White Sand Turning Purple

[Jess18]

Hey Everyone..

My sand and rocks and just about everything else including powerheads are now turning a purple color, it doesn't show up too well on the pics below but they will give you an idea of what I am talking about, any idea what this is and any advice on how to proceed??

Thanks..

 

[Ryan Marriott]

Almost looks like coralline algae to me. I enjoy it especially when the LR is covered with it! If someone thinks different please correct me!

 

[tripdad]

Is the tank newer? It looks like cyanobacteria to me from those picks. If tank is new then just keep testing and correcting params, It will pass.

 

[mtfish]

Start of bluegreen algae bloom. This is common. I am not the best to ask how to get rid of it, as I am having issues with this myself right now. There are posts on this form that helps show if it is spirogyra or other cyanobacteria, as it makes a difference on how to treat. Higher flow, lower nutrients can help keep it in line.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Agree with cyano, appears to be early stages.

 

[jd371]

That looks to be the start of Cyano. Does it go away during the night and come back in the day? If you just started the tank it's normal and will eventually go away as the tank matures and becomes stable.

 

[Ryan Marriott]

I stand corrected it does indeed appear like early cyano!

 

[Jess18]

The tank is approx 7 weeks old and I have been doing 10% PWCs weekly for the past 3 weeks.

So the general opinion is to just ride it out?

Do you guys siphon the sand at all??

 

[1WildBill]

What do you have for a CUC?

 

[tripdad]

You can siphon off the excess cyano from all surfaces. It's part of the tank aging and should, as long as you keep params in specs, clear up on it's own.

 

[Deiblerj]

Looks like cyano. I just had a bad bad outbreak a few weeks ago. Had to take out a bunch of rock and scrub it, siphon a lot of it out, and went dark for 3 days.

Seems to have cleared it up and haven’t seen much sign of it since. What are your water parameters?