White Goo Flakes In Water

Hello all I have recently started to fishless cycle a 165 lit tank I am 9 days into the cycle and am doing the new method as posted on this forum. I have had a bacterial bloom and the water cleared after a few days. I keep getting thin white gooey flakes floating in the tank? I thought of netting them out but thought I'd ask on here. Is this bacteria or is it due to the kh of my water?

Many thanks

I'm not sure about the white goo flakes. However; to answer your other questions fully then could you tell us what the KH and GH of your water is, please.

It's the KH that can affect the cycle and most water companies don't give that on their website. Mine used to, they called it alkalinity, though they don't list it any more. You could take a sample of tap water to a fish shop and ask them to test the KH, it would be cheaper than buying a tester since you only need to test once.

However, low GH ( the calcium one) and low KH usually go together, you probably have low KH and are indeed in danger of a pH crash. The way to combat it during the cycle is by adding bicarbonate of soda, sold in the home baking section of the supermarket. The soda bit means sodium which is not good for fish (or us) but it will be removed during the big water change when the cycle is complete.
Initially, keep a close eye on your pH; test it every day. If it drops below 6.5, do a water change. But before doing it, measure the ammonia level then after add enough ammonia to get the reading back up to what it was before the water change.
If the pH keeps falling, I will try to find wherever it is I made a note of the amount of bicarb you need to add.

I've found the bicarb dosage rate, but you will need a KH tester. Get it tested at a shop first to find out what your tapwater levels is, and if it is 4 or under, I'd buy a tester; they are only a few pounds.
If the KH is less than 3, you would be better adding bicarb rather than relying on water changes or you'll find yourself doing a lot of them. 4 or 5, try water changes to start with.

Under 3 deg KH or if the pH continually drops you need to add enough bicarb to get the KH to around 8 deg, add the powder at the rate of 1 tablespoon/15ml spoon per 50 litres until it reaches this level. Remove a bit of tank water, dissolve the bicarb in that then pour into the tank; test after half an hour to let it mix in thoroughly. Repeat as necessary till you reach 8 deg.

The filter bacteria need carbonate in the water to grow properly. This is why you need to add some straight away if your tap level is 3 or below. Your shop might tell you the initial reading in ppm; 3 deg = ~54ppm (conversion factor is 1 deg = 17.86ppm)

To be on the safe side, check your KH at least once a week, and keep an eye on your pH as well. You may find it is now higher than before you added bicarb - that is a side effect of the bicarb. All this checking is time consuming, but I do know what happens. I have a KH of 3 as well, and I had a pH crash during  fishless cycle last year. The pH dropped from 7.4 to off the bottom of the scale, ie at or below 6.0. As long as the KH stays above 3, and the pH remains reasonably constant, that's fine. A slight wobble in pH is fine, just not a huge drop.