ewolfe315

Ok now. 120 gallon tank ..2 XP3 cannister filters,1 sponge filter, airlines everywhere. All pH(7.0),ammonia(0),nitrite(0) and nitrate(1-5),more like 0. The complete cycle was finished in mid December

Now this is my problem:

Everything was great til Tuesday when I was going to clean out the 1 canister filter when I noticed white junk shooting out the spray bar plus less water flow coming out. While moving the canister filter out into open space(from beneath the stand) all this white junk was going into the tank. Upon further inspection I noticed all the tubing was layered with this junk. So leave it to me I cleaned all the hoses out and boom I get hit with Ammonia levels(1.0) and my PH fell to 6.0 or less(only goes as low as 6.0 on the aquarium pharm. test kit. Add to this that after doing 50 % to 75% water changes everything clouds up.

Now just Friday night the exact same thing happens to the other filter. What a mess I had with these 2 cannister filters.

My Question:

1) What in the good lords name was this white junk ?
2) Is it OK to completely clean out these tubes like I did or did I get rid of any good bacteria by doing this ?
3) Should I clean these tubes out everytime I clean everything on the inside of the cannister ?

I clean the insides out by the book with tank water every 3 to 4 weeks but I never touched the tubes. The only thing that has happened other than the above mentioned was my 1 heater died and I waited for 2 extra weeks(back ordered) for it to arrive.

I have checked the water coming out of the kitchen sink and the PH there is 7.0 and no traces of ammonia or any other chemicals besides chlorine and and chlorimine.

As of today ,Monday, everthing is fine and back to normal. Why is it everytime my Ph drops the Ammonia rises. I added crushed coral. But first I added a little baking soda to bring the PH back to normal and bingo, no ammonia. This gets me very confused as I have no clue after I thought I had it all figured out. Now with the coral I will have the PH finally where I want it.

What did I do wrong?

Thanks

John

Dino

Was the white stuff hard or soft?
I would for sure clean out the inside of the spray bars on a regular basis.
The amount of bacteria in the bars is only a small portion of what is in the tank, so I see no problem cleaning the bars.

Dino

ewolfe315

Dino thanks for replying. The white stuff was soft and smelled like fish. Whenever I squeezed the hoses it gushed out. It smelled just like flake food but it was wet.

It was no problem cleaning out of the hoses,I just used 1 of those brushes that are used for spray bars and added roughly 6 to 8 feet of electrical wire and ran it back in forth.

How about cleaning the hoses on a regular basis? The white junk was also floating inside of the canister's,at the very top. Is it OK to clean the hoses out or no?

Does anybody clean these at all ?

Thanks

John

Dino

Yes, clean the hoses.
Another thing you may want to try is turning the cannister off while you feed.

Dino

ewolfe315

Thank You Dino, Now that makes sense. I'll try that for a month,(shutting off the canisters while feeding) and I'll see what happens. I sure wish I had pics to show of those hoses, they were terrible. Food does'nt last long in the tank,if any does get to the bottom which is seldom the bottom feeders get that in no time.

John