whats these bubbles forming on my rocks?

[Jmck]

I just looked into my tank trying to see if one of my rocks had turned live, and I saw a whole lot of these bubbles growing on my rock.

Any idea what they are?

thanks

 

[Jmck]

I thought I might add as well, my tank has perfect readings except nitrates are at 20 and I will be doing a water change as soon as possible. Also, I dont have a phosphate kit, its on back order at my LFS so I have to wait for that.

 

[ccCapt]

That's the start of cyanobacteria.

 

[Jmck]

Is this bad for my tank?

Also, i misread my test earlier, i tested again (getting same color) but the tank has only 10 nitrates

 

[Jmck]

alright, ive washed it off the rocks, and im going to keep my light off for a few days. Tomorrow, ill do a full water change, and im putting my other powerhead in to increase flow. Hope this will help :S

 

[chiqui bb]

Definitely cyanbacteria. I fought this for months and none of the clean up crew would touch it but the regal tang would eat it after I blew it off the rocks/substrate and it was floating in the water column. But it still came back. Not sure why, but after adding some of Biff's chaeto, the cyano problem cleared up in a matter of days. Also, my nitrates which stayed steady at 20 dropped to zero! Now I'm battling green turf algae.......sigh......

 

[Jmck]

well, lets see how I go, im going to probably buy a new skimmer (mine sucks, its doing almost nothing) and going to keep lights off for a few days and do a nice big water change. Ive cleaned off all the rocks so that might help :D

congratz on beating it, i cant get biffs cheato in aus.

good luck with the turf algae!

 

[yote]

Yep,Thats cyano.:D
Usually the first big fight we face as reefers.:grumble:

 

[dcantucson]

Cyano can completely cover everything in a matter of 2-3 days. It usually will starve itself out. Good luck.

 

[reeffreak]

It's not uncommon to get cyano in young systems.Like Yote said,just another step in the fight against algae.Stepping up waterchanges(hopefully with RO/DI water) and increasing flow is a step in the right direction.

 

[messiah023]

Normally, I'm not one for putting chem in the tank, but I used THIS and it worked great.

Use dosage per direction, turn off skimmer, directions say wait 48 hours (I waited 72), 10% water change and turn the skimmer back on.

2-weeks Cyano free. I have been battling with every natural method for months to no avail!

 

[dcantucson]

Humm. Someone on here had a disastrous fallout after using that..

 

[Bifferwine]

Yes, that doesn't always just kill the cyano, unfortunately. Use any chemicals at your own risk. There are enough "tank crash" stories about that particular product for me to not recommend it...

 

[Jmck]

after last night (shock treatment) with fresh water on infected rocks and lghts being left off, it seems to have disappeared, at least from what i saw this morning. my readings are good so hopefully it will starve with no lights on.

but water change to come afrer i catch up on uni work. I've been off for 3 weeks with mono xD

 

[Jmck]

is that kawk? and yea, i prefer no chemicals

 

[Bifferwine]

No, that's not kalk. It's actually an antibiotic.

 

[Jmck]

ahh k, I was on my phone and was guessing by your reaction cause I couldnt see the link.

 

[messiah023]

I haven't heard anything but positive about it.....I will try to search for some other threads.

I've used it now, successfully, with no ill probs for 2 weeks after treatment.
I'll report if anything goes negative.

 

[Bifferwine]

Another thing about it is the cyano becomes resistant to it the more you use it. After two or three treatments, it usually is not effective anymore and the cyano is bulletproof.

 

[Jmck]

thats one thing thats good to know, Ill work on prevention, because I believe ive managed to avoid a major outbreak! Ill get to check tonight if this is true.

Dealing with Cyanobacteria (Red Slime Algae) - Reef Health

probably the best information I have found on it, should take a read if you find it hard to remove, im following what he has said, so ill see what happens :D