White gunk in hose?

[arintel]

Hello Everyone,

 

Every time I stopped and restarted the return pump, there was some white/translucent stuff that looks like snow flakes coming out of the hose into the display tank. It grew on the inside of the hose and at high-flow areas like on the glass right where water comes out of the return line.

 

The white stuff was growing very fast recently and it would significantly reduce the flow rate of the return line just over a few hours, day or night (which seems to indicate it's not related to lighting). However, interestingly, for the last few days, when I used PhosGuard to reduce the phosphate level from over 5 ppm down close to 0 and used CopperSafe to treat ich, I noticed that the white stuff has been reduced significantly, too. Also, the skimmate from my protein skimmer turned from yellow (before) to almost black now with lots of bubbles in the collection cup that do not collapse to be liquid.

 

I have the following questions:

1. What exactly is the white stuff?

2. Was it reduced by CopperSafe or by the low level of phosphate?

3. Was the black skimmate a result of dead ich or the dead white stuff?

 

 

Thanks a lot,

Arintel

 

[Integral9]

Sounds like bacteria in the lines getting blown out when the pump starts up. Which is not uncommon if the tank had been around a while. I wouldn't be surprised if the the reduced nitrates aren't starving it. The black stuff in the skimmer means it's working, probably pulling the dead bacteria out. You might need to adjust it though. I try to keep mine up so that it needs to be emptied about every 3 days.

 

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