White stuff floating in toilet tank?

[Chuck]

From the way largish chunks are floating, I'd guess its a piece of expanded polystyrene that was put in there years ago and has got broken up. Perhaps a DIY water-conservation measure? Was the last owner of the house a bit of a DIYer?

 

[plexplex]

From the way largish chunks are floating, I'd guess its a piece of expanded polystyrene that was put in there years ago and has got broken up. Perhaps a DIY water-conservation measure? Was the last owner of the house a bit of a DIYer?

I don't know much about the previous owners, but we've been in the house for a few years and I think I would have noticed the polystyrene before. Plus it's hard to see in the pictures, but the floating bits were kind of flat on the surface of the water. More like pond scum than chunky.

 

[Chuck]

Plus it's hard to see in the pictures, but the floating bits were kind of flat on the surface of the water. More like pond scum than chunky.

Not polystyrene then. Is the 'clear' cistern fed with softened water and the 'white stuff' one fed with unsoftened water? (Or vice versa.)

 

[Shes Tagg]

We have just had this problem too this weekend, even the plumber didn’t know what it was !

 

[Jody584]

I had the EXACT same problem: soft white flakes floating in the toilet tank. Figured out it was indeed coming from corrosion on the metal arm, which was partially submerged. The metal arm was covered with white corrosion that was flaking off into the water. I replaced the metal arm with plastic and now all is well.

 

[Deleted member 121111]

I went to flush the toilet and nothing happened. I figured the chain had come detached from the lever arm, so I took the lid off of the tank and found all this white stuff floating in the tank water! And the lever arm failed because it appears to be corroded through and dropped the chain!

I checked the other toilet in the house and there's NO weirdness there, although I did observe the normal toilet appears to have a plastic arm while the weird toilet has a metal arm.

We got a water filtration system almost a year ago that includes a salt tank to act as a water softener. I'm paranoid that this may have contributed to this issues, but I'm pretty sure the salt is not supposed to come through to the water that comes into the house. (The tap water doesn't taste salty anyway!)

I've never seen anything like this. Any idea what is going on here, and why it's present in one toilet and not the other? Will try to include pictures of floating gunk, corroded lever, and normal toilet for comparison.
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The time delay with your posts being cleared first makes this thread disjointed however it was Ric`s post that got me thinking.

 

[Deleted member 121111]

The time delay with your posts being cleared first makes this thread disjointed however it was Ric`s post that got me thinking.

Aug 2021. I have one tank with white flakes. They refuse to empty from the tank, tho some swirl in the toilet and cluster in the center of the swirl until I put a tablespoon under the patch and remove it. However the quantity in the tank seems to remain the same! And to float, not mix. My question is, did a true answer get found? Or has the original reporter accepted metal corrosion as the answer (‘cause I am not finding that). So far, I’ve tested samples with vinegar, Clorox (at 50%), with Peroxide (really made the flakes “blossom” wildly), but haven’t found anything yet to decompose the flakes, or make them fall down INTO the underlying water. Sadly, I don’t know high school chemistry.

 

[Virginia Cooper]

white particles floating in the tank

 

[duberachi]

White flakes are typically a naturally occurring, harmless mineral called calcium. As water is exposed to oxygen, minerals precipitate and become visible. Home water filters are a typical way to get rid of these nuisance minerals.