SPS Shallow Reef Tank Build Thread

Cool man, Im going to pick up a pair at Lowes tomorrow.

Also, "good on ya" for sticking with it. I love your set-up and hated the thought of it being broken down.
Keep up the good work!
 
Thanks Sean :)

Its just one of those things you cant give up no matter how much bad luck you have. If it wasn't for the support of all of you and my gf I would have ditched this a long time ago.

When you're passionate about something nothing can really get in the way..

Whats next?..well, fish! :D
 
Clownreef,

I went through the whole slime episodes also. I never did find a cure after 3 tear downs and build ups. I got frustrated and never set it back up after the third teardown. The slime I had was a "clear snot" substance, but not much an odor to it at all. I blamed it on my water, what did you do to get rid of yours? Also, what did you blame for your outbreaks?

Thanks
 
GRND,

Yep, thats it. It gives me shivers just looking at it. Its really the worst thing that could happen. Id take red bugs, flat worms, apstasia ANY day. All together at the same time too.

I blame it on the silicone I used (GE II w/Bioseal, which is a pesticide to prevent mold from growing). Once i removed all i could and coated it with regular 100% silicone it didn't come back. Of course, i ditched all the rock..bought new RO filters, new resin, etc.

But the worst part was cleaning all the equipment.

I think Im done talking about it..LOL..

Think back to all the stuff you used in the tank.. Im sure there is something there that might have triggered it,
 
Thanks CR

Ok, since I did not introduce any new silicone to my Finnex 30g all in one system, I'm going to blame my LR. That was th most frustrating thing I have ever dealt with.

Thanks for your inputs and goodluck with your new system, it looks great!
 
ok guys, I was running a clean tank with no problems after battling snot slime as well. I'm not sure CLOWN if you remember my posts about your experience and my previous experience with snot slime.


WELL ITS BACK.

I'm dealing with a full outbreak, its growing like mad.

ITS NOT YOUR SILICONE.

I have not change my tank setup and adding nothing or introduced any additives, etc... to my tank and for a long time many months it was running clean and clear, and I THINK I HAVE AN ANSWER AS TO WHAT IT IS.

ITS the CHAETO

Assumption obviously because Im not sure if your running chaeto or did, but may cheato ball seems to the first thing to be covered in the slime.

No my whole tank is infected!! UGHHH I am so ****ed upset, nauseated etc....

I need everyone here to throw their thinking caps on and hit my with some ideas.

#1 I dont have the money to buy new LR.

#2 I am reading GRIND's post.

#3 I have been dealing with this now for the second time.

HELP ME OUT GUY GALS

UGHH SNOT SLIME AGAIN!!

D
 
DV,

I am soooooo sorry man..I really am..

It cant be the cheato.. I never introduced it. I blame it on the silicone. That is the ONLY thing i can think of. Ive never dosed anything..no additives, nothing.

The only thing at this point that you can do is break it all down. Clean EVERYTHING, ditch the rock.. and start all over. Seriously man..trust me.

I know how frustrating this is man, i really do..and you cant let this beat you. I was about to sell everything.. This great bunch of guys is what kept me going..

Break it down. Clean everything. Ditch the rock and wait till you can buy some more. At this point, thats all you can do. This thing grows and grows and we know nothing about it.

Im really sorry man.
 
dv0920 - go post about this in the chemistry forum. Perhaps it will be something the experts of heard of. If you have pictures, post them. Mail some of this goo to someone that can test it or bring it up to your local high school for the chemistry teacher to look at under their microscope. It's really time to find out for sure what it is.
 
Clown, Man thanks for the sympathy and empathy bud, I truly appreciate it! Seriously though I did that before, I tore it all down, soaked it all in vinegar 100% soltuion too. So why did it come back now? Why did it come back suddenly out of the blue, for no reason, when for months it was running fine. Makes no sense.

I can't afford a tear down, I have an 11 month old, and I'm doing training for a new career since my last one ( real-estate) went south in about 4 months time this summer lol :(

So I have to solve this, I'll take the chances, I mean I got nothing to loose but to leave the hobby for a long time.

Ok so its not the chaeto, my tank was built by Glasscages, so silicone can't be the issue when a lot of people would have this problem if so.

Ok this problem started right after my wife ( angel that she is) bought me a zooanthinid colony while I was sick to make me feel better. Right after this slime appeared.

I first thought that maybe my alk was low, basically because I thought it was from not doing a water change in a long time. I know bad idea, but basically Ihave 2 clowns in a 90g bb tank, it's not going to produce that much poo and corals were colored nicely and growing like weeds, and not a drop of algae not even diatoms.Anyways, I found the alk was low, I raised it slowly and that seemed to help.

Then I went to my fuge and found my chaeto was covered in this snot, so I started to think maybe the ball was dying as due to lazyness I didn't trim my chaeto in a few months. Ok I did that and some of this slime got into my sump and main display, that's when it took off, Imean literally within hours.

I say it was 12hrs and it bloomed like a son of a..... well you get the idea.

I followed GRIND's thread and cleaned my tunze's which one was stuck due to some sand falling into it from the return ( fuge has dsb) The idea being to chop up the slime with high speed returns and powerheads.

Its working sorta, my tank is still yellowish white, not crystal clear like it was only 2 days ago.

So whatever this mutant strain is it took less then 12hrs to cover my tank.

My humble guess is it looks like my aquairum has a cold!

Like sinus drip X 10000

yuck no foul smell yet, but def snot streamers.

ok any suggestions guys, Clown throw your 2 3 or 100 cents in here man
cheers
D:mad:
 
Melev sorry I didn't see your post until after I did. I'm taking it to Tropicorium here in NJ tommorow. I will then contact a science facility of some sort dealign with marine biology and mail this goo away. I am beside myself. It' literally like an alien creature, I mean PH is fine 8.23 on both chemical ( salifert) and digital lab grade probe. Alk is fine as well, no nitrates or nitrites or amonia.

I am clueless and speechless, just when I thought it was behind me it rears its ugly head, like some sorta tank herpes disgusting!

D
 
I still think this is bacterial and it's being fed by carbon sources whether dosed or used for cleaning (the consistent one between you guys seems to be the use of vinegar).

I had one single outbreak of this slime months ago when I was dosing vodka. I have since discontinued dosing of vodka and I make sure that anything that touches vinegar is cleaned exceedingly well before touching the tank.
 
CANADIAN,

You are absolutely correct. The constant here is the vinegar. It came back twice for me.. both times i used vinegar excessively.

We need to find out what this is and how to fight it.
 
I only used viengar to clean after the breakout and not before hand, so that's a little bit of cart before the horse so to speak.


I don't run carbon, I don't dose vodka any longer ( i did when it first broke out)

What I don't get it is after the first outbreak, I have gone back to my old standards I learned in Fennerer's book ( conscienctious marine Aquarist) Or keeping things simple stupid method.

Sadly, I ended up in this position again.

What's weird is my corals polyps are out, and yet its slimed everywhere. The use of high powered power heads two Tunze 6060's in my 30X30X17 seems to be helping slightly, but only slightly.

My only mistake I can see was keeping the same return in my overflow box ( not the piping into the fuge and sump) and my Hoffer gurgler buster I built. But, I cleaned them in boiling water and vinegar and let them dry out.

I let my tank dry out, etc... when it happened. I am confused really, it's like a mystery here.

I WISH I HAD SOME ANSWER UGH!

You know I have to go back to what Clown said, I would rather dealing with aptasia, buble, red slime, etc.. because I know how to solve these problems. When you do a huge water change in this situation, it just gets worse usually, and you feel helpless as if no method works. Running carbon after doesnt work either I did that, there's nothing like seeing a phosban reactor filled with carbon covered in slime.

I am at a loss. Makes me want to give up on this hobby, to be suddenly blind sided by this problem is killing me. I have been in the hobby for 6 years and not since buying this tank have I had this problem.

Hmmm I'm reading what I just wrote. "since I bought this tank"

Does Clown's theory of silicone hold true?? Did Glasscages really screw me over with this build??

I'm not blaming them yet, but seriously Im thinking it might be the case.

Cheers
D
 
DV,

Its not the silicone glasscages uses. Its the silicone i used (GE II w/Bio Seal). Glasscages is NOT to be blamed at all.

Whatever this is, It grows incredibly fast and covers everything, high flow or no flow. Here is my blame list:

1) GE II Silicone

2) Dusty *** carbon i bought from BulkReef Supply. I will NEVER EVER buy carbon from there.

3)Vinegar.

Since i started the system up again, i got rid of any GE II silicone and the problem didnt come back. I've stopped using the carbon and washed everything on fresh water before adding the vinegar soaked equipment back in.

I'd say you collect some and have it looked at somewhere.
 
Back
Top