Bacterial bloom and nutrients

Chlorinated

Non-member
Hi all, a little background. I have a nuvo 20 that has been up and running about 5 years. AI Prime 16hd (bulk reef settings), MJ900 return, MP 10 (50% constant mode). Mised reef.

For the last 5-6 months I have been battling a bacterial bloom of some kind. My water is not cloudy, but I get this clear gelatinous bacteria that clogs my filter floss in like 12 hours and when it collects on the rocks and glass it gets strings and blows around in the current.

I change the floss daily when I feed and use a baster on the sand and rocks a couple times a week, bi-weekly water changes, but it never goes away.

A little over a year ago I started doing Vibrant. I had some alagae issues...bubble and hair....so I gave it a try. Did half dose for like 6mo and all the algae finally meted and has been gone ever since. I stopped dosing once the algae melted, then a couple months later the bacteria bloom started.

I dont run a skimmer only floss in the overflows. I have both media racks filled with Siporax and carbon in a MiniMax reacto that cloggs in a day due to bacteria rendering it useless.

I am truely at a loss as to what to do to resolve the issue.

I just purchased a Hanna ULR Phosphate kit and the Nyos Nitrate kit. Ive always tested the big 3 but ive never had kits for Nitrate and Phosphate. They were delivered today so I tested everything.

Salinity 1.025 - refractometer
Temp 77 - Inkbird/glass
pH 8.0 - API
Alk 10.8 - Hanna
Ca 450 - Salifert
Mag 1350 - Salifert
Phosphate 0.07 - Hanna
Nitrate 0 - Nyos

All looks good. But I was shocked by my Nitrate reading....probablyfrom the abundance of Siporax. I feed pretty heavy LRS reef frenzy daily with 4 fish....2 clowns, yellow watchman and orchid dottyback.

I am assuming the bacteria is just consuming all of my Nitrate bottoming it out. Luckily my Phosphate isn't too high.

So I guess my question is where do I go from here? My fish and corals are happy, but growth is slow, and color could be better. Bacteria are probably outcompeting the corals for Nitrate which would effect both. So my options are feed more to try and raise levels....feed less to try and starve off the bacteria, remove some Siporax, or something else? Hahaha

Any guidance is greatly appreciated!
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I have seen that same type of bacteria when dosing carbon. You have a carbon source? But never got that much that it clogged things.

best way to get rid of bacteria is a uv sterilizer but that only helps if it’s in the water column or find the food source.
 
I have seen that same type of bacteria when dosing carbon. You have a carbon source? But never got that much that it clogged things.

best way to get rid of bacteria is a uv sterilizer but that only helps if it’s in the water column or find the food source.
Not dosing anything to the tank. Just feeding the fish.

I don't have a uv and wasn't really planning on getting one. Was hoping to resolve in other ways.

I imagine the food source is the fish food and general detritus in the tank.

I could cut down on feeding but I don't want my fish to suffer or start agression due to lack of food.

I could feed more to try and bump up my Nitrate, but I assume the bacteria would consume it as fast as I add it.

Could try adding MB7 to try and outcompete maybe?

Open to suggestions. Thanks everyone.
 
My understanding is that there are always dozens if not hundreds of different species of bacteria in a reef tank. It sounds like you have one in particular that has become dominant.

So this is just a wild-a** guess but I wonder if making some moderate changes to your water parameters might perhaps make the conditions less ideal for that particular species. For instance, if you dropped your alk to 8, maybe raised the temp to 79, and raised the salinity to 1.027. At the same time you could add some MB7 and/or Fritz Turbostart and/or even some rubble from another hobbyist's system.
 
Worth a shot! I agree, it feels like 1 has taken over everything. I have MB7 on hand. Start a low dose once a week and see what happens
 
You did not mention your maintenance schedule. Do you change water regularly or not? I agree, changing a parameter slightly could throw off this dominant snot potentially. Your pH is not high, and I feel that a skimmer, or more water movement in the tank could help you too, not only with pH, but disturbing the slime. If you have not cleaned the sand in a while that might help as was mentioned,. Is it hard like concrete from a dosing imbalance? Just some ideas. If the sand did bind, the.n maybe the bacterial mats are a result of that nitrifying bed being dead now???
 
You did not mention your maintenance schedule. Do you change water regularly or not? I agree, changing a parameter slightly could throw off this dominant snot potentially. Your pH is not high, and I feel that a skimmer, or more water movement in the tank could help you too, not only with pH, but disturbing the slime. If you have not cleaned the sand in a while that might help as was mentioned,. Is it hard like concrete from a dosing imbalance? Just some ideas. If the sand did bind, the.n maybe the bacterial mats are a result of that nitrifying bed being dead now???
I did briefly mention in my first post but I can give more detail. Siporax in my media racks with floss on top of each. Used to change the floss when it clogged but niw its clogged in 12hr or less so now like twice a day. I use a baster on the rocks and to clean out the sand a couple times a week. Bi-weekly 5gal water changes. No dosing at this time. No skimmer. Carbon in a small reactor but its basically useless because the slime cloggs it in a day..

My flow is pretty solid, nit crazy high as its LOS and softies. Daily feeding with LRS reef frenzy.

Some parts if the sand near the rocks are solid, but have been for years due to some poorly thought out dosing long ago. Been like that much longer than this issue.

I like the parameter shift idea. Only so much I can do about pH, but Temp is easy enough. I can upp it to day 79 and see what happens.
 
Any chance doing MB 7 to outcompete it, or doing a chemiclean treatment may help? Chemiclean kills good an bad bacteria so may be enough to throw off the balance issue. Then maybe dose MB7 after?

Just thoughts
 
I am sorry I missed the WC details. I don’t even know what MB7 is, so I assume it is some bottled product. Chemiclean is a strong and scary product I am familiar with. I would advise trying to break up that sand again (lift out of tank and smash up in bucket). It might be reusable. If not then toss/replace. I would also change more water than that. We only test for a small amount of all variables that cause problems. Weekly 5-20% volume would be where I would start. Another thought... what is the flow rate through that filter stack of floss/siporax? The MJ900 May be a little weak if it is attached to elbows and hard turns after leaving the sump. Too slow a flow through in a filter like that can allow bacterial plaques to form out of control. Basically low flow is it’s best friend. It allows it to form and stay connected without disruption. Maybe ditch the floss and siporax altogether for a bit and see how the whole thing looks after that, before any other action? Honestly, if bacterial plaques form in your tank flow is not strong enough, even for LPS/softies. They can handle more than the 10% setting on the MP10 I bet. Maybe try a little higher setting slowly increase over days...
 
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Nuvo 20 is great tank.

Do you use air fresheners, glade plugins, or burn candles?
 
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I am sorry I missed the WC details. I don’t even know what MB7 is, so I assume it is some bottled product. Chemiclean is a strong and scary product I am familiar with. I would advise trying to break up that sand again (lift out of tank and smash up in bucket). It might be reusable. If not then toss/replace. I would also change more water than that. We only test for a small amount of all variables that cause problems. Weekly 5-20% volume would be where I would start. Another thought... what is the flow rate through that filter stack of floss/siporax? The MJ900 May be a little weak if it is attached to elbows and hard turns after leaving the sump. Too slow a flow through in a filter like that can allow bacterial plaques to form out of control. Basically low flow is it’s best friend. It allows it to form and stay connected without disruption. Maybe ditch the floss and siporax altogether for a bit and see how the whole thing looks after that, before any other action? Honestly, if bacterial plaques form in your tank flow is not strong enough, even for LPS/softies. They can handle more than the 10% setting on the MP10 I bet. Maybe try a little higher setting slowly increase over days...
The hardened sand it attached to the base rock...would basically have to take everything out to do it. May be worth it though.

The mj900 is my return on my 20 all in one and splits to 2 small returns..so like 6in of head pressure lol. Rated for 230gph on a 20 so 10x turnover roughly.

The MP10 is set at 50% so like 950gph. I could turn it up, and I did at one point but seemed like too much flow.

I could try upgrading the return pump. Maybe more flow through the siporax would help eliminate that buildup issue you mention. Never thought about that. Basically figured 10x for bio filtration would be enough.

Would prefer to keep the floss since it pulls a ton of junk out, plus the free floating bacteria. Changed this morning and 4hrs later....clogged.

I may up the temp to 79 and look for a new return pump...see what happens.

Appreciate the input!
 
could the carbon and bacteria source come from “feed pretty heavy LRS reef frenzy daily with 4 fish....”? Just a thought.
 
could the carbon and bacteria source come from “feed pretty heavy LRS reef frenzy daily with 4 fish....”? Just a thought.
I think this may be happening too, but it seems nutrients are not out of control. Maybe your almost daily filter change outs save you from deterioration of water quality? Basically too much food causes rapid bloom and you collect it all and dump it to start again, before nitrate / phosphate explodes... maybe. Nevertheless, good luck nailing it. Those are nice looking tanks.
 
I was referring to the original poster. I rarely feed frozen food, if I do, I make it myself using human grade sea food.
 
I was referring to the original poster. I rarely feed frozen food, if I do, I make it myself using human grade sea food.
Hi Dong, thanks for the input. The LRS is a recent thing. I was feeding Hikari pellets previously. I feed a fair bit, but only what they eat, very little goes uneaten. Also this issue started long before the swap in food. Maybe it's bit heavy and just feels that way. I feed about a 1" section over the course of 4 days. I thaw it in a small BRS squeeze bottle and feed a but each day. I only do pellets occasionally now as the fish love the frozen.

My nutrients don't seem to be crazy, but probably not accurate because the bacteria is probably uptaking it as fast as I add it.

Would you recommend me reducing feeding?

I would run carbon to pull gunk out but it clogs in less than a day and is useless.

Could flow through the Siporax be at fault like Gobyvin recommend?
 
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