# Help! White Flour/powder All Over Glass/gravel



## Koko (Jan 5, 2015)

Hey Guys,

My first post here and I need your Help!!! A little History about myself, been keeping aquariums for 15+ years now... Started off with my first 10 gallon that quickly got out of hand to multiple tanks... but the past 5-6 years i have had nothing but saltwater reef tanks and have been out of freshwater for awhile... over the christmas break i decided to set up a freshwater in the basement fish room... So i thought I would setup a 75 gallon piranha tank which where my fav freshwater fish that i had kept.... So here i am today, Since i haven't cycled a tank in ages i started to read so many different forms of doing so.. back then internet wasn't as hot and the only way i would cycle my tank would be with some zebra danios and nutrifin cycle which i hear is horrible now.... thats after i dumbed a bottle in my 75 gallon that i read that... Anyways tank was doing all fine, after dumping the cycle it went cloudy for a few days and cleared right up which was normal, but then over night i came home to a powder like substance all over the gravel, glass filter tubes.. everything is covered almost like someone was inside my tank tossing flour everywhere... Not sure if i remember this was normal or not i started doing some search on the net with no results.. Is this normal? PPl are telling me its bacteria some are saying its algae some are saying its just dirt particles... but everything was rinsed extremely well and the tank was super clean just the night before.... the glass doesn't bother me as i knew it could be wiped out very easy, what bothers me is my black gravel looks so washed away and i took a area and mixed it around and still on it looks horrible almost a greyish white gravel which i do not want...

Please let me know if anyone else has experienced this before.

A quick vid of my 55 gallon piranha tank back in 2006... i had 11 of them in one 55 gallon














they did ok, got rid of them when they where about 5"... really miss them.. 





Here is a shot of the tank just a night before:

and here it is the day after when i got back from work checking on it...


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Beings the tank is cycling, it will eventually go away.

Gravel vac and clean it a few times and it wont come back after the tank matures.


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## Koko (Jan 5, 2015)

So this is normal? What is it algae or bacteria? This has happened to you before, don't remember every going threw this....

At the moment there are 6 Zebra danios cycling the tank, not much bio load should i up the fish? What do you guys think about ATM colony been reading a lot about this...


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Yeah, its normal and has happened in most of my new tanks... its a detritus or particulate from the water. If you had more flow in the tank, you would prob see less of it.

As for cycling, I use a piece of raw shrimp (place it in the tank and let it decay/disappear) or dose pure ammonia... and watch the test kit results for completion.

Bottled bacteria are typically a hoax, unless refrigerated and new stock in the store. Bacteria requires a food source, and will be nothing over a short period of time.


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## Koko (Jan 5, 2015)

Sweet thanks for your input... Question about cycling... doesn't the amount of bacteria in the tank depend on the bio load? So will the shrimp be enough? I mean if you put a bigger piece vs a smaller piece wouldn't that effect the bacteria growth? Or doesn't work like that lol?


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

You are correct, bio load = ammonia = nitrite = nitrate = water change to reduce nitrates

The key is to get bacteria growth started, and as you add fish it will also grow and cause another mini cycle while the bacteria catches up. In the early stages you have to be up on your water testing and water changes vs later when its mature.


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## SKurj (Jan 11, 2015)

I use the bottled ammonia for the cycle, the benefits are you can measure what you are adding, and fine tune the cycle to reduce the chances of a mini cycle. When the cycle is over if your tank can process 1ppm ammo within 24 hrs you are good to go.

I used this for reference when first getting started: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fishless_cycle.php


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