Bacteria Food

[ReefSultan]

Dear All,

I have 3 month tank
By mistake I have used women sock for syphoning flat worms from glass and sock was probably washed in the machine!

This was 2-3 weeks ago and skimmer overflowed aggressively for 5 days and I add lots of fresh water due to the lost water by skimmer

Before that incident my BK DC 200 was collecting dry almost black stuff but now it is collecting wet and getting darker everyday

I suspect I lost benefitical bacteria , that make sense ? Can this be cause of low performing skimmer

Now here is the real question..before incident I was not dosing any carbon for bacteria , I have 400 liters tank i was dosing only bacteria once a month that’s all no vodka or vinegar etc

Now I am planing to dose like direction 1 biodigest + 2 bioptim each 2 weeks

Should I dose also any other source of carbon daily, like vinegar or vodka or other commercial daily carbon sources?


Thanks
Cuneyt


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[hegeh]

I see no issue sock that have been in washing machine. A friend of mine accidently add soap inhis tank .

Did you do any adjustment to the skimmer? Maybe it was dry vs wet skim.. imo it was not due to lost of bacteria.. they will always be there..

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[mcgyvr]

IF you are having problems with elevated nitrates or phosphates then you can look into carbon dosing as one method to help reduce those nutrient levels..

[ReefSultan]

Thank you both

I will check skimmer noodle and air take in
Also start carbon dosing (vodka ) top of biodigest + bioptim

Cheers


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[Gregg@ADP]

Whatever bacteria you lost, if any, are going to be right back to your tanks carrying capacity within a day or so.

If there was some surfactant residue on the sock, that could cause the skimmer to run pretty wet (if not overflowing) was surely harmless, or not in sufficient quantity to be harmful, to your aquarium inhabitants and is outnof the system by now.

Next time, just rinse the sock off in the sink before using.

[bertoni]

I agree that a good rinsing might help. Some vinegar should, as well. I'd just check the salinity and watch for any signs of ammonia. I suspect that the tank will be okay. I would stop or cut back on the carbon sources for a bit, in case there is some decay going on, but that's probably excessively cautious.

[Dan_P]

The skimmer overflowing or skimming wet for five days may have been caused by residual detergent or surfactant in the laundry soap. It would not take very much to cause the skimmer to overflow, so you may not have introduced much into the tank, and the skimmer settling down would inducate that it is nearly eliminated or degraded.

While detergents are bad for microorganism cell membranes, I can’t imagine you killed off your biofilter with such a seemingly small exposure.

Jonathan’s suggestion to monitor ammonia is right on the money if you are worried about the biofilter effectiveness.