Unknown ?Algae? Help requested

[0828dawn]

I have what appears to be some sort of maroon colored algae appearing in my 55 gallon marine tank. Below I have uploaded photos of it, it appears to be soft and thick and started off slowly and is now progressing into long strands?

I need to know what type this is, what is the cause, and should I work towards removal of it or just leave it alone?

If removal is suggested some steps in how to go about it are going to be needed also, Sorry but tank has only been running since mid November and still learning.

Now for the boring stuff:
*55 gallon filled with ro/di water and Instant Ocean Salt added
*Water temp kept @ 79F monitored by 2 digital sticker thermometers placed top left & bottom right
*Weekly water changes @ rate of aprox. 5 gallon
*water tested weekly using RedSea Saltwater Master test kit(salinity,ph,ammonia,nitrite,nitrate...I like to be thorough)
+Salinity 1.023
+Ph say's 7.8 despite adding Marine Buffer, LFS says its okay and to leave it alone unless it tests lower than that.
+Ammonia 0
+Nitrite 0
+Nitrate 0
*SeaClone 100 Protein skimmer (pulling out less than 1/2" day)
*2 Emperor 400's (both use cartridges and Marineland black diamond premium activated carbon)
*Rena Cal Basic 300watt heater
* 4 Maxi-Jet 1200's running off a RedSea Wavemaster Pro set on alternating reef (4th setting)
*Coralife 260 watt Lunar Aqualight power compact (Two 65 watt 10,000K and two 65 watt True Actinic 03 Blue straight pin base compact fluorescent lamps; Four 3/4 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED lamps; One cooling fan) <<<I run the 10,000K & Actinic for 12 hours and the Lunars the remaining 12...all set on a timer of course>>>
*about ?35 Lbs of cured premium live Fiji Rock & ?5 Lbs of cured Tonga
*5-6" Mixed substrate sand bed (sand, coral, aragonite, etc).
Residents:
*1 Cleaner shrimp (was 3, god knows what happened to the other 2)
*1 Jawfish (yellowheaded)
*1 Purpleback Pseudochromis
*1 Purple Firefish
*2 False Perculas
*about 5 Nassarius Cleaner snails
*1 Halloween Hermit Crab
*1 Electric Blue Hermit Crab
*1 Electric Orange Hermit Crab
*2 Bangaii Cardinals
*1 small Blue Hippo Tang
*Green Clown Goby

 

[chilwil84]

cyno its a bacteria not an algae. you need to increase waste removal with larger water changes and may need to reduce feedings. you also can increase flow to help in the removal of the cyno
edit
better skimmer and more frequent changes of the canaster fitlers and may want to look into a refugium instead of the canisters

 

[0828dawn]

Rough estimate of how much water to change weekly?
How much more flow since I am already running 4 maxi-jet 1200's (seems to have good water flow since stuff is waving back and forth?)..every time I try to increase the power of the powerheads I get these tiny micro bubbles that stick on the fish <Arg>
Is this stuff good to have? another words is their anything that will feed on it or destroy it?
Their not canisters, their hob's...also no room for refugium. HOB protein skimmer is a must (anyone have any rec.?)

 

[snakeblitz33]

It is cyanobacteria. The reason for Cyanobacteria is poor water quality. You are going to have to find the source of nitrates and phosphates.
What do you use for your top off water? If you use tap water or well water, you should consider buying and using an RO/DI Unit. IF you already have a unit, you need to test for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS test). Make sure that it's not above 5.
You also may want to consider switching over from crushed coral to a live sand bed. Crushed coral gathers nitrates over time and can cause havoc in a saltwater aquarium.
When changing out your water, you want to siphon out and scoop out as much cyano as possible. I don't even change out 5 gallons of saltwater every 4 months, only when something is really wrong.
Your powerheads and filters are adequate, however your protein skimmer isn't. I highly suggest getting something like a coralife super skimmer or a CPR BakPak skimmer. They are well worth the money.
Nothing will eat it, and it is actually bad for your animals because cyano produces certain toxins that enter the main water column.

 

[0828dawn]

Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
It is cyanobacteria. The reason for Cyanobacteria is poor water quality. You are going to have to find the source of nitrates and phosphates.
What do you use for your top off water? If you use tap water or well water, you should consider buying and using an RO/DI Unit. IF you already have a unit, you need to test for Total Dissolved Solids (TDS test). Make sure that it's not above 5.
You also may want to consider switching over from crushed coral to a live sand bed. Crushed coral gathers nitrates over time and can cause havoc in a saltwater aquarium.
When changing out your water, you want to siphon out and scoop out as much cyano as possible. I don't even change out 5 gallons of saltwater every 4 months, only when something is really wrong.
Your powerheads and filters are adequate, however your protein skimmer isn't. I highly suggest getting something like a coralife super skimmer or a CPR BakPak skimmer. They are well worth the money.
Nothing will eat it, and it is actually bad for your animals because cyano produces certain toxins that enter the main water column.
Top off water is ro/di also. How do you do a tds test on the unit? The unit I am using is a Reef Master 100 GPD + Double pass DI Link>> http://abundantflowwater.com/html/aquarium_filters.html
The crushed coral, sand, etc. was said to turn to live sand since live rock is in the tank per LFS (mixed sub needed for jawfish)? I could remove the coral since the majority of it sits on the top...Not sure if you can tell by the picts above.
I tried pulling the cyano but this stuff is horrid to get rid of and is really "stuck" to the live rock.
The seaclone 100 IS pulling small amounts out of the tank as mentioned? Is the amount not adequate and that is the reason for recommending a upgrade?
If Upgrade is necessary, what about the remora pro (since I have to have a hob) with the mag drive 3? Or is their a better hob?
I'm doing maint. every week!!! (water tests, partial if needed, cleaning salt creep, emptying pro filter daily, scraping ******** glass with razor and following with magnet / polishing attach if needed)
Sorry for all the questions, but really can use all the help I can get here.
Ps, I think the source may be overfeeding...was under the weather for a few days and the tank was NICELY fed by my old man.

 

[mcbdz]

What are you feeding and how often?
You should be able to blow the cyno off with turkey baster or power head. To remove it take the large bell off your syphon hose and suction it out with water change. Some parts are subbern so I'll use a baster to loosen if needed. Very important to remove as much as possible and find sorce feeding it. It is either Nitrates or phosphates I believe.

 

[0828dawn]

Originally Posted by mcbdz
What are you feeding and how often?
You should be able to blow the cyno off with turkey baster or power head. To remove it take the large bell off your syphon hose and suction it out with water change. Some parts are subbern so I'll use a baster to loosen if needed. Very important to remove as much as possible and find sorce feeding it. It is either Nitrates or phosphates I believe.

I'm feeding Formula One Flakes and Pellets, Formula two flakes and pellets, Brine Shrimp Plus Flakes, OraGlo Pellets (of course alternating foods), and they had live brine shrimp that was fed to them once. They are being fed at least once a day in the morning & occas. once at night. When feeding I put the wavemaster pro on feed setting which pauses all the power heads for I belive 5/10min. to give them a chance to munch up the food.
Gonna Run ro/di water tomorrow and plan on doing the change within the next 3 days and use the suction and baster as you suggested. Wondering to self how much water I should change and if I should try to remove the coral/substrate at the top layer that has the stuff starting to cover it also (you can see it starting to cover the substrate in the pictures above). Normally I change 5 gallons a week as necessary according to my test results, and when everything is reading ok then I just scrape the inside glass of the tank & do my normal maint.
Sadly, when I first started seeing the stuff on the live rock I thought it was pretty and thought it was the live rock starting to take off Lol!

 

[juice_1080]

I had the same problem for a while....I picked up some phosphate sponges and put them in my filtration....It's not a cure for Cyano but it helps alot....what kind of salt do you use? I never had a Cyano problem till I switched to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals.... Now I use Oceanic Natural (although not long enough to notice if it helps or not...only 1 water change)

 

[geoj]

PH 7.8 at night or day? If tested during lights on a depressed PH is likely a sign of waste build-up or low alk.
Test phosphate…

 

[mcbdz]

On the water changes, I would go by how fast you cyno is growing. Do the water change and start more water. Watch the areas and if build up is there again in 24-48hrs suction out again. I would not do more then weekly after that because you are still having it come in the tank and it want make a difference if you don't already see one. Do the phosphate sponge and I would also suction some of the substrate with it. Won't hurt.

 

[0828dawn]

Originally Posted by juice_1080
I had the same problem for a while....I picked up some phosphate sponges and put them in my filtration....It's not a cure for Cyano but it helps alot....what kind of salt do you use? I never had a Cyano problem till I switched to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals.... Now I use Oceanic Natural (although not long enough to notice if it helps or not...only 1 water change)
instant ocean marine salt

 

[0828dawn]

Originally Posted by GeoJ
PH 7.8 at night or day? If tested during lights on a depressed PH is likely a sign of waste build-up or low alk.
Test phosphate…
tested during day with lights on? Will have to get kit thingey ma-jig to test the phosphate. Thanks for the advice.

 

[0828dawn]

Originally Posted by mcbdz
On the water changes, I would go by how fast you cyno is growing. Do the water change and start more water. Watch the areas and if build up is there again in 24-48hrs suction out again. I would not do more then weekly after that because you are still having it come in the tank and it want make a difference if you don't already see one. Do the phosphate sponge and I would also suction some of the substrate with it. Won't hurt.

Thanks for the great advice. <Most definately appreciative>
Had freshwater tanks for years and never had issues with excess algae or dealing with bacteria...I definately think its from the overfeeding because all was well till I got sick.
Before I do the changes I'll make a run to my LFS and get the phospate sponges and test thingey, then I'll turkey baste and siphon and scrape...Stuff grew really slowly, thats why I thought it was the live rock taking off at first...but when it started getting long and whispy I knew it couldn't be good. Lol.

 

[0828dawn]

Tank has been completely cleaned including rocks and substrate. All media has been removed and replaced with new & readings are where they normally were. Tank looks beautiful and all inhabitants are alive & well. I am now feeding smaller amts. Thanks for all the info and advice everyone, this newbie definately put it all to use and is definately appreciative!

Below is some photos of the cyno free 55 gallon thanks to all of everyone's great advice

 

[mcbdz]

Also, along with decreasing your feedings you may want to slowly change your food over to frozen food. The flackes especially are notied to be high in phosphates and break down fast increasing nitrates.

 

[0828dawn]

Originally Posted by mcbdz
Also, along with decreasing your feedings you may want to slowly change your food over to frozen food. The flackes especially are notied to be high in phosphates and break down fast increasing nitrates.

Got it, change to frozen...what about the pellet food? I have/ use formula one and two pellet...same story on that too?

 

[paintballer768]

Originally Posted by 0828dawn

Got it, change to frozen...what about the pellet food? I have/ use formula one and two pellet...same story on that too?
Pellet food is ok. And might I add, usually I dont like backgrounds, but yours just seemed to grow on me

. Pellet and frozen food are definitely the way to go. You can feed live brine if you wanted to only do that for a treat for the fish, because you definitely dont want them spoiled on that stuff.

 

[snakeblitz33]

ooo, I just saw a prefilter sponge! If not adequately cleaned over time, the sponge can build up nitrates and release them back into your tank. Since it is on your Seaclone too, it will actually cause the seaclone to not draw in as much water and air, causing it to not function properly.

 

[0828dawn]

Originally Posted by paintballer768
Pellet food is ok. And might I add, usually I dont like backgrounds, but yours just seemed to grow on me

. Pellet and frozen food are definitely the way to go. You can feed live brine if you wanted to only do that for a treat for the fish, because you definitely dont want them spoiled on that stuff.
lol, the background was painted on by me and my son....we were bored..lol
Thanks for the info...my lfs (Elmers aquarium) said the same...to get them off the flakes that one of their workers sold me and to switch them to frozen...they also sold me this phospate stuff to put in the extra media holder of the emperor 400's along with a Urchin that was on sale for $8.99 and said he might be of help?
The seaclone sponge thingey is always cleaned off along with inside walls of the tank, despite all this it is slowly rearing again :'(
The only thing that made me feel a lil better is that Elmer's had it in their saltwater display tanks too (and their noted for fish keeping).
I saw at drfosterssmith that they had cyno remover that is supposed to be safe for fish and inverts...anyone had any luck with that? Wondering if I should give it a shot to clear the tank up hoping that the food is the source of the problem (of course chucking the food I have and switching over to all frozen with hopes not to have this issue again)! Thoughts? Ideas?

 

[0828dawn]

After finding out that the maroon colored stuff I was battling was Cyanobacteria, I followed the recommendations on this fabulous board and with my trusty turkey baster & net in hand, went in for battle feeling quite prepared.

I squirted and squirted and netted as much of the once thought pretty stuff (until it started to get thick and began growing in long whispy strands) for days & felt like I was getting nowhere!

I scrubbed my tank walls & anything that was in the tank besides the fish up to twice a day with a new toothbrush and razor , changed my protein skimmer every day, wiped the salt creep every morning & even changed my emperors media every other week--in addition to adding stuff that my LFS said would reduce/remove phospates that were probably the cause of this so-called "outbreak."

I did water changes & siphoning until my back hurt & switched their food to a strict frozen diet--one cube a day is all my lfs said to feed the entire gang, despite how many times they lined up at the front of the glass as if to beg for more. >>> I even did weekly water testings in addition to purchasing a phosphate test kit...only to find out my readings were within the norms.---even my lfs was stumped and could only advise to keep up everything I was doing and stated it would eventually go away.

Just as I was ready to try reducing the amount of time my light was on, I woke up today and am finally seeing a DRASTIC decrease in this crud. If you look with a scruitinizing eye you can see a tiny tiny piece here or there, but for the majority---I think it's on it's way to bacteria h*ll

.

Never did find out the actual cause of it? But did read on alot of forums & blogs that everyone deals with this at some point...with the norm seeming to be within the first 6 months of setup. I hate to say, I was ready to throw in the towel as the tank was beginning to take over my life...but thankfully I am a stubborn person and don't like to give in to anyone or anything. Hehe! Yep, real key to success...stay commited and never give up

To all of those who replied to my thread with useful information, hopefully the picture I posted and the methods everyone replied with will help others who are currently in battle with the stuff and looking for information on what to do.
Thanks Everyone!