Possible bakery Flour effects on Reef tank

[Acrocrazy725]

Is this the only tank this has ever happened with?

possibly if you are sticking your hands in the tank every without thoroughly thoroughly scrubbing them, small thinly particles of flour/yeast could be on your arms or hands.

Even on clothing that may touch the water.

Interesting phenomenon.

sorry for the headache :-(

Yes,
Other tank is at home doing awesome almost 2 years. Growing some difficult acros with ease. So Far!! lol Never have mixed anything from the two. So I am 100% Safe there.
If i was working in production making bread, I would have flour on my hands and arms. I am not. Plus, I am washing my hands twice as much as usual. The only time my hands are in tank is to put a sheet of algae on a clip, and a little during water changes. We also have a good air filtration system upstairs. My office is in a large basement downstair, I also installed Blue air Hepa Air filter in office. i don't use hand lotions ect.
If i can fix it, great, if not, fish go in a safe temporary tank and once everything alive is out, i think the only alternative is to run bleach to kill everything, then prime, and keep testing till any residue of bleach is completely gone.
The scrubbing of rocks didn't work, because i believe whatever it is. Was in the pipes, because that is only thing that wasn't removed and scrubbed after last breakdown. Most people would have quit a long time ago ....lol I will find out what is causing this while whatever bacteria is alive and i can.

Forgot to mention in above post. As long as i change the completely full socks every day, i can keep it at bay. They literally fill up in 8 hours and overflow. So on my day off, when i am not here it gains a little foothold. It did this before and still doing after i installed UV. Also sending sample to Biometrics in Wisconsin (I think). One way or another will figure it out.

Thank you

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Really determined to isolate what it is that is causing this. Am resolved to the fact that might not be able to fix, but am determined to definately determine what is causing this?

Thanks

Unless you are skilled at identifying bacteria by appearance, I'm not sure how this will be useful.

I'd be more inclined to look at the stuff from the tank visually instead of trying to grow it out since there's no reason to assume you will grow out the offender and not the other thousands of species present.

 

[terraincognita]

Yes,
Other tank is at home doing awesome almost 2 years. Growing some difficult acros with ease. So Far!! lol Never have mixed anything from the two. So I am 100% Safe there.
If i was working in production making bread, I would have flour on my hands and arms. I am not. Plus, I am washing my hands twice as much as usual. The only time my hands are in tank is to put a sheet of algae on a clip, and a little during water changes. We also have a good air filtration system upstairs. My office is in a large basement downstair, I also installed Blue air Hepa Air filter in office. i don't use hand lotions ect.
If i can fix it, great, if not, fish go in a safe temporary tank and once everything alive is out, i think the only alternative is to run bleach to kill everything, then prime, and keep testing till any residue of bleach is completely gone.
The scrubbing of rocks didn't work, because i believe whatever it is. Was in the pipes, because that is only thing that wasn't removed and scrubbed after last breakdown. Most people would have quit a long time ago ....lol I will find out what is causing this while whatever bacteria is alive and i can.

Forgot to mention in above post. As long as i change the completely full socks every day, i can keep it at bay. They literally fill up in 8 hours and overflow. So on my day off, when i am not here it gains a little foothold. It did this before and still doing after i installed UV. Also sending sample to Biometrics in Wisconsin (I think). One way or another will figure it out.

Thank you

Anyone else touch the tank besides you? possibly?

 

[Acrocrazy725]

Unless you are skilled at identifying bacteria by appearance, I'm not sure how this will be useful.

I'd be more inclined to look at the stuff from the tank visually instead of trying to grow it out since there's no reason to assume you will grow out the offender and not the other thousands of species present.

Are you familiar with bio metrics ?
I believe they run a TLC and have capabilities of analyzing bacteria levels??

 

[Acrocrazy725]

Anyone else touch the tank besides you? possibly?

No, not that I know of. I have cameras in office, not that I need it, my employees are like family.
Thank you

 

[vetteguy53081]

Im imagining the atmospheric dust especially that dust when you first open a bag of flour and when the mixers start churning may have reached the tank.

 

[Acrocrazy725]

Im imagining the atmospheric dust especially that dust when you first open a bag of flour and when the mixers start churning may have reached the tank.

My wife ran a centrifuge and no flour precipitated on top.
I am also in a completely different area of building and Run a blue air hepa air cleaner 24/7 in my office.
but anything is possible. I am just trying at this point to find an answer (if possible)
If it is flour I have to break down tank, and not have one their. I am hoping not because that is a problem I can’t fix.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Are you familiar with bio metrics ?
I believe they run a TLC and have capabilities of analyzing bacteria levels??

Do you have a link?

 

[Acrocrazy725]

Do you have a link?

Sampling your aquarium

Products & Services | How it works | Order | Register Sample | Products & Services | How it works | Order | Reports | Register Sample | Account | 0 No products in the cart. Microbiome Instr…

aquabiomics.com

that is the instruction video on sample taking procedure as well.
I was incorrect about name it is aquabiomics and they are in OR.
Thank you

 

[cmoore806]

Hows the pH and dKH? Im curious about this problem as well and wondering if a layer of dust on the tank water surface would inhibit gas exchange and also wondering what the effects are of running ovens, exhaust fans/hoods are on the O2 levels in the building.

 

[X-37B]

Remove the sock for a day or two and see what happens.
I have had similar stuff and it came when I stopped dosing vibrant.
Looks bacterial to me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sampling your aquarium

Products & Services | How it works | Order | Register Sample | Products & Services | How it works | Order | Reports | Register Sample | Account | 0 No products in the cart. Microbiome Instr…

aquabiomics.com

that is the instruction video on sample taking procedure as well.
I was incorrect about name it is aquabiomics and they are in OR.
Thank you

I am familiar with them. They have a thread in this forum.

Good luck and let us know what they find.

 

[KrisReef]

It seems to be growing in the tank and landing in the socks. Have you attempted to run ~zero light period and see if this slime monster is using light to multiply in your water column?

It will be interesting to see what results you get from the bio analysis. Thanks for posting!