# hard whit film in new cycling tank?



## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

Hey guys, I'm cycling a 30 gal. marine tank right now and everyday I have had to use a glass scraper to scrape this hard, tough white film out. Its like a calcium buildup.Im using R/O water. My substrate is aragonite with some carib-sea live sand. My specific gravity is at 1.024 and its stable.I have been buffering the ph as it has dropped from 8.3 to 7.8 or so. Could this be from the pH buffer? I don't know what kind of buffer it is, but its a white powder my LFS gave me . It calls for 6 tsp per 25 gallons. Initially, I used 6 tsps and then pH dropped and the LFS told me to double it to 12 tsps. Will this film go away eventually? My protein skimmer isnt here yet until thursday, so I was thinking this could be the cause. I'm just running a cheapo hob filter and a airstone right now with a powerhead. My protein skimmer/filtration is one of the bak pak combo units and I will have a uv sterilizer as well. I was going to go with a sump, but the LFS talked me into the bak pak unit. Thanks for any help in advance!!!


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## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

Anybody?????


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Sounds like calcium percipitation. Youre adding too much of the addative. We need a CA, MG, ALK test as well. Do you have them? 
I would bet all of them have fallen as well.
Youre going to have that ca buildup on your powerheads,pumps,heaters too.
Soak them in vinegar to get them clean.
I suggest get a good set of test kiys like tropic marins,seachems, or sailferts for the ones i stated earlier, and you'll want a po4 and nitrate kit too.


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## spinalremains (Nov 10, 2006)

Thanks Raptor, I have the standard api kit, but I'll go this morning and buy the advanced kit with the whole range of tests. I'll test it and post results. Thanks man!


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Youre welcome, You dont need to add anything if your tank is cycling, Maybe for alk, But never add anything you dont test for.
You could probably get away with just waterchanges for now. 
Let us know.


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## jasert39 (May 1, 2003)

raptor your probably right on...but how long have you had the tank going? the first couple days after I added my sand I was getting a film that would harden on the sides for a few days...went away after all the lighter floating particles went away.


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

i was going to say the same thing as jasert, it may just be particle dust until your tank is a bit more settled.


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