Bacterial growth in new tank

[Stingray122]

Hi, my tank has just finished cycling a few days ago. I have noticed a large amount of white stringy growth on my tank. It covers the glass, rocks, and some even has started in the sand bed. I followed BRS's ULM cycle method and had the tank covered in tagboard for a month along with a feeding of a pinch of pellets daily. I used Dr. Tim's One and Only to kickstart the cycle. I noticed this growth after removing the tagboard, it was covering everything. I scraped a lot of it off the glass and turkey bastered a majority of it off the rocks. I have read 0 ammonia/0 nitrite along with low levels of nitrate for around a week now. I started skimming a week ago and my refugium has been running since day 1 with decent growth. Is this bacterial growth normal? I have browsed many threads about it and it seems none have an answer on how to combat it. It seems that the bacteria loves the high flow areas, I see the most directly infront of the two powerheads in my tank, and this can be seen in the photos below. I do not want to use a product like waste away unless its truly needed due to the fact it could off-balance my bacteria that are currently present in the aquarium. My filter socks clog with this stuff in around 4 hours after basting a majority of it off, but it always returns some in the following days. Any ideas on how to combat it? Is this tank fish safe with this large bacterial growth in it? I have two clowns that I am hoping to add to the tank soon as they have been in QT for a month and are ready to enter the tank. Should I let this run its course before adding them? How long would this take?

Background system information:
40 gallon breeder
30in Trigger sump
Maxspec razor 180w (been off since day 1)
165w LED grow light for refugium
Reef octopus INT-110 skimmer
Shadow overflow
Single return

 

[brandon429]

you have some options. that's the common silting that occurs from not pre rinsing the live sand before use, it goes away in time and is swept up in mechanical filtration as it develops a biofilm coating and the other portions that may indeed be new tank bacteria settling in from cycling can simply be cleaned.

a hallmark rule of the cycle completed tank is that water changing cannot ever undo that cycle no matter how often or how much volume, and that includes recently completing a cycle. done is done


you can easily wait or just take the tank apart rinse it all back to clean and put it back together and proceed, cleanly. you can do that anytime you want for the life of the tank, we show in large threads.

 

[Stingray122]

Taking the tank apart would be a process. If I continue cleaning, and then do a series of water changes, do you think it would slowly lower its growth? Its definately not as bad as it once was, its not returning in crazy strength or anything. That picture of the bank of the tank would be the original growth, as I cannot reach back there. I am getting something to scrape it off with today on the back portion. Is this enough? How long can I expect this to last, and is it fish safe?

 

[brandon429]

It's just an eyesore not an enduring problem

Agreed rip cleaning is easier for smaller tanks on this one why not run this: reach in with pressed flat paper towel wad and wipe inside up and out. Then for the rocks and sand area just siphon hose maybe with some creative dislodging fronds taped around the front ... wick up the mess inside. Still doing manual work as a recurring theme in always making a tank investment do your bidding vs the other way around but at least it's not full parted cleaning to enjoy your setup. Hose dislodging is cheap exporting water changes until surfaces nature and run themselves


This guidance will lessen quickly then shift to diatoms then cyano, remove them all.