Red growth on sand bed?

[ajwalker261985]

My tank is now 7/8 weeks old and I've gone through the cycling process.all my levels are perfect except for slightly low dkh readings but..

I'm a little bit concerned about red growth on the sand bed.i have syphoned out a small portion that was growing towards the front but its now growing in multiple patches towards the back.my lfs said that it is a phase that my tank is going through and considering the tanks age it's not a problem for now but I was wondering what causes it and will it just disappear or will it spread?

Here's a pic before and after I syphoned this front patch out.

Before

After


Green star polyp,Xenia,fire shrimp,Halloween hermit crab and green chromis.

 

[mike007]

Cyno bacteria. Make sure you have good flow and be carefull and don't overfeed. This happens to most tanks and will usually go away if you keep everything in check. You can also vacumn it out when you do your water changes.

 

[ajwalker261985]

Yeah I was gonna vacuum it out next water change,only just started feeding as only got first fish yesterday.and as for water flow I only got one streamer but seems to be strong as it kicks the sandbed up a lot until I faced it upwards..what sort of problems could this bacteria cause?


Green star polyp,Xenia,fire shrimp,Halloween hermit crab and green chromis.

 

[mike007]

As long as you keep it in check no problem. There is commercial stuff you can use that will work but i would wait it should go away with time.

 

[ajwalker261985]

Ok thanks mate,I'll leave it a few weeks,if its still there then ill syphon it out.


Green star polyp,Xenia,fire shrimp,Halloween hermit crab and green chromis.

 

[jdl513]

In my experience cyanobacteria appears when phosphate is creeping up and/or light spectrum is beginning to deteriorate.

I would recommend testing your water for phosphate and replacing your bulbs if they are old.

 

[howaboutme]

I just finished battling cyano in a 4/5 month old tank. It took about 6 weeks of heavy water changes w/ siphoning of the sandbed, scrubbing of the cyano on rocks, etc, lighter feeding, cutting the light schedule, skimming wet and adding more flow...After I got it under control and the cyano was just spotty, I did a 3 day lights out w/ no feeding while away from home. When I got back, no sign whatsoever of the cyano. Just be patient. It might get worse before it gets better but it will eventually end.

No need to test for phosphates. If you have cyano and/or algae, you have phosphates. Test might be wrong anyways as the cyano may consume all testable amounts of PO4.

 

[Nicholas41]

I had a recent outbreak of it in my 90 gallon recently. The tank is almost a year old, what I did was lower my light hours by two, and fed the tank less. Now two weeks later with my normal water changes it has gone away. Good luck!

 

[ajwalker261985]

Yeah phosphates are testing 0,maybe my bulbs do need replacing as I bought the tank second hand with bulbs 8 weeks ago and I don't know how old they are.ill do that and reduce light hours for a while and see if that makes a difference as iv had them on 12 hours a day.


Green star polyp,Xenia,fire shrimp,Halloween hermit crab and green chromis.

 

[jkef2010]

I am currently having the same issue its starting to grow into my GSP and agitate it to where is won't open I keep vacuuming it off but keeps coming back. Glad I stumbled upon the thread. I will go no lights/food for a few days and see what happens as I don't want to put any chemicals in my tank at all. Other then needed stuff

 

[ajwalker261985]

Oh sounds like you got a bad case of it then? Mine has just grown patches but seems to be gettin worse and spreading.ill syphon it off with next water change and see if that makes a difference first.thanks for the help and good luck with yours mate.


Green star polyp,Xenia,fire shrimp,Halloween hermit crab and green chromis.

 

[Nicholas41]

You can go cold turkey with the lights, or just slowly reduce them. In the past I have turned off my tank lights for a few days, and wrapped it in a sheet. Looking back on it, it did work, but seemed pretty extreme. Maybe just try half the time on the lighting, and if its still bad in a few days lowering them some more.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Mr. Saltwater (Mark Callahan) actually just did a bit on the lights out method to get rid of nuisance algae. There's no problem with doing a 3 day black out, and it's quite effective. I had a cyano issue on my last tank until I upped the flow, and that got rid of it. Hth

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