Ok This Film Is Getting On My Nerve!

ChitownRomeo

Active Member
Ok this is getting annoying. I have this white "Film" All on my back glass and rocks. No snails will touch it. Troches, Nerite, Margarita or turbos. Also its making my sand clump up. There is no cyano ( I know what that is. Had it long time ago) I have tried wet skimming, Water changes, Dr. Tims waste away to no avail. Lights out does nothing. It easily wipes off the glass but its harder to get off the rock. And I NEVER had my sand clump up before in all my years of reefing. Kinda weird. Any Help?

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mr_tap_water

Well-Known Member
Hi there
Are you using bio pallets or any sort of carbon dosing by any chance.


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spiraling

Well-Known Member
I have something that looks really similar. It seems to keep any coraline from growing. I'm thinking dinos, but I welcome other opinions. I also have a film that grows on top of water. It is clear and a bit sticky when I scoop it out. Do you have that too?
I have a simmer, powerhead, gfo/carbon reactor and dosing nopox (daily) and fuel (once a week). I have another tank that gets nopox and fuel without this problem.

Tagging along to figure out what it is!
 

ChitownRomeo

Active Member
Could be a bacterial film or as I just found out it seems to be just some film algae that also grows on the back glass. I let mine "Cake up" So to speak. Just got a Denture brush and went to town on my rocks and added some margarita snails. Made a nice dent in it. As for the film on top I'm taking it you don't have any form of surface skimming. That's why you see the film on top. This will get rid of that, if you don't have any other form of surface skimming.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=27119
 

StevesLEDs

RS Sponsor
It looks like some type of biofilm. I had it years back in my 210g. Mechanical removal scrubbing) was only a temporary fix for me. The only way I was able to get rid of it was with hydrogen peroxide H2O2 dosing. I can remember exactly what my dosing was, but I remember it sloughing off the rocks and stuff after only a couple days of dosing.

Not sure if hydrogen peroxide is still an acceptable practice these days, so perhaps other experienced members can confirm it is? I recall I had about $4,000 worth of corals in my tank at the time, and nothing else was adversely affected.

Hope that helps?
Jeff
 

ChitownRomeo

Active Member
Thanks Jeff I'm going to look into that! I used some dr tims one and only and then some Seachem Stability a month later and a few days later boom rocks were covered. Manual removal wont do anything. Grows right back.
 

spiraling

Well-Known Member
As for the film on top I'm taking it you don't have any form of surface skimming. That's why you see the film on top. This will get rid of that, if you don't have any other form of surface skimming.

I do have surface skimming with my reef octopus HOB. Right around the entrance to the skimmer there is none. I would imagine more surface movement might slow the growth though. Its good to know it is a separate issue than the the stuff on the rocks.

Jeff I agree it may be a biofilm. I may take out a bunch of the rocks and give them an H2O2 dip to see if that kills it, because brushing does nothing.
 

ChitownRomeo

Active Member
Thanks alot Jeff. I turned off my whites and just run the blues and also have been dosing 1ml of 3% peroxide per 10 gallons a day. Day 4 and rocks look about 65% better!!
 
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