Orange (rust color) film Algea?! Covering my sump and equipment

Chager01 · Jul 10, 2021

Hi, my sump, my skimmer, filter socks and even chaeto is covered with what seems like some film aglea, (diatom, cyano?) It's rust colors. Been like that for 2 weeks and it's only in the sump, DT is clean. Any help is welcome. Thanks!

Bouncingsoul39 · Jul 11, 2021

looks like the normal algae film to me. don’t know the name. i always just wipe it off. running a phosphate/silicate removal media will slow it down considerably. the filter socks are dirty, need to be taken out ave cleaned once a week. many ways to do it. i do washing machine with bleach and dye/perfume free detergent and air dry in the sun.

reefsaver · Jul 11, 2021

I have a theory that your DT is so clean that the Skimmer is skimming the super finite particles and it slowly builds up into a more polished film than the average sedimenty greyish-brown Skimmate I'm used to seeing. Although if any lighting is hitting the Skimmer I would blame that first and find a way to shade it along with the sump.
Although this is pure speculation and I have no real idea hehe. Interesting thread though.

LiamPM · Jul 11, 2021

Do you run any type of GFO?

The few times I’ve seen this it usually ends up being the dust of rowaphos or the likes

Chager01 · Jul 11, 2021

LiamPM said:
Do you run any type of GFO?

The few times I’ve seen this it usually ends up being the dust of rowaphos or the likes

I do run GFO, same GFO I run in my other system with no issue. The orange film is slimy like algea, it's not dust like, that's why I'm thinking it's algea.

Chager01 · Jul 11, 2021

Bouncingsoul39 said:
looks like the normal algae film to me. don’t know the name. i always just wipe it off. running a phosphate/silicate removal media will slow it down considerably. the filter socks are dirty, need to be taken out ave cleaned once a week. many ways to do it. i do washing machine with bleach and dye/perfume free detergent and air dry in the sun.

Yea filter socks looks dirty but they been there for only 2 days, that orange coloration occur almost immediately after the replacement. Does GFO remove silicate?