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White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 7:46 pm
by eighty2
Tank has some form of foam or bubbles floating at the top on one spot in the tank. Any ideas what this could be? How to fix it?

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:21 pm
by steve
Does it look "thick"?

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:29 am
by eighty2
Hmm. It's like a good head on a freshly poured beer. That's the best way to explain it. And it makes me crave a beer. :/

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 12:19 pm
by steve
If it's thick, it might be mildew but that shouldn't be the case with a properly maintained filter. Anything else in the tank like fish or snails? When's the last time there was a water change or filter cleaning?

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 4:04 pm
by eighty2
It happened right after I changed the filter, and cleaned the tank.

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 11:00 pm
by VeipaCray
Could you post pictures? How did you clean the tank? How do you have your filter setup? Did you use any sort of cleaning product to clean the tank?

I would find another temporary home for the turtle until this gets sorted out. It sounds like you may have used some kind of chemical cleaning product on the tank.

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 11:32 am
by eighty2
I'll try to post pics later. I used dawn soap, but I made sure to thoroughly rinse everything before putting it back. And it's not all over the tank. Just in one spot, in front of the filter. I actually scooped the bubbles out last night and they haven't returned yet, so hopefully it was just a little bit of soap resurfacing.

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 12:29 pm
by VeipaCray
You should never use any kind of soap to clean your tank.

IF you need to clean any scum off the tank, use a mixture of white vinegar and water. Then rinse thoroughly with clean water.

I would suggest you re-clean your tank with vinegar & water to remove any residual chemicals from the soap. I'd also clean your filter out with the same vinegar / water mixture and replace all of your filter media as it's now ruined.

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:44 pm
by eighty2
I didnt clean the tank with soap. I took the rocks out, put soap on them, and ran hot water over them and tumbled them for about an hour. I just dont see vinegar and water really cleaning the rocks in his tank. Covered in feces and pieces of dead fish. Soap works for me. Especially now that the foam is gone.

Re: White foam/bubbles?

PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:57 pm
by VeipaCray
because you cannot see the foam doesn't mean the chemicals are gone. Your filter media is now loaded with trapped soap chemicals including ethanol.

Vinegar & water is the only safe way to clean ANY aquarium, filter, or part. Vinegar and Water will clean a marine tank and if it can do that, it'll surely clean any mess that occurs in freshwater.

FYI > http://www.pgpro.com/Portals/0/images/m ... 08_eng.pdf

Hopefully :mrgreen: is OK