Question About White Buildup On Glass

Danielreef · Oct 31, 2013

Hey Guys, I've been a member for a few week (and now supporting), but an observer for about 7 months. I have a 30 gallon reef tank with a 26 gallon refugium (CPR Aquafuge Pro Small). I wasn't really going to start posting or asking questions until the Spring when I upgrade to a 70 - 90 gallon tank, but I've got a question about some white crusty buildup that I've got going on. I'm sure it's along the lines of what you can get along the top of the water line from calcium or salt, but the buildup is all along the sides of the glass (inside) from top to bottom.

As far as water parameters go, I've been trying to follow the Red Sea's suggestion on levels for high growth of my corals to get them going.

Alk - 12
Mag - 1400 (little high but I do NOT dose and it likes to stay around there)
Cal - 460
Alk - 12
Nitrate - 0.75
Phosphate - 0.03
Salt - 1.026

No carbon dosing since my overkill refugium keeps nitrate and phosphate so low

Two Vortech MP-10's
Generation One Radion (future upgrade to pro with new tank).

Everything is either right at or just below the recommended levels for the high growth.

The picture below is really the best I can take. Hopefully you can clearly see what I am talking about on the side of the glass. Any other requests for more pictures please don't hesitate to ask and I will gladly oblige.
I hope I got all the basics covered. I see all the time where people are asking what's your this or what's your that so I wanted to prevent that.

Thanks guys :smile:

Daniel

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Danielreef · Oct 31, 2013

Anybody with any thoughts?

ritter6788 · Oct 31, 2013

I really can't tell from the pic but seems like there were some comments about Red Sea Coral Pro leaving a white residue in mixing containers. I haven't heard of it being like that in tanks but maybe someone can chime in that knows more about this salt.

Danielreef · Oct 31, 2013

ritter6788 said:
I really can't tell from the pic but seems like there were some comments about Red Sea Coral Pro leaving a white residue in mixing containers. I haven't heard of it being like that in tanks but maybe someone can chime in that knows more about this salt.

Hmmm thank you for the input. I'll have to look into that. I know that my LFS uses that coral pro when I go up there to get saltwater mix for my water changes. Thank you.

ritter6788 · Oct 31, 2013

Here's some info I found with a quick search here.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-chemistry-forum/68565-red-sea-coral-pro-salt.html#post757723

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-discussion/85383-red-sea-salt.html#post927728

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-aquarium-discussion/113742-red-sea-coral-pro-salt-causing-hair-algae-problem-4.html#post1270013

Danielreef · Oct 31, 2013

Thank you for the links. What people in the forums seems to have been experiencing is a film build up in their mixing buckets. The five gallon jugs that I have are white already so I don't know if there is also a film on them or not. Also they seem to be able to just wipe it off the sides where what is on the sides of my tank is encrusted and takes a lot to scrape it off.

I'll try to get some better pictures when I get home from class.

Thank you.

Danielreef · Oct 31, 2013

Did some trick or treating with the kids. Hope these three pictures help describe what I'm encountering.

Thank You

Squishie89 · Oct 31, 2013

Do you think it could be snail eggs?

Danielreef · Oct 31, 2013

Squishie89 said:
Do you think it could be snail eggs?

Hmmm... That would be a ton of eggs since since it would probably cover the entire tank on the inside glass if I didn't keep scraping it off. If it were colored then I would think algae, but since my nitrates and phosphates are basically zero I know it's not that. I did a lot of googleing and surprised I haven't been able to find any others that have experienced this.

Thank you

Flatbrook · Nov 2, 2013

I use coral pro and never had that problem. Is it on any other equipment like your power heads, etc...? Coralline trying to start possibly?

Danielreef · Nov 2, 2013

Flatbrook said:
I use coral pro and never had that problem. Is it on any other equipment like your power heads, etc...? Coralline trying to start possibly?

Yea I've noticed it build up on my magnetic glass cleaner thing and overflow. The tanks been set up for about 8 months and it's been doing this for only the last week or two.

I've been slowly bringing down the levels to a little lower then the high growth that Red Sea recommends to see if that will help the buildup. Especially with the calcium.

Thank you.