White Flecks Floating Around - Looks like Small Plastic

[Cseidl89]

Does anyone know what's going on with my 3 week old tank? I have 2 clown fish and 4 small frags (zoas and mushroom) and whenever I move my pump or do a water change and turn it off, when I turn it on again these little white flakes go flying everywhere. They look like tiny pieces of plastic or small salt buildup strips? It's definitely not alive so not copepods.

Has anyone else dealt with this before? I see a lot of similar questions but not a whole lot of definitive answers. The image is a bit grainy but especially towards the top you can see the flakes.

My novice mind needs help!

Thanks

 

[stephj03]

Did you do any of the pvc plumbing on your own? If so, it could be fines from the cuts you made on the pipes

 

[mdb_talon]

Sounds like precipitation to me.

 

[anthonygf]

Get a water polishing filter to run part time in your tank. This is the one I use. It attaches to a powerhead, depending on size of tank, I run mine when I clean rocks and substrate, takes a few hours on my 75 gallon and when water is clear remove filter to clean and save for next job. Very inexpensive and a valuable tool. I use the same on my 75 gallon fresh tank.

 

[Cseidl89]

Get a water polishing filter to run part time in your tank. This is the one I use. It attaches to a powerhead, depending on size of tank, I run mine when I clean rocks and substrate, takes a few hours on my 75 gallon and when water is clear remove filter to clean and save for next job. Very inexpensive and a valuable tool. I use the same on my 75 gallon fresh tank.

Have never heard of this after 1000 hours of youtube videos - I'll give it a try, thanks!

 

[anthonygf]

Have never heard of this after 1000 hours of youtube videos - I'll give it a try, thanks!

You will be glad you did. Been using this for many years.

 

[Cseidl89]

Did you do any of the pvc plumbing on your own? If so, it could be fines from the cuts you made on the pipes

No personal plumbing. I bought directly from WaterBox with piping included however I couldn't agree more with your diagnosis - it does look like it could be piping shavings.

 

[robinluvsbishies]

I have seen it and mine was uneaten flake and frozen mysis

 

[UnderseaOddities]

It appears to be particulate matter it could be plastic it could be something from the rockwork could be something leftover from feeding(causing microbubbles or particulates) my suggestion if you have a sock replace it and have overflow empty into sock then through a media like floss or lr or bioballs or sponges then polished in sump with cheato and bacteria. Research the different microns of filter socks and try to keep the water clean and pristine

But to me it looks like pvc shavings or plastic particulate no microbubbles so no need to worry, but again it's hard to tell from pic we can only assume that it's an irregularity @Cseidl89

 

[UnderseaOddities]

That's just my 2 cents you can also run carbon and gfo in sump to help polish water aswell a good system contains(imo in order of importance) a biological(rocks sand do finite filtration within the tank, bacteria and bacillus,a macro algae and coraline) then mechanical(this is all your equipment loc line,esv lines,drains,powerhead,bulkhead skimmer, hob, canister heater, filtration media, socks etc etc) then lastly chemical(these are your bottles your abcd or whatever you dose ca mag p k iodine, aminos, water test kits, things you qt with like prazi formalin cupramin, algaecides etc etc

These are the key components to a strong system ime and will help with particulates and animal husbandry

 

[dbowman5]

when i see this i think of dust from the rock or sand; with filtration it will be removed from the water column.

 

[Cseidl89]

It appears to be particulate matter it could be plastic it could be something from the rockwork could be something leftover from feeding(causing microbubbles or particulates) my suggestion if you have a sock replace it and have overflow empty into sock then through a media like floss or lr or bioballs or sponges then polished in sump with cheato and bacteria. Research the different microns of filter socks and try to keep the water clean and pristine

But to me it looks like pvc shavings or plastic particulate no microbubbles so no need to worry, but again it's hard to tell from pic we can only assume that it's an irregularity @Cseidl89

Fantastic input! I have the replacement socks shipped and in-route. I need to do more research on bioballs, I wasn't sure I would necessarily need that but if the outcome of not having them is this particulate floating around after every water change, it's worth the assistance. Thank you!