Particles and skin like debris floating on 13th day of fishless cycle (pictures)

[Keith024]

Hi everyone,

I would like to kindly ask for your help or guidance please.

I am in the 13th day of a fishless cycle and I am experiencing an issue. The issue is that I am finding white ''skin like'' debris and also particles floating around in the water inside the tank. This skin like thing can also be found growing on the pipes leading to the air stones and are also getting stuck in the filter intake. Please see the attached picture.

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Is this a bacterial growth or some sort of algae ?


I have also had this issue on the first week of the cylce and had managed to reduce it drastically if not all with a partial water change (25%) and some cleaning of the tank. However now it seems like it is growing once again.

Could this also be a circulation problem? I am asking this because having a 370 litre tank and an 80 ltrs sump filter with a pump that is very much able to circulate the water inside the tank 10 times an hour, I personally wouldn't think that I should experience such problem of having particles floating around in the water, as I pretend that these are caught inside the filter sponges right?

Could it also be that the intake and filter return are situated too near each other? Consequently having an issue with circulation inside the tank?

I have attached another picture below for ease of reference. The filter intake is on the left black side and the filter return is the blue pipe.

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Thank you :)

[DiscusRob]

did you rinse your sand really, really good?

[Keith024]

Yes at least I think I did. I also put boiling water on it and let it sit a few times too.

[DiscusRob]

going to need a more practiced I than mine, I can ask the obvious but that's about it. You are using pure ammonia right?

[Filip]

I have had this slimy particles in many previous tanks too Keith .
I'm not sure what they are or how are they called , but im guessing its some sort of bacterial build up.
Similar stuff gets out of my canister pipes whenever I have it shut off for more than half an hour .
Most important its harmless and it can be cleaned or siphoned out easily .Just clean it regularly and it should go away on its own once your tank and parameters gets more stable .

[Keith024]

going to need a more practiced I than mine, I can ask the obvious but that's about it. You are using pure ammonia right?

Yes I am using Ammonia but I just started using it this week since I could not it find it locally and had to purchase it from ebay. Ammonia is still high, nitrites and nitrates are still low thus cycle is still in early stages I am assuming..

[Keith024]

I have had this slimy particles in many previous tanks too Keith .
I'm not sure what they are or how are they called , but im guessing its some sort of bacterial build up.
Similar stuff gets out of my canister pipes whenever I have it shut off for more than half an hour .
Most important its harmless and it can be cleaned or siphoned out easily .Just clean it regularly and it should go away on its own once your tank and parameters gets more stable .

Filip

Ok that is good to know it is something harmless and it should go away once the cylce is finished, I will make another partial water change and clean the inside of the inside of the tank again this week and hopefully it will subside soon...

[DJW]

If you started the cycling with rotting food, this would have caused a biofilm to form on the inside and outside surfaces of the pipes. This is normal and harmless stuff. Then you switched to ammonia which would starve the type of bacteria that need organic food. Maybe that's why it is coming loose right now. I get some of that stuff whenever I disturb the filter pipes.

[OlympiaDiscus]

I had this same thing during my fishless cycle with ammonia. It hung around for a couple weeks then disappeared. No issues now and fully cycled!

[Keith024]

If you started the cycling with rotting food, this would have caused a biofilm to form on the inside and outside surfaces of the pipes. This is normal and harmless stuff. Then you switched to ammonia which would starve the type of bacteria that need organic food. Maybe that's why it is coming loose right now. I get some of that stuff whenever I disturb the filter pipes.

DJW

Yes makes sense to me as I started the cycle with frozen shrimps then changed to Ammonia. OK that should keep my mind at rest :) Many thanks for your replies it is greatly appreciated ! :))

[Keith024]

Thanks for everyone for your help :)

[Keith024]

This is exactly what I have and it seems like it is only growing on the plastic rubber tubing of the airstones and also the return tubing for the submersible pump!

In the video below I found on youtube it is also growing on the rubber pipes and suckers...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3eBumVVoYI

If the situation continues after the cyle, I will consider getting a pleko maybe it can keep it in check... before adding discuss

[DJW]

I think some types of rubber and plastic have a static electrical charge that draws minerals and proteins to its surface, and it eventually becomes a slimy substrate for living things to grow. I have looked at it under the microscope (from air line tubing in the ageing barrel) and at first it doesn't look like any living thing such as algae or fungus.

[Keith024]

I see.. makes sense...

as long as it is not harmful one can just hope it goes away with regular maintenance and cleaning once the tank is cycled...

[scrappinjaime]

I can't add anymore on the bacteria but where did you get your back ground? I love it.

[RogueDiscus]

I think in line with what Dan said, I have had that happen on new airline tubing, but once I wipe it off, I just get the usual bacterial slime after that.

[Pices]

Going to be doing a fishless cycle myself in a few weeks. Thanks for posting this question, it helped me have one less thing to worry about. Nice tank and that background is sweet!

[Keith024]

I did that background myself using jablo and plaster and then painted it... there are many DIY builds on youtube you can follow its quite easy.. it took me about 3 days to finish. It is fitted on the outside of the aquarium built in a sort of wooden frame, like that I am sure I have the least stuff inside the tank and it also gives more depth to the aquarium...

[Keith024]

Here are a couple of pictures to understand better, i didnt take pictures of the whole process though:

First pic is of the aquarium from the side, you can see that outside behind the tank is a wooden frame painted black and that is where the background is situated:

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Second picture is work in process before starting painting:

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