Cyano Leftovers?

[Publius]

Hi, everyone. First time poster here. I was hoping I could get some help with identifying what I think is cyano leftovers. I could be very wrong, of course.

We had a small cyano bloom and treated it with UltraLife Red Slime remover. The cause was probably my phosphates. They are presently at .16 ppm and I started GFO last night. All other parameters are within normal range, and nitrates are at 0.

The pics are below. It is brown in color and hard. I am able to remove it with my hand (which I will do regardless of what it is).

Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[sarivania]

I'm interested in the answer to this one too.

 

[Dancingmad]

Looks like pretty typical aftermath of a cyno / diatom bloom.

I like to take it out -- usually drop in a couple of filter socks, hit the sand bed with a siphon(rocks w/ turkey baster), pinching the drain hose to control the water flow as to not pull too much sand out. Run the socks for a couple hours and then take the socks out as nutrient export. Not that much effort to add to a WC. Ultimately my logic is the bloom was cause by nutrients / cycle death - thus removing the algae the grew from the initial death will be removing the nutrients that cause it(and would cause a subsequent bloom maybe). Kinda like removing a clump of algae from a refugium but different. I wouldn't let any clumpiness/stringiness get caught on branchers (gorgonians/sea fans/SPS/etc) if ya got any - especially if there isn't enough flow to remove it on its on or it doesn't have a defense like leathers do when they slime up and shed - hit it with a turkey baster. I'll fish clumps out with a net and toss it / flush it too.

Also, you may look to investing on a sand stirerererer like a conch or two, cucumber, or goby. Lots of livestock options out there - I bet if you post up your current livestock and tank goals/size/specs folks would be able to drop an opinion .

Nice looking tangs BTW! Welcome to R2R and happy reefing!

 

[Publius]

Looks like pretty typical aftermath of a cyno / diatom bloom.

I like to take it out -- usually drop in a couple of filter socks, hit the sand bed with a siphon(rocks w/ turkey baster), pinching the drain hose to control the water flow as to not pull too much sand out. Run the socks for a couple hours and then take the socks out as nutrient export. Not that much effort to add to a WC. Ultimately my logic is the bloom was cause by nutrients / cycle death - thus removing the algae the grew from the initial death will be removing the nutrients that cause it(and would cause a subsequent bloom maybe). Kinda like removing a clump of algae from a refugium but different. I wouldn't let any clumpiness/stringiness get caught on branchers (gorgonians/sea fans/SPS/etc) if ya got any - especially if there isn't enough flow to remove it on its on or it doesn't have a defense like leathers do when they slime up and shed - hit it with a turkey baster. I'll fish clumps out with a net and toss it / flush it too.

Also, you may look to investing on a sand stirerererer like a conch or two, cucumber, or goby. Lots of livestock options out there - I bet if you post up your current livestock and tank goals/size/specs folks would be able to drop an opinion .

Nice looking tangs BTW! Welcome to R2R and happy reefing!

Thank you for the detailed response. I will try what you said.