Blue green algae or Cyanobacteria?

[Reeferburns]

Hi, I’m having a terrible ugly green slimy algae buildup on the surface of my sand. It hasn’t gotten to my rock at all. I noticed it start in a small patch on the sand and boom it’s all over the sand it looks terrible. I’m so confused as to how I have a algae break out as I have no nitrate or phosphate in the water? If someone can help me solve this problem that would be great! I’ll leave pictures of aquarium parameters and pictures of the out break. Thanks for all the help! Also my frogspawn has been acting up and not getting as full as it used to and it’s mouth is wide open and help on that would be great too!

 

[Dom]

The only way to properly identify what you have is through examination under a microscope.

Based on the pictures provided, I see you have one power head which is correctly pointed at the surface. But that is the only power head I see.

I suspect that your problem is related to a few things, one of which is inadequate flow.

If in fact you only have the one power head in the picture, I would purchase two more. I would place one on each side of the tank and point them directly at each other. Flow is important, but, it needs to be chaotic flow. This reduces the dead spots in the tank.

Beyond that, I would siphon it up from the substrate during weekly water changes. Also, I find that a UV sterilizer was a huge help with my cyanobacteria issue. You may want to consider adding one.

 

[bsr2430]

The only way to properly identify what you have is through examination under a microscope.

Based on the pictures provided, I see you have one power head which is correctly pointed at the surface. But that is the only power head I see.

I suspect that your problem is related to a few things, one of which is inadequate flow.

If in fact you only have the one power head in the picture, I would purchase two more. I would place one on each side of the tank and point them directly at each other. Flow is important, but, it needs to be chaotic flow. This reduces the dead spots in the tank.

Beyond that, I would siphon it up from the substrate during weekly water changes. Also, I find that a UV sterilizer was a huge help with my cyanobacteria issue. You may want to consider adding one.

Nailed it.

 

[Reeferburns]

The only way to properly identify what you have is through examination under a microscope.

Based on the pictures provided, I see you have one power head which is correctly pointed at the surface. But that is the only power head I see.

I suspect that your problem is related to a few things, one of which is inadequate flow.

If in fact you only have the one power head in the picture, I would purchase two more. I would place one on each side of the tank and point them directly at each other. Flow is important, but, it needs to be chaotic flow. This reduces the dead spots in the tank.

Beyond that, I would siphon it up from the substrate during weekly water changes. Also, I find that a UV sterilizer was a huge help with my cyanobacteria issue. You may want to consider adding one.

Thank you! Yeah that picture was a little outdated and didn’t show the other power head. I have three power heads at 550 gph and the tank size is 37. I’ll try doing a UV

 

[Dom]

Thank you! Yeah that picture was a little outdated and didn’t show the other power head. I have three power heads at 550 gph and the tank size is 37. I’ll try doing a UV

Please post a full tank shot from the front.

 

[uscakeeper]

This looks like blue green algae which is actually a form of cyanobacteria. A primary cause for this that's often overlooked is a disparity in phosphate and nitrate. Look up the red field ratio, should help by resolving water parameters.