# Hmm....



## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

I find it that people don't respond to my threads all that often. But emc7 is determined to educate me on the problems with oil slicks and my filter. 

Am I doing something wrong? Do I have an ego, to where I'm hard to respond to? Or am I just to the point of being educated enough where it's hard to reply to period. I have a knack for that in life, of having to ask the questions that are very hard to answer.

You can tell me the truth, I can poop and decapitate like a big boy. ( Ugly Americans tv show reference).


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

I responded!  I know nothing about that stuff that's why I don't respond. I haven't had the problem with people not responding to me though I did for a little while with my bettas.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

The forum has the new post list, but it clears that list every hour or so and adds new threads. Except for sometimes when you haven't signed in? Try posting at X:15 or something to be sure that isn't the case!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I read new posts, but I try to stay quiet when I don't know and not repeat an answer that is good, but to correct any misinformation. I am on erratically, but tend to make long posts in the wee hours when I can't sleep. If you ask a question that needs a long reply or is vague or needs a really specific knowledge set, you can wait a long time for an answer. Members online is kind of seasonal also, and there is a bit of lull right now. Most anyone can answer the common beginner questions, but there are only a few people who are good with big cichlids, planted tanks, saltwater corals, and so on. Searching old posts using the 'advanced search' can sometimes bring a speedier answer.

I got interest in your problem and started guessing. I have a large assortment of filters I've acquired used and am slowly figuring out how to put them together and trouble shoot all the annoying issues, missing parts, impeller won't turn, etc. I want to see you fix your issue, so I'll know what to do. Modern filters usually have motors sealed in epoxy and cooled by water, so an oil leak is something new. I did have a in-line heater ooze a thick, salty oil. I'm thinking its thermal transfer fluid and there must be a hair-line crack in the plastic.

Filter media can 'adsorb' things and later release them back into the water. An old 'slime coat enhancing' products once left a clear slime on my water's surface. Fish food (wardley's goldfish) died my water blue. Fishkeeping is both simple and complicated by a ridiculous number of things that can go wrong.

If you stay on the page, I think you can miss new posts. I leave the page when I am done posting, then I go back to it later and click 'new posts' and see what been added since I was on last. After a few days off, i can have 3 pages of new posts.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Thanks guys. Emc, double posting correct information is sometimes a good thing. Maybe that's why funlad didn't get the point?  

But in all reality, re-posting good information is just that. Reinforcing the correct stuff rather than just letting people respond how they want to. I read, and sometimes don't feel like posting at all because there is already a 5 page discussion going on and I have no new information to bring to the table.

Funlad, I'm on auto sign in. Always have been, always will be. I've only logged in once since being here and that was 2 months after I joined because my PC took a dump on me and had to clear my hard drives. So, yea I don't even have a clue on what my PW would be.

Going back to filter media that can absorb and release later. I found the strangest thing while cleaning my filter. A lot of it was black. Well, not black but if I had let it stay there and build up it would've been black. It was a rather dark, dark color that was subtly in everything. Minus a polishing pad, it was black. But oil slick and air bubbles are gone, so...yea? I guess that's all it took.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

I didn't catch the original post, I don't think... 
But right after my husband and I set up our new 40 breeder, we had an issue with bubbles forming on the surface, almost like a foam, and there seemed to be a slick on all the deco in the tank. We figured out it was a new piece of deco we had bought from Petco and didn't quite rinse well enough. It is a fake log that stands vertically and is various natural colors but mostly light brown and dark brown. 

When we took it out of the tank, all of it felt slimy but the light brown parts were even worse. It felt like touching boogies or something; it was so nasty. I took that sucker and scrubbed it with Dawn and a new green dish scrubby and then cleaned some of the other big decos in the tank and we added some more activated carbon. After a couple days, the foam was gone and nothing feels slimy anymore.


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