dark red/purple color on rocks

[greatgman]

hi guys and gals

sorry i havent posted for a while
i changed my job and been working a ton of hrs over the last months
(50+ hrs per week)
well because of all these hrs my tank maint has been bad

well my rio 800 in my skimmer died about 2 weeks ago
(working on replacement ( mod the skimmer box with a mj 900)

over the last week i have seen a dark red covering all over the sand and rocks

i think it is cyno but not coraline

if i get the skimmer working again will it go away?
at morning when i light it up the red is therre but not as prominent
as later in the day

any ideas?
i will get a pic up asap

 

[electrikat]

Sound like cyano to me. Chemi-clean will get rid of it but it will come back again in a month or so unless you find the cause and get rid of it(phosphates, silicates etc). I had a problem in our 90g and when I started making my own fish food it stopped the cyano completely. Test for phosphates and silicates if you can. Do you use tap or ro/di water? Do you use frozen foods or dry or make your own?

 

[SeriousDude5]

I agress could be the phosphates, I would suggest chemi-clean I used it but again it grew back. I had this problem because I used tap water dont know what your situation is good luck! Perhaps if you increase the water flow to some of the problem areas?

 

[seaham358]

IMO chemicals should be added as a last resort, these are only a band-aid and not a cure. Fixing the skimmer will help, how long has the tank been running? Did you have any cyno before the skimmer broke? if not, getting it running again ASAP would be a place to start.

 

[malkore]

Is this a CPR bak-pak? If so you need an MJ 1200 powerheard, not a 900...900's not powerful enough for best skimming.

 

[pearsont74]

is your hairy...the stuff i have sounds and has the same color but its somewhat hairy
my snails seem to munch on it though so as far im not too concerned about it unless it spreads too fast

 

[greatgman]

water is tap
skimmer is excalibur
no did not have it before skimmer broke
what should i do?
scrub the rocks?
vacum the sand?
i have 2 cerith snails and about 20 blue leg hermite
on one of my rocks there is some swaying red strings waving in the breeze
circulation is 1 mj 1200 up in the right hand corner blowing toward the middle of the tank
will test for phoshates on friday (my 1st day off in 8 days)
dont forget i havent changed the water in a month just topped off with distilled

 

[seaham358]

you need to test for phosthates, if you have them test your tap water if there in that then you need a filter... If the water is bad then you need to get ro/di water and do water changes over time till its gone.
If its not the tap water it could be from over feeeding and low water flow.
Snails or crabs wont eat it... Or I should say that the only snail that I found that looked like it ate the green cyno on my glass were the astraea snail. I bought several kinds of snails and none touched the red cyno.
Syphon it off do not scrub it will just blow around the tank. It should suck right off the rock and sand with no problems. Use the hose and not a gravel vac you get better suction for cyno with the small hose. I ended up getting a phosban reactor and sucked and sucked the cyno out and after a few monts of doing the battle is is now goen... knock on wood..

 

[greatgman]

phosphates are 0.2 ppm

 

[seaham358]

Did you test your tap water?? If its in your tap water you will need to get a water filter. Any amount of PO4 will help algae and cyno grow... If your showing .2 then there is more that that in the tank.. Your cyno is feeding on it and what it is not using is what your picking up..
At least you know what the problem is...

 

[melosu58]

water is tap

This is most likely the problem.Check for phosphates and silicates. Also how often are you feeding?

 

[greatgman]

well today i scrubbed the rocks, and did a 30 percent water change
(remember no wc in about 6 weeks due to job)
will vacume he rocks tomorrow (gotta get tubing from hd)
also busted 1 of my lights in the process (not to worry tube shield protected the tank from shattered glass)
went out and got 1 of those lights of america lights (see diy section -new lights at lowes/hd)
wow **bright**