Relentless Bacterial Bloom

Jimbo · Jun 13, 2016

I Little background first. Tank is a 93 cube set up for almost 10 months. At the 2 month mark I had a terrible bacterial bloom, smoky cloudy water, white stringy bacterial growth on the rocks etc. Made a post about it at the time and always suspected it had something to do with the man-made dry rock I used ( Walt Smith 2.1 dry rock)

Ended up buying a cheapo UV sterilizer which helped quite a bit and at least kept the water clear. Figured whatever the cause I had it beat. I kept the UV going anyway but about a month ago I figured I'd remove it to make some more room under my stand. Within 2 days the tank started getting very cloudy again so I hooked it back up and it cleared in a day.

Recently the Bactrial growth seems to be getting worse again. White snotty growth mostly In the sump. It also grows in the plumbing because when I turn the return pump back on after shutting it off it blows bacteria all over the tank.

Livestock all seem healthy and the tank is predominately SPS. This is more of a nuisance than anything but it's very irritating and I'd love to figure out the cause.

Any ideas? To describe it better the bacterial growth is what people get when they overdose a carbon source like vinegar. I am not dosing any carbon source yet still getting the bloom.

For now I have been using a turkey baster to clean it out of the sump and am also using a filter sock which I have to change daily because the clog.

Any suggestions?

Jimbo · Jun 13, 2016

Whoops meant to put this in the Chemistry forum.

Diesel · Jun 13, 2016

Jimbo said:
Whoops meant to put this in the Chemistry forum.

Report your own post and explain what needs to be done and your good as a staff member will move it for you,

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 14, 2016

It is rather unusual and perplexing to have such an issue for such a long time, ever after getting a UV.

Do you skim?

Did the rock appear to have dead matter on it?

What do you use for top off?

Jimbo · Jun 14, 2016

I do skim with a Vertex 180i that does a very good job. Tank is also a barebottom.Interesting thing is I have very low nutrients as if I WAS dosing carbon,Nitrates will go down to zero f I don't dose sodium nitrate. I try to keep it at 2 ppm with the dosing. The sodium nitrate is food grade and I got it off of Amazon.

PO4 was continually testing 0 on my Hanna ULR. Sent away for a Triton test also and phosphate and phosphorous both tested at 0. I recently got a reading of 11 ppb on the ULR by increasing my feeding quite a bit. Coral color is better especially the Acro's

The rock was completely dead when added and had never seen water. It's man made and sold by Walt Smith. There is only about 55 lbs in the tank. I use a Marinepure 8"x8"x4" block in the sump to compensate for the lack of rock.

I use a Litermeter for ATO with 0 tds ro/di I dose B-ionic to maintain Alk and Calcium. I had been dosing Amino Acids in hopes of raising my nitrates but cut that out 2 weeks ago thinking that may have been feeding the bloom. Stopping doesn't appear to have affected it.

Thanks for your help, really wish I could figure this out. Very frustrating.Tank is doing great other than this issue. There is no nuisance algae at all and fish and coral look good.

Jimbo · Jun 14, 2016

Picture of the tank for reference

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 14, 2016

Sorry, I don't see what is causing it, but I agree stopping the amino acids is a good plan.

I wonder how Walt Smith makes the rock. Perhaps they incorporate some type of organic matter to create the porosity, and some of it is still there.

twilliard · Jun 14, 2016

Would be interesting to see what bacteria this is under a microscope

Jimbo · Jun 14, 2016

Pretty sure it has something to do with the rock. In doing research on this I've come across similar and even much worse bacterial blooms while using this rock. One individual tried to contact Walt Smith about the issue but got no response. Ended up tearing the tank down I believe. His issue was way worse than mine.

I wonder if it is the rock will it eventually run its course and stop causing this? Is it possible that this is the reason that my PO4 and Nitrates are so low with whatever is in the rock acting as a carbon source?

Oh , and Twilliard,I'd gladly send you a sample

Also, is it possible that this is a form of Cyanobacteria ?

twilliard · Jun 14, 2016

Jimbo said:
Pretty sure it has something to do with the rock. In doing research on this I've come across similar and even much worse bacterial blooms while using this rock. One individual tried to contact Walt Smith about the issue but got no response. Ended up tearing the tank down I believe. His issue was way worse than mine.

I wonder if it is the rock will it eventually run its course and stop causing this? Is it possible that this is the reason that my PO4 and Nitrates are so low with whatever is in the rock acting as a carbon source?

Oh , and Twilliard,I'd gladly send you a sample

I am always over the scope

twilliard · Jun 14, 2016

Jimbo said:
Pretty sure it has something to do with the rock. In doing research on this I've come across similar and even much worse bacterial blooms while using this rock. One individual tried to contact Walt Smith about the issue but got no response. Ended up tearing the tank down I believe. His issue was way worse than mine.

I wonder if it is the rock will it eventually run its course and stop causing this? Is it possible that this is the reason that my PO4 and Nitrates are so low with whatever is in the rock acting as a carbon source?

Oh , and Twilliard,I'd gladly send you a sample

Also, is it possible that this is a form of Cyanobacteria ?

By looking at the picture I am not conclusive that you have cyanobacteria
Is this a bare bottom tank?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 14, 2016

Cyanobacteria is photosynthetic so is not typically white.

ruth howard · Jun 14, 2016

Hi Jimbo, I am following. I have had a nasty slime bloom only in my open topped aquariums, not the QTs with lids. It started when I started up my AC for the summer. My evaporator in my furnace is 25+ years old. Did yours start when the weather changed? I think my bloom is airborn from the AC. My 2 tanks with and without sand and rocks that are open top have the bloom. The other 2 tanks with and without sand and rock that have lids don't have the bloom. I use the same salt and RO/DI on all tanks.

Jimbo · Jun 14, 2016

twilliard said:
By looking at the picture I am not conclusive that you have cyanobacteria
Is this a bare bottom tank?

Yes, it's bare bottom. That's coralline that you see on the bottom of the tank in the pic. I have never had Cyano, I was wondering if this white stuff may be a form of it which Randy just stated it is not.

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Cyanobacteria is photosynthetic so is not typically white.

Any suggestions on what I can do to finally be rid of this stuff? Any info on this I can find ends in a dead end.

Jimbo · Jun 14, 2016

Doesn't have anything to do with the AC as far as I know. I have considered that there is something in the air as my house is newly built... Wish I knew, very frustrating.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 14, 2016

Jimbo said:
Yes, it's bare bottom. That's coralline that you see on the bottom of the tank in the pic. I have never had Cyano, I was wondering if this white stuff may be a form of it which Randy just stated it is not.

Any suggestions on what I can do to finally be rid of this stuff? Any info on this I can find ends in a dead end.

In desperation, and antibiotic might work, such as some of the ones used for cyano (e.g., Red Slime Remover, etc.), but without knowing what species it is, its hard to know if any particular antibiotic will work.

twilliard · Jun 14, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
In desperation, and antibiotic might work, such as some of the ones used for cyano (e.g., Red Slime Remover, etc.), but without knowing what species it is, its hard to know if any particular antibiotic will work.

Agreed 100 percent

Jimbo · Jun 15, 2016

So, use A product like Chemiclean or remove the rock seem to be my only options. Anybody out there been successful with Chemiclean killing bacteria other than Cyano?

I'm hesitant to try it as the corals are very healthy and I have a bunch of Acro frags including some more sensitive ones.

The bacteria in the sump grows in 2 of the 4 compartments and it's really no big deal to suck it out with a turkey baster. The worst part is the stuff that gets blown out of the return pipe into the tank, there's always some annoying little bits getting blown around the system.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 15, 2016

The bacteria probably actually feed some filter feeders, possibly even corals.

Jimbo · Jun 16, 2016

@Randy Holmes-Farley Thinking of trying Chemiclean as it appears to have been used safely by many people. Do you know if it is only effective against Cyano or will it possibly kill this bacteria also?