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Can someone tell me what’s growing on my airstones?

  • Thread starter Thread starter TheCoatimundi
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Can someone tell me what’s growing on my airstones?

TheCoatimundi 18 Replies 1,371 Views
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TheCoatimundi

TheCoatimundi

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#1
So this slime has been growing on my airstones and sides of my tank no matter what I use to clean this, it continues to grow back. These stones sit in a stock tank of ro water that never has any nutrients introduced to it, simply water at 0ppm I’ve tried using standard dish soap to clean the tank, bleach, 99.9% iso and it still returns can anyone tell me what it is and how to get rid of it please?
 

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#2
Are they in a bucket with no top? If so it will continue to grow back time and time again no matter how you clean them. I wouldn't use bleach while cleaning. Try using peroxide. If it's not covered get it covered. Are you using beneficial bacteria in your grow?
 
#4
Coat,

You’re going to need to soak those frits in bleach for a good long time. Then try to blow out the junk. Or buy a second set. One can be cleaned while another set is in use.
 
#5
Ok so get it covered for sure. Light+water+oxygen is the perfect environment for that slime. Clean it again with 50/50 peroxide/water, and a thorough rinse of water after. You may want to also add the hydroguard to take care of anything that springs up.
 
#7
Can anyone tell me what exactly it is that’s growing?
 
#8
Aye Lad,

Things like slime molds. Some Algae. The bacterium pseudomonas sps. gets a foothold and slime themselves to a surface. It’s a huge problem in the pharmaceutical industry. They make water to process medicines. It’s called water for injection, WFI. It’s continuously circulated in a loop with various taps at 180F. All that to primarily prevent slime from forming.
 
#9
It's a bacterial slime, but without getting it tested it's impossible to know exacty what type it is.
 
#11
Any idea on killing these pseudomonas sp. I know I’ve got multiple answers so far but just tryna make sure I have all my options ready to try and eliminate this
 
#12
Sure. See an earlier reply. Soak the filters in bleach, sodium hypochlorite. I suspect the filter membrane is plastic? Also have a second filter set. One is being cleaned the other is being used.

On the other hand, those fritted filters may be too fouled to reuse.
 
#13
I apologize when you say filter I don’t understand what it is you mean do you mean the actual filters in my reverse osmosis?
 
#14
Coat,

Sorry. The first part of your thread had a pic of gooey filters. Aren’t those the aerators?
 
#16
Oh Yes, I’ve always just referred to them as airstones soak those in bleach got it, are there any measures I should take to clean the actual reservoir itself?
 
#17
That’s it - air stones! Those things have very fine porosity and are easily fouled. Disconnect put in bleach for a day. Rinse really well and see if that biofilm is removed. How long had been using these before you noticed? I’ll bet quite a while.
 
#18
They’ve been in use for a couple months now but I’ve only just noticed the biofilm
 
#19
Buy a second set while you try to clean the fouled aerators
 
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