Question: White powder accumulate on glass in water

Hi,

After relocation of the tanks, I have been experiencing lot of problems with the water. I noticed that I made some changes to my CO tank and then I started seeing white powder on the glass in the water. I did two things:

1) I fed them food, this is about the third time I feed them after relocation.
2) I replaced my submersible filter with a airstone. (I dont have anything else but gravels)

Characteristics of the powder:
1) it is like powder, it is white and when I try to brush it off, it get rub off very easily. And the white powder will dissolve in the water.
2) it accumulated on all glass surfaces of the tank and its gravels.
3) it happened overnight.
4) PH dropped (7.8 -> 6.8)

Anyone have any idea what is going on?

Thanks

I think it may be limescale, which is basically salt desposits. It is probably caused by the airstone, which has increased evaporation.

It doesn't sound to me like limescale. Did you change all of the water to new water when you moved the tank? How long was the tank set up before this appeared? Was the water crystal clear before it appeared?

I used to have a similar problem with the water back in Virginia. After I would set up a new tank, the water would go cloudy during the first week, and there would be a fluffy white material that would settle onto all the inside surfaces of the tank. This never happened during water changes on the established tanks. I still don't know what caused it, but I think it was some chemical precipitating from the tap water.

Did your filter contain zeolite in the pads? This can lead to something similar to what you describe. (In fact, I am dealing with that issue right now!)

Jennewt said:

It doesn't sound to me like limescale. Did you change all of the water to new water when you moved the tank? How long was the tank set up before this appeared? Was the water crystal clear before it appeared?

I used to have a similar problem with the water back in Virginia. After I would set up a new tank, the water would go cloudy during the first week, and there would be a fluffy white material that would settle onto all the inside surfaces of the tank. This never happened during water changes on the established tanks. I still don't know what caused it, but I think it was some chemical precipitating from the tap water.

Click to expand...

Yes, they are not limescale. I have set up the tank about 1 month and have fed them a few times. Now I suspect those are some sort of algae? Cause it seems like to correspond to the addition of oxygen. My other axolotl tank is having a similar experience as well. Anyhow, it doesn't seems to impact the water quality.

SludgeMunkey said:

Did your filter contain zeolite in the pads? This can lead to something similar to what you describe. (In fact, I am dealing with that issue right now!)

Click to expand...

hum.. never heard of zeolite. But I don't have a filter. So, this doesn't seem like the case.