chimera Posted May 12, 2004 Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 i have this stuff growing on the sand in my tank, its a redish brown colour. any ideas what it is? i only have an ion exchange unit at the moment (getting a rodi system soon) so am putting it down to traces of phosphates. im going to syphon it out (but wanted to get a photo first) any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.L Posted May 12, 2004 Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 Wow, it looks cool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 yeah, it does, but is it good or bad?!!! almost looks like dark macroalgae on the sand?! maybe i need one of these http://www.bbe-moldaenke.de/ what is frustrating is that there are many articles indicating that some red algae is bad shit - but none of them have pic's so I can compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted May 12, 2004 Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 OK first off its not alge, its bacterria. Infact its cynobacterria. And its bad. Not super bad, but bad all the same. What causes it? No one knows. How to get rid of it? No one knows. The best cure seems to be heavy skimming and water flow. The good news? Its common, and not a sign of bad health or any real problem. It can smother coral sometimes but usually it just looks bad. You can syphon it out. Piebola Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 cheers pies - just one small correction, its cyanobacteria. thanks all the same, now i know where to search to help get rid of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted May 12, 2004 Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 Ahem! What causes it? No one knows. How to get rid of it? No one knows. The best cure seems to be heavy skimming and water flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted May 12, 2004 Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 I seem to be luck. I've never had a cyano problem ever, only diatoms. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted May 12, 2004 Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 I have a little at the moment, I had it quite bad for a while. I know JetSkiSteve has a problem with it at the moment. Pesky stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 12, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 ok ok, not get rid of it but keep it under control! you get my drift... i saw steve's and his isnt nearly as bad - plus his is brown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogmatix Posted May 12, 2004 Report Share Posted May 12, 2004 Aqua Medics anti red works very well on it. I agree with Pies heavy skimming/H2O changes, and gravel syphon it off the sand bed, use a hose to syphon it off the rocks. Do NOT blow it around your tank with a power head. HTH Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicks Posted May 13, 2004 Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 WOW...Cool Colour!!!! Water movement, Carbon, Skimming, water changes a litle and often when syphoning the suff out. It will go away I had it once and used AntiRed, frightened the s#@t out of me all my corals closed up for ages thought i had lost a few but they all returned to normal.I would not use it again for my sake, but the corals didn't mind!!! Cyano will disappear a quick as it arrived and fixes its own nitates so even the cleanest water can get it. You need to raise the redox potential of the tank, water flow, carbon, heavy skimming, there are a number of addatives you can use, but most are oxidising agents(reduces the organics in th e tank) or anti bacterial agents. Do a search on Reef central it will give you hours and hours of reading With regards to Steves tank, I also had that brown Cyano in my tank, I moved tanks and mine vanished as quick as it came!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2004 the skimmer is doing well because there is not much foam coming out than there usually does - but im putting that and the cyano down to no water change for a couple of weeks (was away last weekend) as its only occured recently. Also putting it down to lack of water movement (2 x crap eheim powerheads that need constant cleaning - not saying eheim is crap though am after a swcd as per steves recommendation (bang per buck as it were) seame.com dont seem to sell them otherwise i woulda bought a couple already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 I have had conflicting opinions after 2 phone conversations to different jansens stores:- one says yes, anti-red is moderately harmful to corals etc but it is very good at removing cyano. he said its probably more a nitrate problem and to increase water quality by water changes, filtering and movement. At the second store the lady said she does not recommend to use anti-red at all as it is too harmful to corals/anenomes and said the problem is probably a phosphate problem and to put a phosphate remover in the tank for a month instead and the cyano will gradually disappear. She said better to treat the cause of the problem than the symptom - fair enough. After checking the water, (using hagen and wellfish test kits - brands most seem to recommend against using, waiting on some salifert kits...) phosphates and nitrates are visible but not overly high (still aiming to reduce though of course) phosphates = 0.50mg/L nitrates = 10ppm Kh is fine at about 110mg/L, pH is about 8.2 and fish/corals visibly look healthy. I figure I will syphon as much of the cyano out of the tank, do a largish (30%) water change (using NSW) and a half dose of anti-red. I have just added phosphate/nitrite/nitrate removal bags to the filter in the skimmer until I do the water change/add anti-red tomorrow. Most importantly, I need a RODI system (only have ion-exchange unit) and to add a wavemaker to up the water movement... ouch, more $$$... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 My advice would be to NOT dose 'anti red'. You need to look at whats happening, the cyno is not the problem, its the sympton of another problem. Most of us have it (layton & reef are 2 of the few without it), and its not causing any real problems. Also another way to look at it is like this: What harm is the cyno doing? What harm could the 'antired' do? I suspect the ugly, but easily ignored cyno is the lesser of 2 evils. I just am afraid of adding anything to the tank. I deliberated over dosing 'flatworm exit' for months before actually using it, and I only used it because I saw no other way. Just be carefull. Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 pies - i totally agree (and what are you doing on the web tonight with steve down there anyway!) but the amount of cyano appears to be quite bad (its like a red carpet the first time then I removed as much as i could and its starting to appear again). i figure a (calculated and careful) one-off dose of anti-red to get rid/minimise the cyano is a start. by the time the anti-red has reduced it (has to be dosed slowly with new water anyway which I'll use nsw tomorrow night) i should have additional equipment (rodi, scwd) to stop (or rather minimise the chance of) it coming back. its all a learning curve right? (albeit an expensive one if i screw it up) my main (or rather major) concern that is hesitating me on dosing it is that it says "observe the aquarium during treatment. if the fish become distressed transfer them immediately to another aquarium". and that is my issue - i dont know if my "half-established" quarantine tank will suffice. very concerning indeed considering there are 9 fish and 3 shrimps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Personally, I wouldn't do anything. Things like this, along with whitspot, diatom blooms, tend to work themselves out given enough time. Tanks take time to reach a stable equilibrium, you might go through a few cycles of algae blooms, but each time they should come back smaller, until they disappear altogether. At least that's what i've found with both whitespot, and diatom problems. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 hmmmm, ok, might hold off with the anti-red (its giving me the shits when reading the instructions). im not keen on adding any chemicals to my tank to alter water chemistry; prefer to let nature do its bit. i need more live rock though (got about 50kg at the mo) to up the biological filtration. at the end of the day, its all down to having the right equipment (a good skimmer, a good quantity of live rock and good maintenance) to maintain correct water chemistry. when you're adding ASW to a tank with tap water that has been put through de-ionisation (not RODI) and when the mixed-bed resin needs changing, i will never get the correct results (going NSW now) I realise I only have myself to blame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 Chimera - Good work! No need to add that stuff to your tank. Don't worry about the cyno, it comes and goes (its comming for me at the moment), but its never a real problem, just looks shite. Syphon it out. JetSkiSteve has been having problems with it for months, no biggie. Pieman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted May 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2004 well i went against my previous post and added half the recommended dose to my tank (after mechnically removing as much cyano as possible and after doing a 30% water change with nsw) i was a bit shit scared about adding a full dose after reading the instructions no problems so far - but in saying this its only been 12 hours. will know more when i get home tonight to check... keep you posted! :-? 18/5, 8pm - well, much to Pies disgust :evil:, I did dose the anti-red but only a small amount :-? . It doesnt seem to have caused any adverse effects on my tank except my toadstool leather is a bit shy and is all curled up. The cyano has ever so slowly appeared back on the sand bed but in a very small amount (compared to 36 hours ago) - its more a brown colour now. Calling Anthony Preston Ltd tomorrow for some prices on RODI for my top up water and kalk water (have sold my go-kart so can afford some new toys ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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