Skimmer Effluent?

[92reefer]

My tank is now one and half years old and I'm still trying to get it under control. It is fish only, with Marco rocks and Carib Sea Fiji Pink sand.

Currently only 3 fish in the tank: 2 chromis and 1 firefish. I've been battling a nasty slimy, whitish/light-brown colored stuff that has covered the sand at times and also took over every bit of the rock surface.

I've been using Dr Tim's Cyano and Algae RX (per their suggestions I'm most likely dealing with some type of bacterial growth) with limited success. The nasty, stringy stuff was almost gone and I was dosing Dr Tim's Waste away weekly and the stuff came back with a vengeance; covered every nook and cranny of the Marco Rocks. I took all of the rock out, bleached it, rinsed it and put it back in the tank in 1/2s. Did half of the rock on the first 3 days and then did the remaining half. So far the tank seems pretty clear and the fish are healthy and eating, no issues.

There is light brown/golden area growing in the middle of the tank on the sand. it's not long enough or big enough to really see what it is or take a picture. The other thing is my skimmer is producing a very dark yellow-light-brownish skimmate.

Pic is attached. Does this color/consistency look normal and if not, does anyone know what the darky yellow stuff might be. I've also changed felt filter socks every other day as it's filling up with something but I don't really see anything in the sock. Hoping this is just a phase and the tank is finally on it's way to becoming healthy and sustainable for a few more fish...
Added 2 pics of tank with the rock before cleaning of the darker brown whispy stringy stuff and 1 after with the bleached/cleaned Marco Rocks..

 

[MinnFish]

What size tank? Water parameters? Light schedule? Sump or Fuge? CUC, pods? Looks like caramel color. I'm no expert on skim mate colors. Maybe someone will chime in on the reason for the yellow skims. How long did you allow the rock to fallow? Before you added back into the tank?

 

[92reefer]

What size tank? Water parameters? Light schedule? Sump or Fuge? CUC, pods? Looks like caramel color. I'm no expert on skim mate colors. Maybe someone will chime in on the reason for the yellow skims. How long did you allow the rock to fallow? Before you added back into the tank?

Waterbox 105.4 (77 gal display 28g sump). Lighting 6 hours all blues at 27% and white at 8%. No fugue, just sump with filter sock and skimmer. No clean up crew, pods etc.

Ammonia, nitrate readings are normal. Salinity 1.024. Did not measure Calc, Mag etc. since this is a FO system. I bleached the rock overnight and then rinsed for 24 hours before adding back to tank. Had absolutely no smell of chlorine or anything else prior to re-entry to the tank.

Yes, I never had golden/yellow skimmate before. Only dark green on my past tanks so this is rather strange..

 

[JohnL]

never had golden/yellow skimmate before. Only dark green on my past tanks so this is rather strange..

Strange indeed

 

[92reefer]

What the heck is going on in my tank?????

My tank water has had a yellowish/organe tinge for about 10 days now. I've gone through about 8 filter socks in this time all clogged and dark yellow/orange in color, as well as the skimmate in my skimmer.
What the heck can this be and how do I fix this?

 

[melev]

No that's not normal at all. Do you look at your tank under white lighting? Blue hides everything.

It's coming from something, to be sure. Once I was in a similar situation with really strange colored skimmate, and it turned out my son was using up all the Formula 1 pellet food. When I gave him Formula 2, the skimmate color changed to that, because he was overfeeding that too. lol

 

[92reefer]

No that's not normal at all. Do you look at your tank under white lighting? Blue hides everything.

It's coming from something, to be sure. Once I was in a similar situation with really strange colored skimmate, and it turned out my son was using up all the Formula 1 pellet food. When I gave him Formula 2, the skimmate color changed to that, because he was overfeeding that too. lol

Yes under whites is a yellow/orangish tinge to the water, just like is seen in the skimmate and filter socks. My RO/DI is 7 stage BRS only about 1.5 years old. TDS reading is 1 out of the RO and of course 0 out of the 3 stage DI.

I'm at a loss.

I added Seachem Clarity yesterday and some filter floss in addition to the filter sock. Says it clears the water in 1-2 hours, yeah that didn't happen. Still the same cloudiness this morning and the Clarity made it a bit darker as it is not a clear additive.

Wondering what to do next. I only have 3 fish and I feed a tiny sliver of spirulina brine once a day, with maybe a few flakes (3 or 4) for the firefish because the 2 chromis eat the brine so quickly. That's it!! Not much of a bio load..

Truly frustrated on where to go next????

 

[kharmaguru]

Probably crysophytes. Annoying and can live on basically nothing. Cerith snails eat it but you would need a lot of snails and it would need to settle on the substrate.

It sure looks like iron as well but not sure where that much could come from unless you have a stack of rusting magnets somewhere.

Any recent phosphate/nitrate measurements you could share?

 

[melev]

Do you run carbon in a reactor? 1/2 cup per 50g is usually enough. You said the tank is 1.5 years old but the rock looks pretty barren.

 

[92reefer]

Probably crysophytes. Annoying and can live on basically nothing. Cerith snails eat it but you would need a lot of snails and it would need to settle on the substrate.

It sure looks like iron as well but not sure where that much could come from unless you have a stack of rusting magnets somewhere.

Any recent phosphate/nitrate measurements you could share?

Haven't tested either of those lately because I'm FO

 

[92reefer]

Do you run carbon in a reactor? 1/2 cup per 50g is usually enough. You said the tank is 1.5 years old but the rock looks pretty barren.

I don't run carbon or a reactor (don't have reactor). The rocks are clean because I was battling a nasty white, light brown whispy stringy stuff; bacterial as I've been told for many many months.

I've been using Dr Tim's Refresh and Waste Away to battle that stuff. It finally consumed all the nooks and crannies of the Marco Rock so I removed half, bleached it, rinsed well and returned to tank. Did the other half of the rock a few days later. Tank was looking pretty good then I started to notice yellowish/orangish stuff on the surface of the sand. After about 5 days of that is when the tank water started to get the yellowish/orange tinge and the filter socks and skimmate started with the same color.

Does that help with the clues?

 

[92reefer]

Probably crysophytes. Annoying and can live on basically nothing. Cerith snails eat it but you would need a lot of snails and it would need to settle on the substrate.

It sure looks like iron as well but not sure where that much could come from unless you have a stack of rusting magnets somewhere.

Any recent phosphate/nitrate measurements you could share?

I have a BRS Titanium heater. 1.5 hears old. Doesn't look like it's rusting or that the seal has been compromised etc..

I have a Flipper Magnet about 9 months old that stays in tank but again I don't see any exposure of the magnets to the tank..

I can't see Iron getting past my BRS 7 stage RO/DI, especially with 1 TDS out of the RO. Wouldn't the TDS meter pick up on that if IRON was somehow getting through? I've changed sediment filter once in the 18 months but still on the original carbon blocks

 

[kharmaguru]

I have a BRS Titanium heater. 1.5 hears old. Doesn't look like it's rusting or that the seal has been compromised etc..

I have a Flipper Magnet about 9 months old that stays in tank but again I don't see any exposure of the magnets to the tank..

I can't see Iron getting past my BRS 7 stage RO/DI, especially with 1 TDS out of the RO. Wouldn't the TDS meter pick up on that if IRON was somehow getting through? I've changed sediment filter once in the 18 months but still on the original carbon blocks

It's not from your RODI water for sure. It would have to be from something in the tank. I had a hydor impeller that split and continued to function so I never noticed the rust until I decided to clean it one day. With no metal source I'm still thinking it's an organism - some type of crysophyte or diatom (although diatoms should perish once the available silicates are used up). With FO you might consider adding a UV sterilizer if nothing else sorts it out.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Try a Poly Filter pad, they change colors depending on what it removes so you might find it that way.

 

[melev]

Was thinking more about this today... what about a contaminant in the room, something that wasn't present previously? Air fresheners, candles burning, etc... What is happening now that wasn't happening a year ago in that room?

 

[92reefer]

Do you run carbon in a reactor? 1/2 cup per 50g is usually enough. You said the tank is 1.5 years old but the rock looks pretty barren.

I added some carbon in a mesh bag in one of the filter sock compartments as I don't own a reactor. Yes tank is 1.5 years old but don't run much white spectrum in the lights and have been using Dr Tim's which helps keep the sand/rocks pretty clean

 

[92reefer]

Try a Poly Filter pad, they change colors depending on what it removes so you might find it that way.

I did put a poly filter in and it changed to the same color as the skimmate and filter sock, dark yellowish/orange..

 

[92reefer]

Probably crysophytes. Annoying and can live on basically nothing. Cerith snails eat it but you would need a lot of snails and it would need to settle on the substrate.

It sure looks like iron as well but not sure where that much could come from unless you have a stack of rusting magnets somewhere.

Any recent phosphate/nitrate measurements you could share?

Haven't tested for NO3 or PO4 lately as I'm just fish only no invertebrates or corals etc. / I was thinking Iron or rust too but agree that would have to be a ton to stain the water and rocks so badly.

Electronics in the tank right now:

1) 1- BRS Titanium heater in the sump: Inspected and don't see any form of rust or that the seal is compromised
2) AI NERO 5: Inspected from outside, only 1 year old and didn't see anything out of the norm
3) Sicce SDC 7.0 about 1.5 years old, visual inspection didn't see anything out of the norm
4) Green Killing Machine 24W UV sterilizer on the bottom of sump. COULD THIS BE THE CULPRIT? I read about the impellers rusting, and it releasing some kind of element into the water but could a rusting impeller really cause all that iron/rust to turn the entire tank, rock and filter socks orange? Haven't taken it out of the water or disassembled to check the impeller as of yet...

 

[kharmaguru]

Green Killing Machine 24W UV sterilizer on the bottom of sump. COULD THIS BE THE CULPRIT? I read about the impellers rusting, and it releasing some kind of element into the water but could a rusting impeller really cause all that iron/rust to turn the entire tank, rock and filter socks orange? Haven't taken it out of the water or disassembled to check the impeller as of yet...

I would say yes if it indeed turns out to be rusted. Rotating, grinding and pumping it out in one fell swoop.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Sounds like a winner to me.