Something strange...

[JasonKlink]

There’s something going on with my tank and I don’t know what it is... I have a 225 tank with a skimmer, UV and calcium reactor. When I blow off my rocks (2 x daily) with a small powerhead it looks like someone shook up a snow globe in my tank. I have a MP60 on towards the bottom on the far end of the tank, a 350 gyre on that same panel and an mp40 on the other end on the back panel. There’s plenty of flow in the tank abs it’s a bare bottom tank. I’ve tried taking a toothbrush and scrubbing all the rockwork in my tank as well. However this stuff keeps coming back! When I look at the rockwork there’s fine hair like (mostly clear with a light white) all over it. It’s there the next day after scrubbing the rock with a tooth brush. I have been changing my filter socks daily and they’re a light brown tannish color. I’ve been siphoning off the stuff (post powerhead blast) that settles into the filter socks and replace them daily. Anyone ever encounter this? I thinking about trying urchins or possibly interceptor (removing all inverts of course).

 

[JasonKlink]

It’s so fine that it doesn’t show up in pictures well. However here’s a pic.

 

[Tired]

Stop scrubbing your rocks. It rubs off the beneficial algae and biofilm growing on it, leaving room for pest algae to grow.

Can't tell much about the stuff on the rocks. Can you take a pic under white lights?

 

[EW_Fish]

What happens when you blow it all off and has no where to go well it goes back onto the rocks. Get CUC and let those guys do all the dirty work. Its okay to blow off the rock work when doing a water change because you can suck up most of it but other then that only some of it will make it into the overflow the rest will just find a deadspot

 

[vetteguy53081]

If blowing off rock, force particles to the overflow or net it.
All reved up with no where to get places it back into system

 

[JasonKlink]

If blowing off rock, force particles to the overflow or net it.
All reved up with no where to get places it back into system

I siphon off what settles into the filter socks and some goes into the overflow. I then change out the filter socks.

 

[JasonKlink]

What happens when you blow it all off and has no where to go well it goes back onto the rocks. Get CUC and let those guys do all the dirty work. Its okay to blow off the rock work when doing a water change because you can suck up most of it but other then that only some of it will make it into the overflow the rest will just find a deadspot

I suck up what settles into the filter socks. Some goes into the filter socks via the overflow. I have a hermit crabs, Asteria snails, Mexican turbos and cleaner shrimp. I

 

[EW_Fish]

I suck up what settles into the filter socks. Some goes into the filter socks via the overflow. I have a hermit crabs, Asteria snails, Mexican turbos and cleaner shrimp. I

Not trying to be mean but you are not getting it all and what you dont get settles back onto where ever there is a dead spot and its mostly rock.

 

[Scorpius]

Stop scrubbing your rocks. It rubs off the beneficial algae and biofilm growing on it, leaving room for pest algae to grow.

Can't tell much about the stuff on the rocks. Can you take a pic under white lights?

No, blowing off your rocks won't hurt the biology growing on them. With that logic I shouldn't have any flow in my tank then.

 

[EW_Fish]

No, blowing off your rocks won't hurt the biology growing on them. With that logic I shouldn't have any flow in my tank then.

He said scrubbing because OP said hes used a toothbrush.

 

[Tired]

Blowing the rocks off is good, yes, it helps keep gunk from collecting. Scrubbing them removes the stuff that you want growing on the surface of the rock, and can severely hinder the maturation process, at least of the exterior stuff.

 

[Camaro Show Corals]

You have very few dead spots so you have no place for detritus to settle except the rocks, if you had a corner for it to settle in then when you do a water change you just siphon out that spot and your good.

 

[JasonKlink]

You have very few dead spots so you have no place for detritus to settle except the rocks, if you had a corner for it to settle in then when you do a water change you just siphon out that spot and your good.

That’s exactly what I’m doing when I blow off my rocks. There’s 1 spot that the detritus settles. That‘s when I siphon off the detritus into the filter sock and change the filter sock. This is the same approach that people use when dealing with Dinos. My rock structures are built from Haitian rock, so it’s not the typical porous rock with large holes for detritus to settle.

 

[JasonKlink]

That’s exactly what I’m doing when I blow off my rocks. There’s 1 spot that the detritus settles. That‘s when I siphon off the detritus into the filter sock and change the filter sock. This is the same approach that people use when dealing with Dinos. My rock structures are built from Haitian rock, so it’s not the typical porous rock with large holes for detritus to settle. Yes, I have used a toothbrush a few times to see if I could remove the fine hair like stuff on the rock. However, I’ve mainly been blowing off the rockwork and siphoning. This morning I noticed some of the white stuff even came off an Asteria snails shell.

 

[excell007]

It could be calcium precipitate. What are your other parameters? I have read somewhere on this forum that high Alk together with high Calcium and PH on the high side can cause the calcium to precipitate.