Whats this/what to do about it

[Nonfamous]

IF anyone followed where I left off the the other thread, here is my problem. Not too bad at this point, but I'd like to rid myself of it.

In this photo, the stuff on the left and in most of the picture is a pinkish red. My Angel fish seems to nip at it and eat it. It goes away when the lights are off. I'll shoot a picture in the AM and post it with it gone. Its on the surface like a sheet. It can be removed with a net.

 

[Nonfamous]

In this picture, slightly stage right of the first, shows a browning stuff on the bottom. Its been there for some time. Looks like dirty sand but now seems to be taking up more room. It is not in a sheet, more like fine particles.

 

[Nonfamous]

This is just a general shot of the tank. Here are the specifics before you ask.

Standard 90 gallon. 24" deep.
4 t5's (2 x 10,000k, 2 x antinic, 1 blue white 48" stunner, 1 12" blue stunner, 1 12" blue magents stunner.)
ALWAYS RODI FROM DAY ONE. 740 TDS in and 000 TDS out. Only 4 months on the filter or around 2000 gallons including waste water.
Instant Ocean salt.
Flow is 24x per hour.
Stock is 9 small fish.
Sand bed is fine sand about 2" to 3" deep with a HANDFULL of crushed coral in each corner.
Lights are on about 10 hours a day.
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrate 0.0
Nitrite 0.0
Phosphate tests positive at about .25 or lower.
Clacium tsets at 480
SG is 1.025

API test kits and I called them, there are good.
Sump has cheato and a skimmer rated at 120 ghp. Kinda small but its doing its job.

ALL life in the tank seems to be doing well. No illnesses.......yet..... and nothing has died. Fish, corals or otherwise.

 

[little_fish]

Just a thought, did you use aquarium sand or kid play sand?

 

[Nonfamous]

Aquarium sand. 1/2 pink 1/2 white from the Bahamas.

Forgot to add, I have cut out the coral feeding and haven't fed the fish today. Doing as suggested and going every other day, though I must admit, I don't like the idea.

 

[Nonfamous]

Actually the sand was from Bermuda, not the Bahamas.

I was late getting to the tank this AM so I didn't get a picture. However, the red stuff has multiplied over night! I scooped it up with the net (and created a sandstorm. My fish haven't forgiven me yet!). It this a detriment to my tank or since I've already done it, does it matter now?

 

[Nonfamous]

Update:

No pictures, sorry. Wife left for Europe for 2 weeks and took the camera again. Anyway, I reduce lighting times, changed feeding, moved 2 corals off of the sand and have changed back to a weekly WC schedule again. All have made a little difference I hope it will continue to clear over the next few weeks. I'll keep ya posted.

 

[italipinos8]

I get the same exact thing and it really bugs me...

 

[Nonfamous]

Well, it was better for a day. Came back with a vengeance. Not sure where to go from here. Let me ask, do any of these chemicals I have seen mentioned wipe out coralline when they go after other algaes? I'd hate to kill it off since I've worked so hard to get it started.

Not ready to go that direction as of yet though. I'm taking a few water samples to have them checked. Going to take RO, RODI, tap, mixed and tank water to see if my measuring at these various stages jives. I know new tanks have issues, I just want to know what's going on.

 

[Northstar24]

Well, it was better for a day. Came back with a vengeance. Not sure where to go from here. Let me ask, do any of these chemicals I have seen mentioned wipe out coralline when they go after other algaes? I'd hate to kill it off since I've worked so hard to get it started.

Not ready to go that direction as of yet though. I'm taking a few water samples to have them checked. Going to take RO, RODI, tap, mixed and tank water to see if my measuring at these various stages jives. I know new tanks have issues, I just want to know what's going on.

They won't effect coralline, but it wont do much for diatoms or cyano either. It may kill what you can see now, but if the underlying issue is not resolved, it will come back, and what comes back can be immune to the chemical you used on the first round. It sucks, but you are better off figuring out what is driving the growth and resolving the root issue

 

[fastrd400]

What you are seeing is Cyano, check your phosphate level, and think about possibly running some GFO, Phos-ban, etc to remove the nutrients from your system.

 

[Nonfamous]

PO is reading .25. It's been .25 for a while and water changes aren't doing anything about it. Would carbon do anything abouth this situation? I'm about ready to modify the sump to hold bags and I could add it to one of the bags for a while.

 

[fastrd400]

No, carbon wont really help at all. You need to run GFO. If you are getting a reading of Phosphates, consider it much higher than what you are reading.

 

[Nonfamous]

Dont quite understand a GFO reactor. Looked them up and still don't understand how they hook up. I assume there is an in sump variant. Can you post an idiots guide link?

 

[WannaRace]

I have dealt with the same thing for about 3-4 months now to no avail. I have started an algae scrubber to see if I can finally get rid of the problem. But I also did something that helped tremendously, and I'd like to ask in case you overlooked this as well...

Do you have any sort of sponges, filter socks, etc. collecting debris, detritus, food, algae, etc.? Any spongey sump dividers? Any spongey bubble trap? Anything that can collect gunk is going to build up nitrates and phosphates.

I had a sponge sump divider, a sponge over my return pump, and a sock over my overflow inlet. I removed all of these and the growth of the cyano has slowed extremely! It used to cover the sandbed in a week. Just a thought.

 

[Nonfamous]

I think you hit the nail on the head! I am going to break down my sump today in order to remove a sponge divider between my skimmer section and return section. Though I can and have pulled it to rinse it in the past I think it may be the cause of my problems. I know you can never get rid of all the crap it catches. I will be adding a filter sock setup on the drain line into the tank. Should be easy to replace them once it's on.