Red Stuff on Rock
- Thread starter sh123
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Tumey
Reefer With A Broken Brain ( TBI Survivor )
Welcome to our wonderful community! Posting your water parameters will help with advice for a solution to what appears to be excess nutrients. Nitrates & phosphates. I see some bubble algae on the rock in the lower right of the photo. The red stuff you’re asking about looks to be the start of Cyanobacteria.
Tumey
Tumey
MasterBacon
Well-Known Member
Yes, welcome to R2R! Sand looks brand new so possible your source for live rock gave you a headache to start off with. I would get that bubble algae out of there immediately.
Subsea
5000 Club Member
It is not good but almost everybody gets it.
Cynobacteria is invasive and very creative on scavenging nutrients. Through a process called nitrogen fixation, Cynobacteria converts dissolved nitrogen gas into ammonia and absorbs it into its biomass. Cynobacteria mats can adjust chemistry to dissolve both organic phosphate from coral or algae and inorganic phosphate in the form of calcium phosphate from your substrate or live rock.
You should be vacuuming this out as nutrient export with water change. With a new systems lacking mature biofiltration, you should be using activated carbon to absorb DOC, dissolved organic carbon. I also suggest you use a phosphate removal resin. If you are carbon dosing, stop it. Organic carbon dosing grows bacteria, which will feed cynobacteria.
Cynobacteria is invasive and very creative on scavenging nutrients. Through a process called nitrogen fixation, Cynobacteria converts dissolved nitrogen gas into ammonia and absorbs it into its biomass. Cynobacteria mats can adjust chemistry to dissolve both organic phosphate from coral or algae and inorganic phosphate in the form of calcium phosphate from your substrate or live rock.
You should be vacuuming this out as nutrient export with water change. With a new systems lacking mature biofiltration, you should be using activated carbon to absorb DOC, dissolved organic carbon. I also suggest you use a phosphate removal resin. If you are carbon dosing, stop it. Organic carbon dosing grows bacteria, which will feed cynobacteria.
