ID help - never had this before

[CoralWealth]

So I had Dinos about five months ago and I'm almost positive this is not dinos even though it does go away when the lights are off.

What is it and what is the best way to get rid of it? It's mostly just on the sand, on the outside of my filter socks and on top of my cheato which really stinks as the cheato isn't growing much anymore.

 

[Kamden Uelton]

Cyano bacteria... Most people use Chemiclean but I don't like to use Chemicals and bought a Sand Sifting Conch which did the job for me.

 

[EmdeReef]

Looks like cyano, but I don’t have much experience with cyano so perhaps someone else can chime in. I just had a patch for the first time and removed it hasn’t come back in days, though if it’s all over you’ll need other stuff

 

[Jose Mayo]

It looks like cyanobacteria to me.

 

[CoralWealth]

I have a SPS dominant tank so I do not want to do anything to risk that.

How do you get cyano? I do not have high nutrients, my nitrates are 0 and my phosphates are 0.05

 

[Kamden Uelton]

I have cyano in my relatively low nutrient Crinoid/Mixed Reef... I have my Nitrates at 5 and Phosphates at 0.02 and I have it. It just seems to appear and go for me if I overfeed my Crinoids I will get a lot of it on the sandbed but my Conchs quickly eat it up.

 

[EmdeReef]

I have a SPS dominant tank so I do not want to do anything to risk that.

How do you get cyano? I do not have high nutrients, my nitrates are 4-8 and my phosphates are 0.05

Remove what you can physically especially from the sand. It’s worked for my patch (so far). Then it’s an issue of a nutrient balancing, there are many great threads on here explaining various techniques, I’ll try to find a few. Good luck

 

[Robink]

Cyano. I don't use chemicals on my tank. You may want to up your flow in that area. I get it in low flow areas. Usually will go away on its own with regular tank maintenance.

 

[rkpetersen]

Almost certainly cyano. You can get it on the sand with low or even very low nutrient levels in the circulating water. I'd inspect it under a microscope to confirm that it is cyano, and maybe narrow it down to a genus. I had a bout of oscillatoria cyano a short time ago. Solved it by putting amino acid dosing on pause, and siphoning the sand several times a week, discarding all the cyano and detritus siphoned off. Took about 2-3 weeks to clear. Good luck.

 

[CoralWealth]

could I scoop it up with a very fine net?

 

[CoralWealth]

What about all of it growing on top of my cheato?

 

[CoralWealth]

Cyano. I don't use chemicals on my tank. You may want to up your flow in that area. I get it in low flow areas. Usually will go away on its own with regular tank maintenance.

I have really high flow in my tank, it is actually in some of the highest flow areas that cant get anymore flow.



SO is this normally from high nutrients or an imbalance of nutrients?

 

[EmdeReef]

could I scoop it up with a very fine net?

That should work, i didn’t have anything so used just a regular fish net...I think just try to minimize spores floating.

 

[jrwoltman]

Cody, siphoning it out with a dollar store turkey baster is your easiest and best bet.

 

[CoralWealth]

Cody, siphoning it out with a dollar store turkey baster is your easiest and best bet.

This is what I was doing when I thought it was dinos, but I will do the same now!

 

[guido5526]

Brs has a video on this. An imbalance in nitrates and phosphates. Ones way higher than the other. Vibrant can help. Sand sifting Star is what got rid of it for me.

 

[CoralWealth]

Brs has a video on this. An imbalance in nitrates and phosphates. Ones way higher than the other. Vibrant can help. Sand sifting Star is what got rid of it for me.

I will look for it, thanks.