Clear Slime? Bacteria? What is this

[Dutchsuperman]

My tank has again been hit with a clear slime I haven't been able to identify after googling every key term I can think of. I had this happen a few months back and did a full tank reset to get rid of a few pests I wanted anyways, but now its back and making everything mad

The main symptom is this thick clear goo that forms on everything and gets into slimy strands. Few pictures below of it. It also causes cloudy water. The first time (no UV sterilizer) I couldnt see much more than a foot or so into the tank. With the UV its holding it at bay, but noticeably cloudy.

Any ideas?

Tank Parameters
Total water volume: ~200gal
40watt UV sterilizer plumbed into the return
Salt: 1.025
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 1
Phosphate: 1
Alk: 7.8
PH: 8.0
Cal: 380

 

[Spare time]

Do you dose nopox or any other form of carbon dosing?

Out of curiosity, do you have an air freshener near by?

 

[Dutchsuperman]

Do you dose nopox or any other form of carbon dosing?

Out of curiosity, do you have an air freshener near by?

You're fast! I was working on a few more details I forgot to add, but no and no are the quick answers

no vodka dosing
no air freshners
Only dosing is b-ionic two part
only filtration is skimmer and a filter sock

 

[Spare time]

You're fast! I was working on a few more details I forgot to add, but no and no are the quick answers

no vodka dosing
no air freshners
Only dosing is b-ionic two part
only filtration is skimmer and a filter sock

Interesting.

Is this a frag tank with no rock or sand?

 

[Dutchsuperman]

System has a frag tank and display plumbed into the same sump

Barebottom in all tanks, but quite a bit of rock

 

[Dutchsuperman]

System has a frag tank and display plumbed into the same sump

Barebottom in all tanks, but quite a bit of rock

Also worth noting. The first time it happened I had sand in the display

 

[Spare time]

Also worth noting. The first time it happened I had sand in the display

Is it just into the frag tank or in the display too?

Also, the only level that seems off is nitrate (very low).

What salt do you use?

Did you recently add any new rock or anything?

 

[Dutchsuperman]

It is in all 3 tanks, frag display and sump

No new rock or anything

Salt the first time around was fritz, I'm switching over to reef crystals. About 3 40% water changes in to the switch.

 

[Spare time]

It is in all 3 tanks, frag display and sump

No new rock or anything

Salt the first time around was fritz, I'm switching over to reef crystals. About 3 40% water changes in to the switch.

I wonder if it would be handy to dose nitrate. My usual plan of action is to get numbers where they need to be and start from there.

A lot of time this bacteria comes about when there is something to "feast" on. Some try microbacter clean, fritz monster, dr tims waste away, and such to outcompete it.

I had this when I used nopox

 

[BostonReefer300]

That definitely looks like a bacterial bloom. I got bad ones when I tried out carbon dosing with biopellets. Once I stopped the carbon dosing, the problem eventually went away. Of course, it required large water changes and manually removing tons of that goop. Since you're not carbon dosing, I'm unsure about what's contributing to this bloom. Are you adding bacteria regularly? Doing heavy feeding?

 

[Dutchsuperman]

No bacteria additives and no changes to feeding amounts. (About 2 cubes a day, same routine for 2+ years at this point)