Hello and Help

tdenham735

Reefing newb
Hi everyone...

I'm fairly new to saltwater aquariums. About 6 months now. Things seems to have been doing ok, a few ups and downs trying to get everything right. Finally things seem pretty stable PH is about 7.8, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrates about 3.0, but hard to tell with API kit. Took a while to get Nitrates down. Bio pellets seems to have brought them down after about a month from 20 ppm. Salt level is 1.024 using refractometer. My lighting are T5 HO. Two power heads, 750 and a 650. I have a 30 gallon sump with 150 Reef octopus skimmer. Nothing in the sump except a couple of rocks and bio pellets.

Not much algae since Nitrates have been down...I need to get a kit to test phosphates...I had the local pet store test my phosphates and they said it is very low and fine.

Recently I've noticed what looks sort of like sponge, growing a lot high flow areas...it also is sort of flaky and breaks loose easily causing small floating particles. I've cleaned the rock, walls, filters, etc...but it just keeps coming back.

Anyone have an idea what this is and how to get rid of it.

I've posted a couple of photos...one of the wall showing growth after only two days after cleaning and one of the floating debis. There is a lot under the rocks, but difficult to get photos because of low lighting.
wall.jpg
floating.jpg


Thanks and hi to everyone here! Looks like a lot of good information here!
 
I can't tell exactly what you're talking about...

Is it like a big clump of stuff? Or is it a bunch of little "heads"?

Sponges are harmless, generally.
 
I can't tell exactly what you're talking about...

Is it like a big clump of stuff? Or is it a bunch of little "heads"?

Sponges are harmless, generally.

It's the small spots on the glass...looks kind of spongy, but it's getting all over everything. It actually accumulates and gets like a large sponge...gray and ugly.

Especially on the rocks...if I let it go it would cover everything.
 
Just keep pulling it out, then. Stronger lighting would help. They like dark, dirty water.

Thanks...I'll give that a try...now that I think about it, this stuff started showing up when I shortened my lighting period. I have my lights on a timer and had set them back to 6 hours per day after a algae outbreak. I might move them to to 7 hrs a few days and then 8 hour....etc.. Now that my nitrates and phosphates are way down, I think the algae should be under control now and hopefully the lights will keep that gray stuff (assuming its some kind of sponge) or at least keep it from growing all over everything. It's even on top of the sand in the shaded areas of the tank.

Thanks again for the quick responses!
 
I think a 750 and a 650 are kinda lite for power heads. 2 1050's will get some of that detritus loose and drop down your dead spots in your tank lowering your trates too and promoting water quality.
 
I think a 750 and a 650 are kinda lite for power heads. 2 1050's will get some of that detritus loose and drop down your dead spots in your tank lowering your trates too and promoting water quality.

Nitrates have been very good past several weeks. The tank is pretty narrow...only 36 inches wide, but it's 24 inches deep. I kind of wonder if I need another power head up higher too. These two do seem a bit too small. I was thinking of getting something larger and just keeping these as spares for backups or whatever...

Still wish I could be positive about this grey stuff...not that it would really help even if I knew. I even did a 50% water change after cleaning a lot of it up, but it just comes right back. It actually reminds me (visually) of old fiberglass like you would see in a attic...its on top of the sand too...hopefully my starfish will keep some of it off the sand now. It just comes back so quickly its frustrating.

Thanks again for the suggestions...
 
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