Thin layer of white sludge on surface??

[ernestlives]

I have been noticing a thin thin layer of a slimy/dusty buidup in the corners of my tank where there not a lot of surface agitation...any idea what this is and how i can get rid of it without manually scooping it out? Rest of the tank is fine, params good. Any help is appreciated. thanks

 

[landlord]

Is it like an oil slick or particulates?

 

[vetdog]

I am having a similar problem too. I have this "dust" coating on the top of my water surface and it is driving me nuts. I do not know how to get rid of it. Any opinions?

 

[ernestlives]

Well when i agitate it manually a little it turns into little white pieces that float around in the tank..

 

[landlord]

I used to have the oil slick effect going on in my tank which went away when I started thoroughly rinsing my frozen food and pointing the return output towards the surface. I still get small vorticies in the corners where the occasional piece of food swirls around but not like before.

 

[ernestlives]

Landlord, now that you mention it, it does seems to build up more with the more frozen i feed and i do not rinse it...is this causing the problem?

 

[bph0013]

sounds like a bacterial bloom. If you're overfeeding or dosing too heavily with phyto or zooplankton that will happen. Cut down on the feeding and make sure there is good circulation on the surface and it should go away in a few days. I assume you have a sump so the surface is being skimmed as well?

 

[landlord]

Could be, it was for me. Do a test, get a clear casserole dish or something and simply dump a cube in and wait and see. You will probably notice an oily layer towards the top. Frozen food has some funky liquid associated with it. Over the last 3 months I have simply dropped a cube in a brine shrimp net and ran it under warm water for about a minute until everything melts and can get a good rinsing. It seemed to drastically remove the slime layer I was getting. Not to mention the phosphates / nitrates or whatever lurk in the frozen cube.

FWIW --landlord

 

[ernestlives]

BPH - Thanks for the suggestion but i dont dose any of that and i've had a bacterial bloom in my old tank before and this is a lot different...i'm gonna go with landlord on this one and start rinsing my frozen. Thanks landlord

 

[landlord]

no worries