Help Need ID, Green Carpet of Death

55galgill

55galgill

Member
Hey Guys & Gals
About a month ago i purchased my new lights for my aquarium. Their the Nova Extreme T5 HO lights. I had the usual algae outbreak due to the lights, mostly hair algae. But now, I had this dark green, gross, snotty carpet of green slime growing on my rocks choking out all life on them and on my parts of my sandbed and it looks like its a very invasive algae. None of my CUC touches it.
Another weird thing is that it only seems to grow on the sandbed on my left side of my tank. The right side of my tank its only on the rocks. just a little observation. My tank IS between two windows that get a small amount of diffused sunshine throughout the day. I have kept the curtins drawn in order to see if it helps. It has had little effect on the outcome.
I took one rock out scrubbed it and it came back within a week. I am starting to get a little worried here. Im hoping a few of you can ID it for me and let me know of some steps i could take to eradicate it naturally or chemically.
Left side of tank(sandbed)

Right side of tank(rocks only)

Thanks in advance.
-Gill-
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Sounds like cyano. Can you siphon it up with a pcs. of tubing and does it come up like a blanket being sucked through the tube?
 
55galgill

55galgill

Member
Spanko- I can Siphon it from the sandbed without a problem. When the lights have been on for a few hours it gets really thick so I can get more of it. But on the rocks its doesn't siphon off at all. It's almost like its glued there.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Hmm. Well whatever type it is algae grows because there is nutrient enough to support it. Saying that it only grows on one side of the tank leads me to believe you have a flow issue on that side allowing excess nutirent to sink to the sand and rock. I would siphon out all that I could, use a turkey baster or power head to blow on the rockwork and get whatever detritus is there up into the water column for removal by your mechanical filtration. Then you need to address some more flow to the area.
These are only assumptions on my part based on what you have said. I hope others will chime in here to get some more opinions.
 
55galgill

55galgill

Member
its weird because it grows on both sides. i know my left side has slightly less flow than the right but on the right side its growing right in front of my Maxi-Jet 900 with the sure flow kit installed on it.
god i hate this stuff
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Don't know what you have in your tank as far as livestock but you can beat it by leaving your lights off for 2 - 3 days. But, it does not matter what method you take if you don't address the root cause of the problem which is the excess nutrient in the tank feeding the algae. Things like overfeeding, too many critters making too much waste, food high in phosphates, tap water or dirty RODi filters leaving too much phosphate in the water. It is coming from somewhere, you just need to identify where and do something to control it.
 
55galgill

55galgill

Member
thanks for the info Spanko. I still want to get a positive ID on this stuff. I will start reviewing my methods see if i can cut down anywhere.
 
dude23455

dude23455

Member
Its cyano for sure. Siphon off what you can and leave the lights off for 3 days and it will be gone. Cut back on your feeding and skim wet.
 
drewissett

drewissett

Member
I believe (but am not an expert) that cyano can be caused by high phosphates, so look at trying to bring yours down... Bring the lights down for sure... Also if (as a last resort) you can't get rid of it, LFS will usually sell products that get rid of it without harming fish/corals... I had to use it once early on, and haven't had a problem since.
 
55galgill

55galgill

Member
I was getting worried it was "Dino" It was so aggressive to come back i was worried. I guess since my new lights came in this might be the reason for the outbreak.
 
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