal looking detritus but add a greasy quality to the mix.

 

[jimsplace]

What kind of additives / food are you using?

Are there any visible signs on the background that might show that it is breaking down? Might want to check with some fiberglass suppliers on how well it holds up to ozone.

 

[bigtex52]

Check the waterproof seals on your Dart. The wear surface of the seal is made of graphite and graphite dust has a greasy feel to it and sticks to everything. Think about emptying the pencil sharpener in elementary school.

 

[crazzyreefer]

I would check your chiller... Freon is an oil and can leak out of your chiller if there is a leak... That is where I would start..

 

[bigtex52]

Actually, freon is not an oil, but the compressor in a refrigeration system does contains an oil charge. If your chiller is still running normally , I doubt that you have a leak there.

 

[crazzyreefer]

Freon gives off an oil residue, it only takes a small leak to give off the freon, but the chiller can still be working, it just takes more time, the only way to tell is to pressure test it.

 

[Marc]

My guess would be that the coral decorations and the background of the display tank need more investigating. I have seen problems with fake rubber corals break down and do that. Also what type of hoses are you running, PVC, Flex maybe??? If so than it has to be something directly in the display tank. Coral decorations have been known to degrade over time especially if you are running ozone.

Marc