Purple alge?

[college kid]

Hey everyone, I need all your wonderful advice again. On the bottom of my tank on top of just the sand I have a purpleish like alge and it has air bubbles in it. I haven't introduced anything new and it just like took off in the last two days... what is it and how do I get rid of it?

 

[groupergenius]

Any way to show pics? Purple/pink and hard is good. Purple/red and slimy is bad.
Good is coraline and the bad is Cyano.

 

[deltablack22]

No need for pics, but they would help some. I've never seen an outbreak in a few days of coraline algae, especially on the sandbed... What you are describing sounds exactly like "red slime algae". Search the forums for "cyano bacteria" which is its proper name. You will find plenty of information on how to rid your tank of it, as well as pictures to verify that it is in fact cyano.

 

[trippkid]

I am afraid from the description, it is likely that it is Cyanobacteria. It is common for new tanks, many things can contribute as to why it is there.
Suggestions for getting rid of it can be found by using the search feature, try searching Cyanobacteria or Red slime. I'm sure someone will chime in about how to get rid of. Sorry I don't have the time right now, I can give some causes and remedies later. Sorry
Matt

 

[m0nk]

Yeah, it definitely sounds like cyano. There are several causes and several remedies. If you feed more than once a day cut back feeding slowly to every other day. The excess nutrients and detritus help cyano spread. Also, depending on your lighting schedule you may need to cut the time back permanently (8 or 9 hours should be plenty), but certainly cutting the schedule back to about 5 hours for a couple weeks should help. Do water changes and get some movement on the sand. Either move it around with your fingers to break it up or get some sand sifting cleaners like Nassarius snails. Also, you might want to make sure you've got good flow with no real dead zones. Flow is important in preventing problem algea.
Hope that helps! Best of luck.

 

[college kid]

well thank you everyone for all the help... I was afraid that was what you were going to say. I don't have any corals or anything that requires a lot of light, can I just shut the lights off for a couple days. I'm also going to be adding about 40 lbs of sand to the tank in the near future to increase the sand bed. Will that help kill it if I cover it?

 

[college kid]

anyone?

 

[m0nk]

Yes, I've done the same thing before and it works to an extent, it will help deal with what algea you have building up but it won't help with the immediate cause. Cut back feeding and/or lighting time you shouldn't see it return, or at least return to the scale you see it at now.