Bacterial slime?

[ozziede]

Hi all,

I have this bacterial slime on the bottom of my rocks and areas not in direct light it’s been probably 2 months with this slime. The water clarity is clear but I do run active carbon.
Water parameters are:

Nitrates 23.4
Phosphate 0.03
Alk 8.6
Cal 360
Mag 1340
Ph 8.3

Tank has softies and LPS and they are looking good.


Tank is 5 months old and has diatoms which is starting to recede and a few spots of coralline algae is growing on the rocks.
I am only dosing Red Sea Alk to keep Alk constant.

Question is this a bacterial slime? What could be the cause of it? Should I be doing something to get rid of it?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Appears to be sponge which favor shaded areas (often on bottom of rock)

 

[cosicologne]

This is bacterial growth and its a good bacteria that consumes Nitrates and Phosphates and competes with negative bacteria.

 

[LeftyReefer]

I recently had the same type of slime in my DT. was in the same places too. underside of anything in the tank that was shaded.... underside of my frag racks, under over hangs, under my HOB filter, etc... It waved around in the flow and looked ugly. Snails seemed to ignore it too. Seemed to come out of nowhere, lasted a few weeks, but the good news is that it went away just as fast as it appeared. I no longer see it anywhere. I assumed it was just part of the uglies.

I wouldn't worry to much, it will probably go away on its own as your tank matures more.