Help with cyno on sand bed?

[tacks]

Red slime/Cynobacteria is accumulating on my sand bed in patches and it looks horrible. How do I get rid of this?
To better help me with my question, a little background...
Tank up and running for 4 months now. Water change once every three weeks (reef crystals) Hi-S RO/DI.
125g FOWLR. 160lbs of sand, 120lbs or LR. Wet/dry w/protien skimmer. 6 Powerheads
Lights are VHO. 2-95W Actinic 03, 2-95W Actinic White, 1-110W AquaSun, 1-110W Actinic White. Lights stay on for approx 5 hours a day. I have the "Blue lights come on 15minutes before all other lights and stay on for 15 minutes after light go off.
Feed twice per day. In addition to feeding, I put seaweed selects in for about 6 hours (then take out what was not eaten).
Stock list as follows: 3 Yellow Tangs (2"), 1 Flame, 4 Green Chromis, 1 Fridmani, 1 Lawnmower Blenny. 5 Peppermints shrimp, 3 Emerald Crabs, 1 Coral Banded, 4 fighting conches (they don't seem to be cleaning sandbed), assorted hermits and snails.
I have gone through 2 Diamond Gobies now as both have jumped out of tank. I'm thinking of a sea cucumber or sand sifting star to help get rid of algea. Another idea is to cover tank with some sort of saran wrap inserts but not sure about cutting down on O2 exchange or lighting intensity (right now top is basically open) and try another Goby. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome.

 

[t316]

1. I wouldn't saran wrap the top. Go get some plastic eggcrate from Lowes or HD and put on top of the tank. It's in the lighting section.
2. Before you buy any kind of Cucumber, research the threads on here, then make that decision. I traded mine in after reading some of this stuff...not worth the risk, and he didn't stir the sand bed. He stayed MIA 90% of the time, thus I nicknamed him Waldo.
3. What and how(method) are you feeding. A lfs gave me this suggestion, that has improved my sand bed a little. I was thawing out my frozen cubes with a little tank water, then pouring it all in the tank. Now I thaw it out in the same manner, but then strain it using my fish net, then wave the net in the tank, thus only putting the solids into the tank. The liquids that come with a lot of the frozen foods are loaded with phosphates. It seems to be working.

 

[bonebrake]

What are the parameters? Temperate, salinity, pH, alkalinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate? You are probably feeding too much and not doing enough water changes. You either need to decrease the feeding or increase the frequency and/or volume of the water changes. What kind of sand did you use?

 

[tacks]

I used Caribbean Live Sand (ordered online). As far as feeding, I thaw out 1/2 cube of frozen brine, Formula One, or Marine Cuisine (alternate) with some tank water and just dump it in. Straining it seems like a good idea. Parameters are Temp 77-78, Salinity 1.022, PH 8.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0. Haven't tested for Nitrates, Alkalinity, or Phosphates. I probably should get those test kits. Water changes are 30 gallons once every three weeks with reef crystals. I also run Black Diamond Carbon 24/7. I have seen some run carbon all the time and others run maybe one week at a time between water changes.

 

[bonebrake]

Finding out your nitrate and phosphate levels are very important given you're battling cyano. 30 gallons every three weeks is not enough in a system that big and lacking a monster skimmer and/or a good refugium. How much collection do you get out of your skimmer per week? Volume, color and consistency? Also, your wet/dry could be harboring decaying matter and fulling the cyanobacteria growth.

 

[bonebrake]

Finding out your nitrate and phosphate levels are very important given you're battling cyano. 30 gallons every three weeks is not enough in a system that big and lacking a monster skimmer and/or a good refugium. What kind of skimmer do you have and how output do you get out of it each week? Color and consistency of output? Also, your wet/dry could be harboring decaying matter and fulling the cyanobacteria with nutrients.

 

[t316]

Originally Posted by Tacks
http:///forum/post/2480613
I used Caribbean Live Sand (ordered online). As far as feeding, I thaw out 1/2 cube of frozen brine, Formula One, or Marine Cuisine (alternate) with some tank water and just dump it in. Straining it seems like a good idea. Parameters are Temp 77-78, Salinity 1.022, PH 8.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0. Haven't tested for Nitrates, Alkalinity, or Phosphates. I probably should get those test kits. Water changes are 30 gallons once every three weeks with reef crystals. I also run Black Diamond Carbon 24/7. I have seen some run carbon all the time and others run maybe one week at a time between water changes.
ooooooohhhhh....that brings up another area to check. CARBON. If you are going to run it, try running it for only a week or two at the time. But check the phosphate level of some of your carbon water. Do a little test in bowl. Some carbons are loaded with it, causing more damage than it's worth. It's good to keep on hand though, in case you have some kind of spill or toxin get in the tank and need some emergency filtration.

 

[tacks]

Skimmer doesn't seem to be working all that well (Red Sea Turbo Berlin). Volume is only like a cup every three weeks but the color is dark brown almost black water. Do you think 30gallons every two weeks? Also, thanks for helping.

 

[spanko]

I made a top for mine out of 3/8" pond netting and some screen framing.

 

[fishermon]

I had bad red slime problem about a year ago. My nitrates & phosphates were high. I swapped the bio-balls in my wet/dry to lr rubble & installed a phosban reactor. Bye Bye slime

 

[tacks]

Levels are as follows
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0 (<10)
PH - 8.2
Salinity - 1.022
Phosphates - 0.6mg/L
Alkalinity - 175ppm (9.8dkh)
Did a water change and sucked out the red slime. Started filtering food like mentioned above. Don't know what else to do. Lights are only 4 months old and only on for 5hours/day.

 

[hefner413]

how I got rid of mine in my 55 gal:
started using ro/di (you've done that), added 2 Koralia powerheads (#3,#4) to increase flow, decreased feedings to every other day instead of daily (the fish didn't care, they forage off the rock anyway), and made sure I didn't have dead spots around the surface of the sand (moved live rock to keep the area open).
I gave up on sucking the stuff out. It just kept growing back. Once I did the things above, it just eventually died. Good luck. And just realize, just about everybody goes through this with a new tank...

 

[mie]

I think over feeding is one of your main problems, cut back to evey other or every three days.