Bacteria Bloom in 6 month old reef

[veselym]

I am having what I believe to be a bacteria bloom in my 6 month old 55g...My water is not cloudy but have the white stringy slime all over my sump and filter socks keep overflowing

I have not added anything other than dose 2 part...I do use plug in air fresheners but the closest one is 8 feet away and around a corner

my corals seem happy other than one zoa frag and my fish are fine. I have 2 fire fish, 1 cardinal, pair of clowns and a blenny; various hermits and snails

what could have caused this and what can I do??


parameters:
Alk 9.9
Cal 410
Mag 1280
Sal 1.025
PH 7.9
temp 79
NO3 0


I did have a fairy wrasse disappear 3 months ago, could a snail have released some nitrate into the water column by possibly uncovering it??

 

[veselym]

The only change was I started to use some garlic in their food a week ago but have since stopped...I feed the same amount each day but can't think of anything I did to cause this

The only time I have had bacteria blooms is when adding prazi pro

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What foods do you feed?

 

[veselym]

Lrs and rods original

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not sure why you have so much of what does sound like bacteria. Usually, excessive organics somehow leads to this.

Do you skim? Use GAC?

 

[veselym]

I have a reef octopus nwb110 that only runs during the day

I was running chemipure for several months but didn't want any phosphate removed so I switched to some fluval carbon from petco but took out last week...I have no lfs here so everything has to be ordered and that's why I used the fluval carbon

 

[veselym]

I just don't know if I should be doing WC's or just leave it...My gut tells me to leave it but I don't want to harm any of my coral

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I won't agonize over it, but I would run the skimmer 24/7 unless there's a reason not to (like it being in your bedroom).

 

[veselym]

I wanted to raise my nitrate a little is the only reason...I feed 2 times a day and only do WC's every 2 weeks but still have undetectable NO3

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IT's hard to know what the best way to proceed is, without spurring the bacteria even more.

As a test, I might try removing the air freshener for a couple of weeks. Scents are all organic compounds,a nd maybe your skimme ris sucking them in and allowing bacteria to consume it.

 

[veselym]

could be...I haven't ran any near the tank in a while but just bought some 2 weeks ago so maybe that is it

I would be fine if I knew what caused it but I can't figure it out and don't know whether to leave it alone

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If you see no sign of it in the main tank, it is not likely hurting anything.

 

[veselym]

There are strings of bacteria around the PH's and overflow box...none on the rocks yet but as soon as I siphon it out, it comes back

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Does it grow in the full dark?

 

[veselym]

I have no idea...I can shut off the sump light tonight

 

[veselym]

yes I believe it does grow in the dark...there are more strings in the sump today and it has no light/in a closet with 0 ambient light from 0900-0800

last time I looked was right before lights out and there are more in the return pump area

 

[veselym]

here it is...first pic is where it is the worst, by the return and second is some small strings by the overflow box

sorry for crappy pics

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If it is growing only in the light, I'd be worried it might be dinos, although they are usually more brownish. But if it also grows in places without much light, it probably is not.

Manual removal should help, and adding other types of competing bacteria may help, such as in products like MB7.

 

[veselym]

I am 99.9% sure it's bacteria...my husband reminded me that we made a dog bed box and used some stain, this was around 2 weeks ago and this started early last week

that might be the culprit, I did blast it off everything and ran a new filter sock (so far I don't see any new strings)...going to put another new filter sock on today after a small WC

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Do you use activated carbon? It can be a good way to remove organic matter that bacteria may feed on.