Please help. ID growth in tank with Vinegar.

VicD81 · May 4, 2014

I have been leak checking my tank for over a week and the first couple of days was straight water. I added Vinegar after about 3 days and really started to see all the oils come off and accumulate in the last chamber if my sump. Before bed and in the morning I would skim the last chamber to remove all the oils. I figured why not warm the water, that should really strip the oils from the plumbing and after 2 days with the heaters on I ended up with this disgusting growth all over the tank. I have no idea what this is and how it would survive (If it is something that is indeed alive). I must have added about half a gallon of Vinegar. That is a picture of a course floss in my overflow. There was a lot more just floating around and stuck to the glass. I was initially thought it was sponges but how could it thrive in all this vinegar. I drained the tank added more tap water and filter floss in the sump to catch the rest of the floaties. Should I take any extra precautions and what the heck is this stuff?

Alabamareef · May 4, 2014

Only a guess but I'd say the vinegar has stripped some nasty stuff off your tank or plumbing. I would say to wash the tank out and it should be fine. Vinegar is used to clean lots of stuff, always works well to clean off your pumps, skimmer ect.

Reefing Madness · May 4, 2014

Thats just a bio product of dosing. Its just a nasty snot bacteria. Just remove it when it builds up. But why on earth did you add so much vinegar to the tank at once?

VicD81 · May 4, 2014

Ive always added a good amount to a bucket when I clean my pumps n junk so I figured more water volume more vinegar. I ran it for a couple of days with straight water and the amount of oils that kept accumulating was crazy. So without thinking that there could be any ill affect I dumped half a gallon to really strip it.

Reefing Madness · May 4, 2014

Its not an ill effect to the system, it creates a bacteria that eats out nitrates, when to much is accumulated in the system this kinda snot bacteria grows. Its not going to harm anything, just looks nasty.