red/green algae on sand

[Whipples]

Hi folks, I've been dealing with this reddish greenish algae on the sand for a few weeks now, hoping for some ideas. When I vacuum the gravel it doesn't come up and isn't hair-like so that leads me to think it isn't cyano. Any thoughts?

NO3 ~4ppm
PO4-.1 (working on reducing)
Dosing 5ml of Vibrant every week.

 

[SandJ]

It looks like cyno to me. Some people report cyno appearing after dosing Vibrant. Could try putting some in a cup with peroxide and see if it tints the water red.
Have a microscope or know someone with one? One way to tell for sure.

 

[Whipples]

@SandJ unfortunately no microscope access. I'll try siphoning some out and dripping H2O2 on it and report back. Any other reactions I should be looking for? It's not a dead spot as far as I can tell using some floss on a target feeder.

 

[jsker]

Looks like red cayno developing. I tried many different ways to get rid of the red cyano and resorted to using a cyano remover.

 

[Whipples]

That's a huge drag if it is. @jsker when you had cyano did you stop dosing the AF ABVE? I'm wondering if the A/V or even potentially E would be making it worse? I don't think B would have an impact.

 

[Reef_a_holiks]

yea, agree with the others that it looks like cyano. usually a phosphate or insufficient water flow issue.

 

[Whipples]

Thanks for the feedback. I did another quick gravel vac into a filter sock and will likely bring GFO back on this weekend to bring phosphate back down to a trace amount. Thanks everyone for the help!

 

[jsker]

That's a huge drag if it is. @jsker when you had cyano did you stop dosing the AF ABVE? I'm wondering if the A/V or even potentially E would be making it worse? I don't think B would have an impact.

No, I dosed as I normally would. I had red cyano real bad and tried Vibrant with little success before I use the Red Slime remover. The remover is just a bacteria the starves out the red slime. My thinking is the red cyano was introduced via a frag plug or the the bacteria getting out of wack in my system. I lost a few corals and if and when I get the red cyano again I will use the remover instead anything else and put things back in order again.

A suggestion to get your phosphate down use either phosphate RX or ATM agent green. They both use lanthanum chloride, which the phosphates bond to and then are filtered out of the system pretty quickly.

 

[Whipples]

No, I dosed as I normally would. I had red cyano real bad and tried Vibrant with little success before I use the Red Slime remover. The remover is just a bacteria the starves out the red slime. My thinking is the red cyano was introduced via a frag plug or the the bacteria getting out of wack in my system. I lost a few corals and if and when I get the red cyano again I will use the remover instead anything else and put things back in order again.

A suggestion to get your phosphate down use either phosphate RX or ATM agent green. They both use lanthanum chloride, which the phosphates bond to and then are filtered out of the system pretty quickly.

I've heard of those things, I have a bit of AF PhosphateMinus that I'll likely throw in the reactor this weekend to help bring them down. I had them near zero so I stopped running it, looks like I will need to keep a slight bit mixed in with carbon going forward. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[jsker]

You are welcome, yes I have been running about 4 tablespoons of phosphate minus in my reactor also and my PO4's have stayed in check.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Dosing 5ml of Vibrant every week.

Thats giving you the cyano.

 

[Whipples]

Thats giving you the cyano.

I've been following that megathread and success seems to vary. I've seen some experiences where keeping nitrates up helped keep cyano in check, where it works as intended, and others where cyano spreads like wildfire. I'll probably skip the next dose and get phosphates down and see what happens. I've been more aggressive at vacuuming and at this point only PE mysis and LRS reef frenzy goes in the tank to try and keep excess waste down.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

megathread and success seems to vary.

yup You'll notice Ive followed it closely. Its getting late but, in short the system wont stabilise and run on its bio filter till it out of the system. Its a loop. Now that all the bad stuff is dead and gone the bio filter needs time to get back up to speed.
Vibrant isnt THAT kind of bacteria. Its as specific strain that kills stuff in a specific way. Its not adding anything to the system at this point you want or need. Im pretty certain its adding whats causing the cyano.

 

[Whipples]

Yes there are quite a few regular contributors and I am sure several times more lurkers such as myself. Great to see more ideas in that space, but just like everything else in this hobby what works for one does not always work for another.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

true. but science is science.