Algae or Cyanobacteria? What to do?

[QT]

Hi, I have a 1 1/2 month old 60gal tank w/ about 30-35 lbs of live
rock and 60 lbs of aragonite sand. A few weeks ago, I've had a bad
problem with this purple/reddish fast growing stuff on my sand and
glass! It is now beginning to slowly appear on some rocks. I sifted
the sand manually and some of it has now turned brown... Areas covered
from the light by rocks, etc are still white sand. It looks sorta
slimy and hairy. What is this stuff? How can I get rid of it?

Thanks!
I have a few pictures:
http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae1.JPG
http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae2.jpg
http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae3.jpg

[Marc Levenson]

Keep cleaning your glass and siphon off what you can with airline tubing. In
about 2 weeks, the bloom is over. It looks like two different things to me... a
diatom bloom and a small section of cyano bacteria.

This is common in a newer tank, and while ugly, it isn't a permanent problem.

Marc


QT wrote:

> Hi, I have a 1 1/2 month old 60gal tank w/ about 30-35 lbs of live
> rock and 60 lbs of aragonite sand. A few weeks ago, I've had a bad
> problem with this purple/reddish fast growing stuff on my sand and
> glass! It is now beginning to slowly appear on some rocks. I sifted
> the sand manually and some of it has now turned brown... Areas covered
> from the light by rocks, etc are still white sand. It looks sorta
> slimy and hairy. What is this stuff? How can I get rid of it?
>
> Thanks!
> I have a few pictures:
> http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae1.JPG
> http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae2.jpg
> http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae3.jpg

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Marco Qualizza]

In article >, says...
> Keep cleaning your glass and siphon off what you can with airline tubing. In
> about 2 weeks, the bloom is over. It looks like two different things to me... a
> diatom bloom and a small section of cyano bacteria.
>
> This is common in a newer tank, and while ugly, it isn't a permanent problem.

Marc, do you need to keep on siphoning this, or can you let it sit and
it'll disappear on its own?

--
7y FW -- 33g & 55g
100 gallon reef-ready air tank. (Converting to reef)

[Marc Levenson]

What I do is put up with it until it drives me insane, which doesn't take much btw,
and then I grab a hose and siphon it out. And each time I've had to do this, it
didn't come back. I don't know if I just timed it right, or if it was near the end of
the cycle or if I just got every bit of it.... but I feel like all of this stuff is
just par for the course.

This is not an observational hobby, it is truly interactive. Although I have to say
this, I spend a lot more time online talking about reefs than enjoying my own!

Marc


Marco Qualizza wrote:

> In article >, says...
> > Keep cleaning your glass and siphon off what you can with airline tubing. In
> > about 2 weeks, the bloom is over. It looks like two different things to me... a
> > diatom bloom and a small section of cyano bacteria.
> >
> > This is common in a newer tank, and while ugly, it isn't a permanent problem.
>
> Marc, do you need to keep on siphoning this, or can you let it sit and
> it'll disappear on its own?
>
> --
> 7y FW -- 33g & 55g
> 100 gallon reef-ready air tank. (Converting to reef)

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Marc Levenson]

Bob,

I use that method for flatworms, using a micron bag, but not cyano bacteria.
Whatever comes out goes down the drain.

Marc


Bob Phelps wrote:

> I've got the same problem for the last 10 days or so.
> I also siphon mine off by taking a rubber hose and
> doubling up a nylon stocking as a filter on one end
> and put that into my sump. It does come back and
> maybe it's because some is getting though the nylon???
>

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Todd W]

Siphon it out. It will probably come back. You need to address the
cause. Do you have lots of circulation in your tank? Dead spots? Is
your skimmer working optimally? If you are like me you are probably
overfeeding. Cut it back. I reduced mine in half. My fish did not
skip a beat. Your tank is new so it is probably not your bulbs although
this can be a cause. Too much nutrient in the water is the most likely
cause so look for ways to reduce it. Good luck

Todd

[Phil O'Connor]

I've had my 46 gal bowfront for 1.5 years now, and I've NEVER gotten rid
of the problem. Its been worse at times than others, but its never
totally gone away. It used to be rampant, now its just mild and annoying.

I used to have green hair really bad too, but that totally went away
(hurray!). Cant solve the cyano problem tho. I feed only once a day,
have a good protein skimmer (AquaC), lights only 10hrs/day, water
change/siphon every 2 weeks (more when its bad). Oh well, I'm going to
the gym regularly, so soon I'll be strong enough to chuck the whole thing
right out my 6th story window :-)

Oddly, I have a small 7 gal nano reef that does have high nitrates
(30ppm) and I've NEVER had any cyano or green hair anywhere in that tank
(about 1 yr old).

-Phil


QT wrote:

> Hi, I have a 1 1/2 month old 60gal tank w/ about 30-35 lbs of live
> rock and 60 lbs of aragonite sand. A few weeks ago, I've had a bad
> problem with this purple/reddish fast growing stuff on my sand and
> glass! It is now beginning to slowly appear on some rocks. I sifted
> the sand manually and some of it has now turned brown... Areas covered
> from the light by rocks, etc are still white sand. It looks sorta
> slimy and hairy. What is this stuff? How can I get rid of it?
>
> Thanks!
> I have a few pictures:
> http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae1.JPG
> http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae2.jpg
> http://www.bunniestation.com/photos/algae3.jpg

[QT]

Hello. My problem is getting worst! Bad part is it's spreading onto my rocks
and coral!!! What can I do? Is it going to kill my macroalgae (halimeda),
polyps, mushrooms, coralline?
I heard mexican hermit crabs will eat the cyano, but
I can't find any around here... I live in Southern California...
anybody know a place that sells them?

Thanks

[richard reynolds]

where in socal its a big place :)

--
--
richard reynolds



"QT" > wrote in message
om...
> Hello. My problem is getting worst! Bad part is it's spreading onto my rocks
> and coral!!! What can I do? Is it going to kill my macroalgae (halimeda),
> polyps, mushrooms, coralline?
> I heard mexican hermit crabs will eat the cyano, but
> I can't find any around here... I live in Southern California...
> anybody know a place that sells them?
>
> Thanks

[QT]

I live in Orange County... but if the mexican hermits will really get rid of
most of the cyano/diatom and whatever else i have, then i'm willing to drive
to san diego, LA, riverside, etc!

Or should I just get a powerhead and direct it right above the sand?

[Lone6Wolfpack]

then he probably had a phospate problem and then that may be my prob too, i
had a hair algae prob and had to reset all rocks to put a DSB in there, had
crushed coral. that should take care of it. do you have CRUSHED CORAL? i
still eblieve that going to RO will solve it too. but for you what yotu
should do is cut the lights back to 6-7 hours a day, stop feeding fish for
about 3 days, then feed them every other day only what they eat for about 2
weeks, also stop feeding corals anything, including phytoplankton, iodine,
strontium, coral acell, trace elements, iron, anything like that. calcium
is still ok and dkH. this way you will stop feeding your cyanobacteria, the
FISH WILL BE OK, and the corals will be fine!!! now at this point, you may
need to take some rocks out, and SCRUB the bacteria off, forget about the
life on the rock, it will either rocover or it was worth it cause tank will
get worse! scrub outside of tank in bucket with salt water from tank. stop
filter if gets clouded up. when substrate crud gets mixed up soem will
churn up onto rocks after filter restart and replant itself on rest of
bacteria and start to control it, then its up to you to use either RO water
or phospate sponge or if you have crush coral then chage that to DSB or is
you have old NO bulbs shange them out too, and keep nitrates down as usual.

wolfhedd.


"Soup" > wrote in message
...
> I had the same problem in my tank and I remedied the problem by doing
> my WC with nothing but RO water and it never came back. I have both
> powerheads pointing toward the front of the tank crossing each other
> both at different levels in the tank. Water changes are done every 2
> weeks max. (20%)
>
> -Soup
>
> In article >, QT
> > wrote:
>
> > I live in Orange County... but if the mexican hermits will really get
rid of
> > most of the cyano/diatom and whatever else i have, then i'm willing to
drive
> > to san diego, LA, riverside, etc!
> >
> > Or should I just get a powerhead and direct it right above the sand?