Dr. Tim's Waste Away Gel - too much too fast?

[Kongar]

Anyone running a smaller tank and have had issues with the gel version of Dr. Tim's waste away? I fought a battle with dinos recently, and as part of that, I tried adding some waste away. Both the liquid and gel versions (different times). While I can't say it helped with the dinos, I didn't notice any negative effects either, so I kept up with the regimen. 4 days ago, I changed out the gel pack and put a fresh one in. Next morning, I could tell something was off, I should have done something right then and there - but I didn't. There was a white film covering everything and my corals didn't look too happy. I figured it'll pass in 24hrs, and let it be. Anyways, it didn't pass, and I have what I think is a huge bacteria bloom and my corals look terrible. Knowing that's the only real change to the tank this week, I pulled out the pack. Much to my displeasure, I found a clearish white mass, kind of like a jellyfish consistency, in the back of the tank where the gel pack was. It was about the volume of a softball. I scooped it out as well, and it smelled terrible. I'm making water now and I'll do a 50% water change to hopefully get things back on track. Did I do something wrong, is this a known thing, or just a fluke? Maybe something wrong with the gel pack? Right now, I'm thinking I won't use the product again and if I feel the need for waste away, I'll stick with liquid form. I think the gel pack released too much at once and created an issue?

 

[Spare time]

I cant imagine it would be the gels. I have put 3 of 75g versions in my 75g (not including sump) without issues and sell a lot of them at my work. That bacterial glob you are talking off sounds like something that occurs in tanks from carbon dosing issues or possible air fresheners near a tank.

I doubt it had anything to do with the dr tims.

 

[Spare time]

You could also contact Dr tims as I have had good experiences with their customer service. As I said before that would not make sense for the gel given how slowly it releases and that I think its different bacteria.

 

[Kongar]

Could be, but there's two things still leading me to believe it was the gel pack. 1) that blob was around and attached to the gel pack. It wasn't just stuck to it - it was coming from inside the holes on the side. 2) It's been 24 hours since I removed it and my corals look happier, and there's no more blob. Maybe they can go bad, or aren't clean or something /shrug. Worth mentioning the prior pack I used didn't do this at all. I'm just going to chalk it up as a fluke and move on.

 

[Spare time]

Could be, but there's two things still leading me to believe it was the gel pack. 1) that blob was around and attached to the gel pack. It wasn't just stuck to it - it was coming from inside the holes on the side. 2) It's been 24 hours since I removed it and my corals look happier, and there's no more blob. Maybe they can go bad, or aren't clean or something /shrug. Worth mentioning the prior pack I used didn't do this at all. I'm just going to chalk it up as a fluke and move on.

Thats strange. I would ask Dr tims about it just out of curiosity since I have never heard of that issue

 

[smallfry]

I put one of these Gel pack n my tank on Monday and literally just pulled it an hour ago. It set my skimmer off like crazy but figured that would pass in a couple of days. Its been since Monday and it didn't stop. When I pulled it I saw the exact same gel/jelly you are describing and the super foul smell. The interesting things is, the smell is the same smell as Brightwell's Coral Amino. That is probably just coincidence, but they still smell exactly the same. Anyway, after 1 hour of removing the gel my skimmer calmed down. I like using the Waste-Away product and wonder if the gels weren't a little too much for my 29G nano. BRS has listed on their site that the medium (1-Pack is for 30 gallons, but when I got the pack it said it was for up to 50 gallons. I think it has a compound in it similar to the Re-Fresh product that foster faster bacterial growth. I have a feeling that is what the gel was. I like Dr. Tims product, so I'll probably give the small gel a shot sometime in the future.

 

[Arturoven]

Hello guys. Just checked my waste away gel and had se same film aroid the plastic and smell very bad. Does anyone has a response of what it is?

 

[jrill]

The white film is normal. Dr tim talks about it in several of his podcasts

 

[SlugSnorter]

Anyone running a smaller tank and have had issues with the gel version of Dr. Tim's waste away? I fought a battle with dinos recently, and as part of that, I tried adding some waste away. Both the liquid and gel versions (different times). While I can't say it helped with the dinos, I didn't notice any negative effects either, so I kept up with the regimen. 4 days ago, I changed out the gel pack and put a fresh one in. Next morning, I could tell something was off, I should have done something right then and there - but I didn't. There was a white film covering everything and my corals didn't look too happy. I figured it'll pass in 24hrs, and let it be. Anyways, it didn't pass, and I have what I think is a huge bacteria bloom and my corals look terrible. Knowing that's the only real change to the tank this week, I pulled out the pack. Much to my displeasure, I found a clearish white mass, kind of like a jellyfish consistency, in the back of the tank where the gel pack was. It was about the volume of a softball. I scooped it out as well, and it smelled terrible. I'm making water now and I'll do a 50% water change to hopefully get things back on track. Did I do something wrong, is this a known thing, or just a fluke? Maybe something wrong with the gel pack? Right now, I'm thinking I won't use the product again and if I feel the need for waste away, I'll stick with liquid form. I think the gel pack released too much at once and created an issue?

I think you put too much bac and caused a bloom

 

[Spare time]

The white film is normal. Dr tim talks about it in several of his podcasts

Could you link that? I'm not disagreeing I just like listening to his chats lol

 

[jrill]

Could you link that? I'm not disagreeing I just like listening to his chats lol

I don't remember which of his podcasts he talked about. It come up often when he answers listeners questions. Search for his channel on YouTube or a podcast app.