Question on live sand and Alge

[richmond98]

ok so after watching the first diatom? bloom come and go and some small green hair algae stay (which my foxface loves) and apparently some new weird algae starting which i dont want (ive seen others tanks covered with it) but my question this time is with my live sand and algae.
So when i first got this thing started up (150gal) i didnt have a power head but now do (koralia 4) the diatom bloom was pretty much covering everything live rock and such and most of the sand...now i say most because only about half the sand had it the other hasent and never did

same thing with the bloom was only happening with the left side of my tank and the right side never really saw anything. the sand now has this stuff on it, looks kinda crusty to me, and is red in color. This is only on the front and front left side of the tank (with the most flow), right side and backside has nothing. is it ok to leave it or can i take like a pooper scooper (clean of course) and remove it????

 

[kas2247]

I get the same algae in my tank sometimes... I always just assumed it was cyano, because I do get that from time to time. I stir my sand up quite a bit to keep it from getting too dirty looking. I have a really shallow sand bed though and it never really gets a chance to hold on to any bad crap that I'd have to worry about stirring up. I keep a DSB in my fuge. I've never asked what the crusty sand is though and will be interested to hear other people's responses

 

[locoyo386]

Hi there,
Newby here, but does coroline grow on sand, cause it looks like that?

 

[locoyo386]

Originally Posted by kas2247
http:///forum/post/2902092
I get the same algae in my tank sometimes... I always just assumed it was cyano, because I do get that from time to time. I stir my sand up quite a bit to keep it from getting too dirty looking. I have a really shallow sand bed though and it never really gets a chance to hold on to any bad crap that I'd have to worry about stirring up. I keep a DSB in my fuge. I've never asked what the crusty sand is though and will be interested to hear other people's responses

Hi there, is it recomended to stir up the sand bed? Will it not bother the live bacteria living in it?

 

[kas2247]

No, it's not recommended. I keep a deep sand bed in the fuge for the beneficial stuff though. In the display I only have maybe 1/2", just for looks. I try to keep it stirred up so that stuff like the above pictures doesn't grow on it.
I think it's really hard to grow coralline on the sand... I'm positive that's not what grows on mine because I can hardly get coralline to even grow on my rocks (lighting problem mostly--just recently fixed!). I can't speak for the original posters, but from the pictures it looks very similar to what mine is.

 

[richmond98]

ok so it seems we have couple more curious people with the same question....is there any of the experienced crowd that has dealt with this out there with any thoughts??
to me its just weird that i only have it in the one part of the tank and not the entire tank.

 

[sagxman]

Cyano! What type of water do you use? RO/DI? Tap? What are you levels at? Are you sure that area of sand has good flow or could there be a dead area right at the sand level?

 

[kas2247]

I'm pretty sure mine's cyano, I was just wondering what others thought of the pictures...
And be glad it's only in the one part of the tank! If it spreads, it can be a pain in the butt to get rid of.
Try cutting your lights for a day or two and see if it goes away. I've been running mine for only 4 or 5 hours every night when I'm actually home and it's helping significantly. I'd cut mine all together for a few days, but I'm just starting to get coralline colors back on my rocks and I really don't want to kill that again!

 

[scopus tang]

Originally Posted by Richmond98
http:///forum/post/2905480
ok so it seems we have couple more curious people with the same question....is there any of the experienced crowd that has dealt with this out there with any thoughts??
to me its just weird that i only have it in the one part of the tank and not the entire tank.

Richmond98 it does indeed appear to be cyano, commonly called slime algae - if left undesturbed it will typically form thick slimy mats which can actually be picked up, taking part of your sandbed with them. Generally cyano outbreaks occur where there is low flow, nutrients and plenty of light. I personally wouldn't worry about reducing the lighting, instead I would reposition or redirect my powerhead to make sure I'm getting plenty of flow in that area. I've no idea how your system is set-up, but 150 gallons is pretty big for only a single powerhead to provide adequet flow.

 

[spanko]

Here is my take on it.
Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria)
Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients.
1.Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient.
2.Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter – skimmer.
3.Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week.
4.Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed.
5.If you have a cyano outbreak do the above 4 items andh:
a.At water change time siphon off the cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanker.
b.After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal.
c.Use a turkey baster now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering – skimming.
Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy.
Hope that helps.

 

[richmond98]

ok thanks....i wasnt sure which direction i should go since i wasnt sure what it was. so from what ive read up on it is ok to remove which is great cause i think it looks like crap.
As for flow i was told that since i only have a fish only tank i dont need a super amount of flow and the Kor 4 would be fine. weird thing is i know i have slow if not dead spots at the opposite end of the tank from the PH and yet its clean meanwhile where i have the problem is closer to the PH

i keep seeing "flow rates" around the site but wasnt sure what i should do with mine since i only have fish and no corals.
Water: i use tp water, im not on city water its well water...as far as the water levels i have been testing every week and things have been the same all at 0 for a good month now, i did however remove both carbon bags recently but never replaced them and last week and this week my nitrates came up to 15-20 (using saltwater master test kits).
Could the rise also be contributed to me removing the carbon?
I have a long way to go and alot to upgrade and change but, so far its been working for 2 years.

 

[richmond98]

Oh as for feeding.....i feed twice a day, once in the morning with some flakes and once in the evening with brine shrimp. My foxface always acts like he is starving and hasnt had any food in a month so there really isnt any leftovers anywhere, that vacum cleaner takes care of that. I feed the C.Chip every couple of days when he is towards the top with a small piece of squid.