Mrs Wages Pickling Lime

[jay357]

Has anyone had any issues using this for their Kalkwasser? I have been using it and it seems to work good but I keep getting this scum/film on the surface water. I dont have a sump so there is no surface skimming happening on my tank. Could this Mrs Wages lime be the cause of the film on the surface? I also made my own fish food mix out of stuff from the fish market and I am thinking that mabey the scallops I put in the mixture were oily or something else in the mixture may be causing it.

Is Mrs Wages OK?

Jay

 

[BtheReef]

The scum is probably a combination of several things. If you don't have a sump, I'll assume you don't have any type of surface skimming either. Proteins and waste materials will accumulate on the surface if there is insufficient water motion to break them up or remove them (as overflows do).

Also, when mixed in water the lime will form a scum on top. This is a calcium buildup and not organic like in the tank. So, both of these can cause a scum on top. Oil from the seafood will also accumulate here.

What this all comes back to is this. Don't worry about what caused it, try to incorporate a system that will remove it. Adding a skimmer is the best way to remove these undesirable nutrients. For the short term, aim a powerhead at the surface to at least break up the scum and help oxygenate the water.

And yes, Mrs Wages is OK.

Good Luck!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do you have a skimmer or run carbon?

 

[jay357]

Oh yes. I have a AquaC Remora with a upgraded pump ( 526 gph Viaqua ) this skimmer rocks. I also run 2 cups carbon changed every 2 weeks in my Magnum 350 canister ( using no mechanical filtration in this other than what gets accumulated in the carbon ) and I also have a 2 little fished phosphate reacter with their phosphate remover. I also change 15 - 20 gallons religously every 2 weeks. 55 gallon tank with 2 maxijet 1200 running along the back glass glancing off to make turbulance. I also have one of those seio M620 powerheads blowing along the front glass. The Maxijets are runnong on a Red Sea Wavemaster Pro. I think this should be plenty of water movement. At the moment even if I aim the powerhead at the surface only a small portion of the clear surface can be seen. In other words there is quite a buildup of scum up there on the surface. After I do a water change it subsides some but comes back in 24 hours. Without adding limewater or feeding. Mabey I will buy one of those Remora skimmer boxes....but I will have to take out my upgraded pump and go back to a Maxijet 1200 for the skimmer as the skimmer box screws/clamps to the powerhead. I had one of these before and I hate how it looks in my 55 gallon tank. Gee with the 3 powerheads plus the viaqua pump on the skimmer and the small one running the phosphate reacter there is hardly room for my liverock. Just kidding but I do have a lot going on in there.

Jay

 

[jay357]

Heres a few pics of my tank so you can get an idea of what I have.

Jay

 

[jay357]

Randy I have no sump or surface skimmer.

Thanks
Jay

Could this all be Calcium precipitate even if I dont have a snowstorm happening in my tank? My Cal levels all checkout fine on my Salifert test kits. I am using Crystal Sea Marine Mix salt, Mabey thats it? Should I switch to IO? When I was using IO before I couldnt keep the alk where I needed it. The Crystal Sea mixes perfect and stays there. Oh Yea.....I also have a Reverse Osmosis unit reading 0 TDS. Thought I should mention that.

Cal 375
Alk 9dkh
0 Nitrite
5 Nitrate
0 Phosphate

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Some sort of surface skimmer would help a lot, IMO.

Could this all be Calcium precipitate even if I dont have a snowstorm happening in my tank?

No, I don't think so. I expect it is primarily organic.

 

[BtheReef]

How long has your tank been set up? Has this always been a problem with the tank or did it just recently become an issue? Did it start only after adding the lime or maybe the seafood mix? How did you dose the lime?

Nice tank BTW. I assumed in my first post that you were new to the hobby, but it looks like you have had good success so far.

The AquaC Remora is a hang on the back skimmer I believe. I think you could find some info in the DIY forum on how to implement an overflow box into the skimmer to increase its performance. This would certainly help.

 

[jay357]

My tank has been setup here for only 2 months. I moved from Moses Lake to Vancouver ( 350 miles ). I rinsed my sand in saltwater twice b4 setting back up my aquariums. I stored all my livestock at a LFS here in Portland ( Seahorse Aquarium Supply I highly recomend them for corals. Woodys a super nice guy and very willing to help). So b4 I moved the tank it was setup for about 15 months. The move went well and there was little die off in the liverock with only a short nitrate/amonia cycle.

I am going to guess that its the seafood I made. I took Mysis,Krill,Clam,Oyster,Prawn,Squid,Octopus,Scallop,Formula1&2 frozen cubes about 12 each,Selcon and then added Boyds Vita-Chem to the mix. Pureed all this very fine and then bagged it up and froze them in flat zipplocks. I break up small chunks to feed my fish and corals. Im thinking that mabey there was a greasy/oily type of seafood in the mix of stuff. The fish love it and have put on weight and their colors have really improved. The corals gobble the stuff up to. I bet this is it. Mabey I should mix up saltwater in a 10 gallon tank then add some of this food I mixed up then wait to see if there is a oil slick/scum that forms.

Jay

 

[Roland Jacques]

yeah its sounds like oils/protine. an easy way to get ride of it is take copy/printer paper and lay the sheets on the suface of the water only for a couple of seconds then pull them off. (you should turn of the water pumps first) the copy paper is made to absorb ink=oils. this should suck up all the film(if it is protine which i am sure it is from your food .... ) a better more permenent fix would be to implement an overflow box into the skimmer .