Brownish Red Algae

jallen32c

jallen32c

Member
I have a 55 gallon tank with about 2"-4" inches of sand (depending on part of tank) and 60 lbs of live rock. I have 3 false perculas, cleaner shrimp, 4 mexican turbos, couple of small hermits , and about 10 or so nassarius snails. I have 2 t5's, a bakpak skimmer, penguin 350, and 2 maxijet powerheads(one has a conversion of some time about 1200 gph I think. My problem is on my sand be I am getting a brownish matted substance. It seems like the longer it stays there the more red it becomes. I have tried to suck it up but it comes back. I put mega flow on the sand bed and it went away for awhile but is coming back in other areas.
I also have light tan to white stringy substance on my live rock and glass. IT is easy to blow off but just lands elsewhere. I am only feeding small amounts of food every other day.
 
ginnboy

ginnboy

Member
reduce the time you run your lights for a couple days and it will go away,run them 6 to 8 hours a day .
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
that is most likely cyanobacteria. reducing the photo period is not going to remove it. keep the flow increased, and do some waterchanges with R.O.D.I. water, then find out the source of your excessive nutrient issue(which is what is fueling the cyano).
are you using a good water source?
are you doing waterchanges regularly?
what food are you feeding every other day?
 
jswan10

jswan10

Member
The EASIEST and Quickest way to rid yourself of that bothersome algae is to REMOVE all of the sand. Live sand is a great way to start an eco system and get it stable, after that get rid of it. The sand is doing nothing for you at this point in time. Your red algae is not the cyano type, its like an annoying green algae. Your sand bed is harboring bacteria which cuases it to grow.
If your tank has been established for awhile now, and your live rock is been in there for a long time your chemical and biological filtration is ready and set in your tank. Remove the sand, by removing the sand you will cause no problems.
Ask others, Most of us are using bare bottom eco systems.
Hope this helps
Let us know
 
xtreeme

xtreeme

Member
Originally Posted by Mr_X
http:///forum/post/2705022
that is most likely cyanobacteria. reducing the photo period is not going to remove it. keep the flow increased, and do some waterchanges with R.O.D.I. water, then find out the source of your excessive nutrient issue(which is what is fueling the cyano).
are you using a good water source?
are you doing waterchanges regularly?
what food are you feeding every other day?
+1
Also I dont think sand is the problem, its the amount. You need more for a DSB or go with 1".
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
Originally Posted by jswan10
http:///forum/post/2705104
The EASIEST and Quickest way to rid yourself of that bothersome algae is to REMOVE all of the sand. Live sand is a great way to start an eco system and get it stable, after that get rid of it. The sand is doing nothing for you at this point in time. Your red algae is not the cyano type, its like an annoying green algae. Your sand bed is harboring bacteria which cuases it to grow.
If your tank has been established for awhile now, and your live rock is been in there for a long time your chemical and biological filtration is ready and set in your tank. Remove the sand, by removing the sand you will cause no problems.
Ask others, Most of us are using bare bottom eco systems.
Hope this helps
Let us know

for the record, i believe this to be absolute nonsense.
 
jswan10

jswan10

Member
MR. X.........
It is your opinion that my post is nonsense, as it is my opinion saying what i said. But as we all know different things work for different people and their tanks. My response worked for me when i had the same problem as it worked for so many other people, i didnt discover this, removeing the sand was thought to me. And i never looked back, LS is great for starting tanks then just becomes a nuisance, at least that is what happened to me.
Im not starting a fight or anything, i speak on behalf of knowledge taught, learned, and apllied. I do not speak of nonsense or falsehoods. You offended me as though your a god.
let this be done
hope everything works out for our poster.
 
M

markeo99

Guest
Originally Posted by jswan10
http:///forum/post/2705104
The EASIEST and Quickest way to rid yourself of that bothersome algae is to REMOVE all of the sand. Live sand is a great way to start an eco system and get it stable, after that get rid of it. The sand is doing nothing for you at this point in time. Your red algae is not the cyano type, its like an annoying green algae. Your sand bed is harboring bacteria which cuases it to grow.
If your tank has been established for awhile now, and your live rock is been in there for a long time your chemical and biological filtration is ready and set in your tank. Remove the sand, by removing the sand you will cause no problems.
Ask others, Most of us are using bare bottom eco systems.
Hope this helps
Let us know

me and ex disagree sometimes but sound like cyano to me sand stabilizes ph and lowers nitrates I have a barebottom sps tank and it was a nightmare to stabilize till I put sand in my fuge cyano is a bacteria its cause by an excess in nutriants feeding to much? and lack of flow point some powerheads blowing on the places to keep the deterius suspended it will go away
 
jswan10

jswan10

Member
Hello mark
I am reef, as i did originally write, sand is great to start the tank and stabilize it, then remove it, for me all the sand did was cause constant problems. bare bottom with sand in a fuge is always good too. i was just giving advice that worked for me.
let me know what u think.
Can someone with a Bare Bottom help me out, Im not trying to win a fight, its legit advice.
 
M

markeo99

Guest
I agree to a degree barebottoms keep deterious suspended thus no nutes for cyano to grow cause your skimmer picks up more as for the rest sand still has to much goin for me
surface area and its a great buffer
 
jallen32c

jallen32c

Member
I am doing a 10% waterchange weekly.
I am feeding a combination of formula one flat freezer pack, mysis shrimp and oraglo.
I have a rodi that i use to make water
 
privatejoker

privatejoker

Member
I've never run a bare bottom tank and most of the people I know have a sand bed. It sounds like cyano to me.
jswan10 where do you get your info from? The bacteria thats in the sand is beneficial. I breaks alot of stuff done and keeps nutrient levels down. The only problem I've heard of with sand beds is keeping them clean on the top and dead spots. Dead spots can be cleaned out.
If you do remove your sand bed after its est. you can wipe out the whole tank. You release things from the sand bed that will kill everything.
If you don't mind please post where you get your info, I'd like to read up on it.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
Originally Posted by jswan10
http:///forum/post/2705594
MR. X.........
It is your opinion that my post is nonsense

no. it's not opinion.
the only opinion i typed, was that the thread starter had cyano, which was a guess, because i haven't seen his tank. everything i typed was fact. you can use a popular search engine and search out "cyanobacteria" and you will find everything i said to be true. that said, your advice is wrong and also dangerous. as private joker stated, removing a sand bed can cause alot of trouble. it's not something to suggest as soon as a person gets a little algae and/or cyano.
who are all these people who cycle a tank with sand, and then remove it? you are the first person i have ever heard do this.
you said that after the tank is stable, the sand is doing nothing for you. that is wrong. it's surface area, and home to beneficial bacteria and other beneficial life that is good for your system.
you said "your red algae is not the cyano type(which isn't an algae at all), but it's like an annoying green algae". what annoying green algae? what type of algae is it? this statement makes sense?
you said "your sandbed is harboring bacteria that causes it to grow".
the sandbed doesn't have bacteria in it that causes algae. it may possibly have detrius in it that causes algae, but again. wrong.
you said "by removing the sand you will cause no problems" that's not necessarily true. the thread starter did not mention how deep his sandbed was, or how old it was. it's very dangerous to stir up an aged sandbed.
you said "ask others, most of are using bare bottom ecosystems"
again, the ratio or bare bottom keepers is far surpassed by substrate keepers. so, wrong information once again.
you also said "bare bottom with sand in the 'fuge is good too". how is this possible if substrate is the reason for the thread starters trouble? wouldn't that sand have that awful bacteria in it that "causes the algae that's like annoying green algae" as well? if not, then why wouldn't it?
i certainly don't think i'm the creator, just a concerned reefkeeper, that would like to see the thread starter succeed with his/her tank.
it's not a personal attack either. it's just a correction. feel free to correct me whenever you see me giving bad advice. but please, have more than hearsay to back it up.
btw- check this link out. it's got some good information for anyone-
http://reefsources.itgo.com/features...s/cyanora.html
 
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