pink slimy hair

[Susan Bates]

I have been fighting this for a long time now, it is send me crazy,I have been everywhere to try and find out what it is,so can someone on here please help,grows in my tank,in my sump, clogs up my pumps and does not need light

 

[Mike_J]

It's hard to tell from this picture as it's not the clearest, but could it be you have some bad infestation of worms going on there?

 

[jsker]

What are your tank parameters.
Ca?
Mg?
Alk?
Po4'?
No3?
[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] going to need some help on this one

 

[Sabellafella]

I have been fighting this for a long time now, it is send me crazy,I have been everywhere to try and find out what it is,so can someone on here please help,grows in my tank,in my sump, clogs up my pumps and does not need light

Doesnt need lights? Possibly(most likely) a type of bacteria. Whether its a few new pieces of live rock or bac dosing, Try adding a different strain of bacteria along with manual to removal to combate this. Has it affected any tank inhabitants?

 

[rc8t6353]

Are you carbon dosing. I had a similar problem while using nopox.

 

[Susan Bates]

It's hard to tell from this picture as it's not the clearest, but could it be you have some bad infestation of worms going on there?

No, it is a hair like stuff

 

[Susan Bates]

Are you carbon dosing. I had a similar problem while using nopox.

It started before I started using it

 

[Susan Bates]

What are your tank parameters.
Ca?
Mg?
Alk?
Po4'?
No3?
[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] going to need some help on this one

ca 480 mag 1200 alk 8 p04 0.03 no3 20-30, this has had everyone just about in the state scratching their head

 

[melypr1985]

Could you possibly get a clearer picture? Try to get the best, in focus one you can. Let's see if @Lionfish Lair can lend a hand with an ID. I think we will also call in @twilliard as well.

 

[jsker]

Mg should be around 1450, nitrates should be at 3 to 5 ppm. What kind of tank are you running? Mixed reef, reef, or fowlr? The picture is of it in your sump, correct? What about a picture of your tank please.

I would say it is green hair and with you raise your Mg to 1380 and lower you Ca to the 450 range and getting your nitrates down below 5 you will see your algae issues dissapere. I would do some kind of carbon dosing to

 

[cameronh]

I've never seen this. If it is bacteria, do like others have said. However if you want to knock it out there is this stuff called red slime......but it does not discriminate between good bacteria and bad bacteria. I used it in my tank once and it did great. But let's save this for last resort.

 

[saltyhog]

Sure looks like the bacterial bloom I got with carbon dosing. I cut my dose in half and it drastically improved.

 

[Lenny_S]

Sure looks like the bacterial bloom I got with carbon dosing. I cut my dose in half and it drastically improved.

That's strange, maybe just a coincidence. Organic carbon is used by heterotrophic bacteria, which to my knowledge are in the water column and occur singularly, not in colonies like this is.
Could still be bacteria, but since the OP stated it started prior to carbon dosing, I doubt that is the cause.
However, definitely wouldn't hurt to stop the dosing until this is resolved.
It really looks more like cyano to me... @Susan Bates, are you sure this is also growing in places of total darkness?

 

[twilliard]

It does look like a bacteria but it is all guessing unless under a microscope

 

[kireek]

It may be this type of algae. http://www.melevsreef.com/node/458 I believe the common name is cotton candy algae.It is just awful.Does it pull off with relative ease?

 

[JMacedo]

I am on my second month of fighting this kind of bacteria and I don't have very good news for you... but there is hope! This pinkish/tan stringy bacteria is really stubborn to eliminate.

About two months ago I decided to reduce the flow trough sump from 10x to 1x to make all the water go through my 2 UV units while maintaining very strong flow in the display tank. Two things happened; more detritus kept floating in the water column in the display tank and I started to notice this bacteria building up on a nylon filter sock that is part of the Tunze 9430 skimmer. In a matter of days the outlet of my skimmer looked like a big stringy, jelly thing, next it covered the drop-in coil, took over the glass walls of the sump, pipes, tubing and even the entire overflow box.

This bacteria does not create a bacteria bloom like the bacteria fed with a carbon source. The water remains clear!

Stopped carbon dosing to try to starve it, to no avail! My NO3 and PO4 levels went up but no visible results! I emptied the sump and overflow box and washed them with freshwater ant let them to dry... filled with new saltwater and it looked nice for a day but I knew there was plenty within the pipework and to my frustration in just three days the bacteria took over the sump and overflow box again!

Cleaned sump and overflow box again and gave it 2 doses of Chemiclean... I know Chemiclean is for cyano but decide to give it a try anyway. The same bacteria came back again!

The bacteria never got a hold of the display tank, my sps didn't lose colours, so two things could make a difference, flow or/and light as the display tank has both strong flow and strong lighting and the sump has not.

Removed filter socks and a bag with GAC as this bacteria can also be found mixed with the activated carbon grains, and cleaned everything again (except inside pipework). Also I increased the dose of different strains of bacteria, using Fauna Marin Marine Bakto Therapie and Marine Bakto Blend.

This time I went with 10x flow through sump and things are improving.

For the past two weeks the same bacteria came back but much less, yesterday I cleaned everything again and the sump was much cleaner than the overflow box. There is a reason for that, only the top of the overflow box has moving water, so now I have removed the Durso standpipe to see if things keep improving. Didn´t bother to place some lighting over the sump.

So... there is hope!

Overflow box yesterday before cleaning:


Today:

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I've had this two. It's a bacteria bloom. Usually from carbon dosing or high VOC in the tank area. Is your tank near the kitchen? Are there any room scented candles near it?

 

[Jimbo]

I have this same stuff @JMacedo It's been a long battle for me also. It's never really effected my display tank either with no effect on the corals. Mine is more whitish in color but looks pink out of the water.

Increasing the flow through the sump has helped quite a bit for me too. Cutting back on dosing Aminos has helped too.

Still get some stubborn growth in 2 of the 4 chambers in my sump. Grows like a skin on top of the water and the long stringy stuff loves to grow on the probes . Likes to grow on the walls of the overflow also so I drain and clean that during water changes. I remove it daily from the sump with a turkey baster and it is under control but I cannot get it to stop. Loves to grow inside the plumbing also but that has lessened since increasing the flow.

Very frustrating. I sent a sample to @twilliard who identified it as bacteria which I expected. Hydrogen Peroxide and Chemiclean have no effect on it. Wish I could figure out the cause.

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I have this same stuff @JMacedo It's been a long battle for me also. It's never really effected my display tank either with no effect on the corals. Mine is more whitish in color but looks pink out of the water.

Increasing the flow through the sump has helped quite a bit for me also. Cutting back on dosing Aminos has helped too.

Still get some stubborn growth in 2 of the 4 chambers in my sump. Grows like a skin on top of the water and the long stringy stuff loves to grow on the probes . Likes to grow on the walls of the overflow also so I drain and clean that during water changes. I remove it daily from the sump with a turkey baster and it is under control but I cannot get it to stop.

Very frustrating. I sent a sample to @twilliard who identified it as bacteria which I expected. Hydrogen Peroxide and Chemiclean have no effect on it. Wish I could figure out the cause.

I have a fix, but I need to know my previous questions.

 

[saltyhog]

Interesting JMacedo. Mine went away when I stopped carbon dosing, took a couple of weeks. Mine was so bad that when I turned the return pump on after being of for whatever reason it would spew big globs of the stuff all over the tank.