Red growing in sand?

[Justin_92_92]

Hello all. My tank is a couple years old now. I think my signature tells what I have in it. Well I have had some algae problems so gave the tank a good clean down. I have done a bunch of water changes and finally I pulled pretty mych everything out of the tank and got all the waste out by vacuming it all and stirring it up and repeat. I put it all back in and looks great. One day later and I have red algae looking stuff forming in my sand already.

Can anyone identify this and lead me to a fix for it.

Thanks for any help you can be!

 

[Defect]

Looks like Cyanobacteria. As for fixing it. What I did when I had a bit of cyano was a lot of water changes and fed my fish less. If you search cyanobacteria there is tons of info on how to remedy the situation.

Good Luck

 

[Chasman]

I had, what may be the same issue several years ago. Had a 29gal and in year two got what I would call "Red Hair Algea". I don't think it was Cyano. But like you I would take out most of the rock, scrub it, vacuum the sand, and in a week it all came back. The snails I had wouldn't touch the stuff. Tried GFO, which did nothing but kill the snails. (I think) Ultimately I couldn't keep up with it and pulled the plug on the tank. BUT ! ........ I have since learned that actual Mexican Turbo Snails will eat the stuff. I can't claim it first hand, but in your case it's certainly worth a try. Good luck with that, and I hope what you have is something different than what I dealt with.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Cyano, wave it away with your hand, get up some more flow in that spot, should take care of it. Change to new lighting lately?

 

[prinaudo]

Looks like cyano to me as well, I had a out brake of the a few months back, had some dead flow spots. I reworked the flow and did more water changes. cleared up in a matter of weeks.

 

[johcastro]

I have a reeeeeealllyyy weird issue with cyano on mine.... it looks the same... but it dissapear over days... and then reappears on the same spot.... and then dissapears and reappears... sometimes several times on a day... for example.. today I left for my job at 10am... there was the red patches on the top of a rock looking at me and defying me... i feed my fish and left.... i came for lunch.... at 3 pm... there was no red thing.... I went back to work... i came at 8pm from work.. turn the lights on.. there they were... went to the kitchen... made something to eat.... 2 hrs later.... no red thing on the rock.... im looking fordward to take a picture of it on and off... because im pretty sure its cyano... but i have never heard of it behaving this way....

 

[Maximo]

^^^ red planaria? Looks like red algae

 

[jstec]

I'd say cyano but I'll know in a day or two if it's covering your sand bed and nothing is eating it you'll know for sure

 

[Kasasah]

I'd say cyano but I'll know in a day or two if it's covering your sand bed and nothing is eating it you'll know for sure

+1 on cyano. In my experience with a heavy load of cyano then best ways to beat it are.... fresh bulbs, and lots more water flow. cyano can be blasted of rocks by sweeping your hand past it. I would peel it off the sand bed by hand. Keep is updated and add more flow for sure!

 

[Kasasah]

I have a reeeeeealllyyy weird issue with cyano on mine.... it looks the same... but it dissapear over days... and then reappears on the same spot.... and then dissapears and reappears... sometimes several times on a day... for example.. today I left for my job at 10am... there was the red patches on the top of a rock looking at me and defying me... i feed my fish and left.... i came for lunch.... at 3 pm... there was no red thing.... I went back to work... i came at 8pm from work.. turn the lights on.. there they were... went to the kitchen... made something to eat.... 2 hrs later.... no red thing on the rock.... im looking fordward to take a picture of it on and off... because im pretty sure its cyano... but i have never heard of it behaving this way....

I bet you have something eating it lol. Do you have blue leg hermits?

 

[johcastro]

no hermit, no snails, no mmm... anything? just blue damsells, a lawn mower blenny, 3 wrasses pending on id yet XD, corales... 1 brittle star.... and thats pretty much it besides the corals... the thing its that it appears always on the algae... and the algae its untouched so i know its not being eaten...

 

[jstec]

I personally used cyano clean to fix the problem and it only took 2-3 days although this it a controversial method I see no problem as long as u are oxygenating properly.

 

[Justin_92_92]

I am setting up a bigger tank soon so I'm ordering more power heads real soon so I'll get those and put in this until then. So with my new tank means new lighting. Any recommendation for lighting?

It's not spreading too bad right now. Just frustrated when I had just cleaned it all. I will momove my power head today to adjust a little.

Tha KS for the inut everyone. Loving my tank all clean now

 

[jstec]

I'm a big led fan but some people still love the t5s there have been a lot of studies done regarding the differences that they have on your coral. I would recommend looking into that and seeing which you would prefer for your situation. There is some good stuff on YouTube where you can see the difference between the two

 

[Kasasah]

I'm a big led fan but some people still love the t5s there have been a lot of studies done regarding the differences that they have on your coral. I would recommend looking into that and seeing which you would prefer for your situation. There is some good stuff on YouTube where you can see the difference between the two

I've tried both and my coral have excellent response to LED and very poor response to T5 as far as cyano, when I switched everything from my 30 to my 40 I found small pieces under and between my yumas. Nothing that I ever saw that tried to take over though...

 

[Kasasah]

I plan on getting the light on the link below... I am a HUGE amazon shopper, and any product they fulfill I will purchase because if ANYTHING happens they will take care of me. I wanted kessil but I would need 3 and that's $1200.... so I'm heavily leaning in this direction.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KMHPAGA/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1415396735&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40#

 

[jstec]

Those look like a solid choice and much cheaper! How big is your tank though you may still need more then one

 

[Kasasah]

Those look like a solid choice and much cheaper! How big is your tank though you may still need more then one

Oh I'll be getting four of them for a marineland 93 gallon rimless cube.

 

[jstec]

Very nice I love the rimless look I'm half tempted to order one of those leds for my 45 the website says they do up to 50gallons but I'm pretty sure if get the spotlight effect in the middle of the tank which I hate

 

[Kasasah]

Very nice I love the rimless look I'm half tempted to order one of those leds for my 45 the website says they do up to 50gallons but I'm pretty sure if get the spotlight effect in the middle of the tank which I hate

Order two and see if only one works. If so send the second back. Free returns especially unopened