water quality?

[mcatgt]

I have been cycling my 46 gal reef tank for 6 days now. I have 50 pounds of LR and a 3" sand bed. I have not tested the water yet however when the lights are on you can see millions of tiny "hairs" or "particles" floating around (white in color). i have the protein skimmer going and the wet/dry filtering the water. Could this be bacteria floating around? Is this normal?

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmmm, did a mouse die in your rock? :lol:

Most particles ought to get pulled out by the skimmer... its not tiny sand particles?

Bacteria are for the most part invisible.

You could try some kind of particulate filter, like a filter bag, that all the water to the sump has to pass through.

I have no idea what it is though...

 

[mcatgt]

it doesn't appear to be sand...looks more like very microscopic white hairs...thats why i was thinking it was bacteria...

 

[Len]

Are they active (meaning do they move on their own like wiggling)? I can think of a bunch of probabilities such as worms, larvae, coral spawn, algae gametes, dead microfauna that built exterior shells, long bacterial strainds, etc. It's gonna be tough to guess, but I'd use some filter floss or polyfilter to clean up the water.