Cripes!!!

[U4BOYZ]

So my nitrates have been fairly high and my phosphates have been a bit high. Now my tank is doing this. Is it an algae bloom?! What do I do. I hate being a newbie!!! :frustrat:

 

[U4BOYZ]

 

[U4BOYZ]

 

[wontonflip]

How's your water flow? I had that in my 10g and it had almost no flow. Might be dinos, but I'm not sure. Might be lights out time! You know someone else will chime in :)

 

[U4BOYZ]

Thanks. UGH.

 

[d2mini]

The red is a bacteria, called cyanobacteria.
Red Slime Algae (Cyanobacteria) - Description, causes and cures for Red Slime Algae (Cyanobacteria)

 

[fastrd400]

Red Slime Algae. Phosphates cause it. You can try a phosphate reactor, I have one running. Also you need more flow. Kill the lights for a couple days, that should help to get rid of it. It's a pain in the butt when it's on the sand bed, but try and get as much out before killing the lights.

 

[U4BOYZ]

Wow. Bummer for me. Thanks guys. Two days of no light won't kill my coral??

 

[andysgirl8800]

Reefs go through several periods of blackout....its not sunny 365 days a year! :)

 

[andysgirl8800]

You should also siphon out as much as you can too, use a turkey baster if it is on your rocks.

 

[fastrd400]

no, you should be okay. Just try and suck out as much of that algae as possible before hand. Also, try and adjust your flow so you get some more down there.

 

[d2mini]

I have a little on one side of my tank only. I'm assuming that area has a little less flow than the rest of the tank. I've been removing it and/or stirring up the sand in that area daily and I just adjusted my skimmer to skim wetter.

 

[Cathic]

Sorry for your pain, everyone here got it right though for sure. Add another powerhead or replace what you have with a stronger one. Should help tons.

 

[U4BOYZ]

Reefs go through several periods of blackout....its not sunny 365 days a year! :)

Good point. :)

 

[U4BOYZ]

no, you should be okay. Just try and suck out as much of that algae as possible before hand. Also, try and adjust your flow so you get some more down there.

Interesting. My water blower things (very techincal I know!) face very slighty up. I was doing that to try to stir up some oxygen. I never thought the sand needs to be circulating as well...duh.:frustrat:

 

[VAreef]

love that cyno along the bottom ocf the tank. Like already said you can syphon it out some and control nitrates and phosphates and thats about it. It will go away as things get under control though. I'm using a differant flow design on my recent build to keep those low flow areas to a minimum that cyno likes. We will see in a few months if it works.

 

[yote]

+1 all the above.
Just siphon out as much of the cyano as possibe and do something like a 30% water change.Then kill the lights for 3 or 4 days.When you turn the lights back on,do another 30% water change,again siphoning out any of the cyano you see.
You may have to do a few times to completely get rid of it,but its the safest method to use and does work.

 

[U4BOYZ]

K. Thanks everybody. I'm on it!!! :)

 

[parrotchute]

It's not that bad of a case. More than likely, it will go away partly on its own - it's a natural algae cycle in your tank - conditions for the cyano exist, it blooms, uses up its nutrients, and then dies off to a (usually unnoticeable) small amount where the nutrients/algae are in equilibrium. Not disagreeing with the advice above at all, but I just wouldn't lose my mind trying to instantly solve that algae problem in such a new tank...

I don't run a sump (Even though I think it would be helpful and I will have one on my 150) or any reactors and my tank (besides my light induced dino outbreak a few months ago) has no reactor....and I feed fairly heavily. I swear by the refugium I have, where I have lots of macroalgae. All my algae problems dropped off when I put that in.

I haven't been around the block too long, but that's just my experience....:twocents:

 

[U4BOYZ]

Thanks Parrotchute. A refugium is the next thing on my list. My LFS also swears by it.