White Egg crate problems....Help if you can!

[oceaninabox]

Has anyone ever had a problem with brand new white egg crate causing a slimy residue all over the system? I have a new system that I started with all "virgin" components. I.E. the egg crate, buckets, tank, sump etc... Everything in the system was pristine except for the live rock which came from a well established system. I dont know if this is simply a new tank syndrome or what but this stuff is like a slimy bucket of .....for lack of a better term SNOT!!!!! It clocks my filter socks withing 24 hours and I am hoping it will just go away in time. anybody ever experience anything similar?

 

[AlexStinson]

we have a snot-like algae that appears in our sps system.... not related to the egg crate i dont think

 

[oceaninabox]

Mine is in an LPS tank.

 

[gparr]

That white egg crate seems to produce snot algae, and eventually other algaes for everyone. Most who have dealt with it treat new egg crate by soaking in vinegar or bleach to remove whatever it is that is food for algae. Once treated thoroughly, people don't have the problem. I'll look around later to see if I can find a recipe for treating the stuff.
Gary

 

[nino78]

I have had my filter socks clog up with something slimy before also. Never really knew what caused it. One day the sock looked fine the next the water was spilling over the top. I do have egg crate in that system. Not sure if that's what caused it though.

 

[gparr]

Found mostly passing references for how to clean, but plenty of complaints about new egg crate causing serious algae blooms. Most cleaning involves either bleach, vinegar, or both. Don't mix the two together. Here's a paraphrase of the most specific approach:
Put the egg crate in a bathtub with hot water and bleach for an initial cleaning, then a long soak in vinegar.
Gary

 

[shred5]

is the snot light brown? if it is that would be dinoflagellates.

If it is clear it is bacteria.

Eggcrate is a plastic and plastic can leach phosphate some more than others and that is why algae grows on it. In most cases it is very small amount depending on the grade or type of plastic.


Dave

 

[highpower9979]

i think they release phosphates

 

[SaraB]

I've noticed the new white eggcrate being more problematic than in the past with algae issues! I threw mine out and got black instead!

 

[blaze98]

I had this happen to me when my calcium levels were kind of high and the eggcrate was very close to my MH's. The snot like stuff appeared and started to take over the tank. Once I removed the eggcrate and let my calcium levels come down it went away.

 

[Frankie]

I just went through this in my frag tank. Funny, I just posted some pictures on another forum. I will share them here. I have been having problems for about 3 weeks now and ended up removing the white and going with a more heavy food grade create. you will note that the hair is mostly on the frag bases but a week ago it was on the create very bad. I removed it and tried to clean it but have given up after this appeared on the frag bases.
Last night:

After manually removing all traces of it last night and replacing the white egg create:

I will try and remember to update this is a few weeks.

 

[DaveJ]

Go with black or get white acrylic. The Poly Styrene stuff attracts the worse kind of algaes, even after it encrusts with coralline.

Frankie, where did you find the square holed stuff??

 

[oceaninabox]

Good stuff guys. Just an update...It has slowed down quite a bit so hopefully were on the downside now. It's only on the egg crate and not really blooming anywhee else.

 

[Burks]

I had the same issue when I had white egg crate. Only on the egg crate, never any place else.

Only conclusion I could come to was the egg crate possibly leaching something that attracted the algae.

I need to find a better solution locally.

 

[chazde3]

Had the same issue on a temporary frag tank that I had set up. It was a nasty snotty algae, easy to remove during a water change with a siphon hose.

 

[GregAW]

Where do you find the black egg create?

 

[mfinn]

Where do you find the black egg create?

http://www.modernplastics.com/eggcr....html?osCsid=1398773f7991877bd673107b3024e294




I had the same problem with the white material. About 3 years ago I painted the egg crate with the spray paint for plastic. Seems to work just fine. Even after removing some coraline covered pieces and chipping off the coraline the paint remained.

 

[BaconLuver]

Frankie, where did you find the square holed stuff??

bump for an answer pls.

 

[UFreefer]

I used to always have the same issues but they stopped when I swapped the white eggcrate out for the black acrylic. I think that either the white eggcrate leaches phosphates or because of how porous it is...it is just a good home for bacteria and algae

 

[benjabba]

I have had the same problem in the past. Now when I add new eggcrate I clean it throughly with soap and water and then let it dry for a while. Next time you get some rub your fingers on it and you will notice that is it oily on the surface. It probably has something to do with the manufacturing process. I haven't had a problem using it since.

Ben