Cycling and Cyano?/Red Algae

[knuff27]

Hello everyone,

I have been cycling my 55g with 45 lbs live rock for just over two weeks now and have noticed that the rock is becoming covered with dark red algae, which I believe is due to cyanobacteria since it is also starting to get on the walls and part of the sandbed. Below are a few pictures. I don't think this is coralline since the coralline that came on the rock was not as dark in color as this growth. My parameters are SG 1.025, Alk 4.0, pH 8.2, Ammonia 0, but Nitrites and Nitrates are still through the roof. I have good water flow in the tank, but have been topping off with tap water. I have my actinic and compact flourescent lights on about 10 hrs per day and have been changing about 20% of the water weekly. If this is cyano (I'll try to add pics), is it normal to have during the cycling phase and does it usually go after after the tank normalizes? What can I do to prevent further growth? Should I stop the tap water top offs and turn the lights off for the duration of the cycle? Thanks in advance, this site has been a tremendous help to my first saltwater tank.

 

[knuff27]

Here's another pic that shows it on the sandbed and wall.

 

[seaham358]

can not tell from the pic what it is... if its slimy and easy to blow off the LR and sand then its cyno.
If you stop using tap water for top off what will you use? Did you fill the tank with tap water to start? You should test for phosphates in your tank and tap water and if you have them you need to get filtered water.
Shutting off the lights will help but if you still use water with PO4 in it it will come back when you turn them on. it took several weeks of lights out on my fuge to get the cyno to go away.
Normal during the cycle... No, can it happen yes as you know now...
Have the LFS test for po4 in tank and tap and go from there..

 

[knuff27]

No, I initially filled the tank with distilled and have been doing my water changes with distilled. I topped off a couple of times with tap water as I was too busy to make it to the store to buy some distilled. If I stop using tap water, I'll just use distilled to top off and make sure that it's almost always on hand. Thanks for the reply.

 

[JPloman]

Honestly, it does not look like cyano to me. However, the quality is not great so I could be wrong. You might have some diatoms, normal die off, and a touch of cyano. Test your water and only use distilled or RO water. There are too many problems with tap water. You can buy a filter that will attach to your sink and will help with any bad stuff in the water, thus you could use it for the tank. However, it is not the ideal way to go. I am currently just using a duel stage filter on tap water, it is not RO or DI. I have no more cyano, after dealing with a major bloom and fighting it for a year.

Do I spy a decorative rock/coral that is not real? I see something that looks like it might be made out of plastic. If it is, I strongly urge you to remove it asap. It will only cause you problems down the road.