Media and white growth

[Videonut85]

I have this whitish growth on my heater, it's probably the color of discolored teeth... lol So I just noticed that it grows in these 1 to 2 inch patches on the heater, and seems to be breaking off and floating to somewhere else in the tank and settling on what it lands on. While this stuff is on the heater, it releases miniature bubbles at a rate of about 2-3 bubbles per second. Is this the beneficial bacteria growing?

Right now, I just have the basic floss and carbon media in my filter. Is there some sort of sponge or other material I can add from around the house to the filter until I can get real sponge media to put in there? Would a new unused kitchen sponge work?

 

[Videonut85]

Today I measured my nitrites and they came up at .5 ppm, which is great! However, I still don't know what those growths are on my heater. And now, I noticed that inside my castle where it is darker than the rest of the tank, there is this white/gray gunk growing. It's mostly transparent, so I think it's actually white and it looks more gray because of what it is growing on. Looks like it would be slimy if I could touch it. Is this stuff growing around my tank because I don't have a sponge in my filter?

 

[1Vampiregirl]

Hi,
I had that gross fluff growing in my tank too when it was cycling. It was on the heater, suction cups and the tubing for the airstone. I just scrubbed it off with a clean toothbrush with water changes. My fish nipped it at times too. It was gone after a week or two.

I don't think it has anything to do with your choice of filter media. And I wouldn't use a kitchen sponge as it might not be aquarium safe.

 

[Morgie]

It's calcium/lime buildup. I have the same problem in my ten gallon and it takes a lot of work from keeping the growth down. It comes from the water you fill your tank with, and my water just happens to be calcium rich and very hard, which stimulates the growth of lime.

Lime (material) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Videonut85]

It's calcium/lime buildup. I have the same problem in my ten gallon and it takes a lot of work from keeping the growth down. It comes from the water you fill your tank with, and my water just happens to be calcium rich and very hard, which stimulates the growth of lime.

Lime (material) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hmmm... so basically, should I just let it do whatever it wants and suck it up come PWC time? Guess there's not much else to do about it.

 

[momo]

People can correct me if im wrong but i think mixing RO water with your regular pwc water will darastically slow the growth if not stop it completly.

 

[Morgie]

Scrape it off with a razor blade whenever you do a PWC. :>
It probably won't go away permanently, but it's not entirely a bad thing.

 

[Videonut85]

Ok, will do! Stupid hard water. If I hit the water with a meat tenderizer, will that soften the water?



Just kidding.

 

[Shadowraven]

Kitchen sponge=dead fish

Sorry to jump in here, the answer you receive are probably correct, but just to be sure...

1) Is this growth hard or soft?

2) Does it lay flat on the surfaces it covers or does it project a little ways out from them?

3) Does it appear to grow slowly or quickly?

 

[Videonut85]

Kitchen sponge=dead fish

Sorry to jump in here, the answer you receive are probably correct, but just to be sure...

1) Is this growth hard or soft?

2) Does it lay flat on the surfaces it covers or does it project a little ways out from them?

3) Does it appear to grow slowly or quickly?

1: Pretty Hard, but the top layer seems to rub off easily, the stuff underneath is much harder

2: It lays flat and appears to grow in layers, not protrusions.

3: Seems if my heater is set slightly higher, it appears more quickly. I have a feeling when my cycling is done and the temp is lowered 8 to 10 degrees, the growth will slow. I scraped the heater clean with a razor, and within 12 hours bubbles and specs of the white stuff have reappeared on the surfaces it was before. This is with the heater set to 84 degrees.

It does seem like lime, as I've seen this buildup on humidifiers that I've used here. Most likely, it is lime. I guess there isn't much I can do about it but scrape the lime off when I do water changes. Funny thing is, I have a 2.5 gallon betta tank with a 50 watt heater and there has been no accumulation. I wonder if the higher PH of the big tank, the extra ammonia and nitrites, and heater running more often is what is causing more lime to show up.

 

[Shadowraven]

1: Pretty Hard, but the top layer seems to rub off easily, the stuff underneath is much harder

2: It lays flat and appears to grow in layers, not protrusions.

3: Seems if my heater is set slightly higher, it appears more quickly. I have a feeling when my cycling is done and the temp is lowered 8 to 10 degrees, the growth will slow. I scraped the heater clean with a razor, and within 12 hours bubbles and specs of the white stuff have reappeared on the surfaces it was before. This is with the heater set to 84 degrees.

It does seem like lime, as I've seen this buildup on humidifiers that I've used here. Most likely, it is lime. I guess there isn't much I can do about it but scrape the lime off when I do water changes. Funny thing is, I have a 2.5 gallon betta tank with a 50 watt heater and there has been no accumulation. I wonder if the higher PH of the big tank, the extra ammonia and nitrites, and heater running more often is what is causing more lime to show up.

Now that you described it to me. I'm pretty sure that's what too. It just sounds like the solids precipitating out of the water as it evaporates. What you are doing is the best way to remove it from inside the tank. On the glass outside use a cloth soaked with white vinegar to remove the build-up.

As to your last comment, that is very likely. There are often more solids dissolved in hard/alkaline water to precipitate out of the water when it dries up.