need help with rust looking sand and rocks

[gsxr750]

Hello I was told that it looked like red slime by a fish store .they sold me suff call (red slime remover ) I dosed the tank like the package said . It seamed like it did nothing . so they sold me another brand (chemiclean) , dosed tank per package . it has been two months now and its still there. make tank look bad . I have the water tested every week and do water 20% changes every other week. water tests good . i have chemi pure elite phosphate and silicate remover in sump .lighting is about 5 months old and run them about 7 hours aday .i have attached a pict . any ideas what it could be and how to get rid of it , so my tank will look nice and clear again . thanks

 

[PurplePolyp]

Does it detach easily from the sand? Try using your siphon hose to suction it out when you do water changes and start doing changes every week. Suction it out as you go.

 

[bskerrichard27]

Yes that's cyno from what I can tell from the pic its caused by excess nutrients low flow and lighting ...what's your tank specs size bioload feeding schedule etc.......

 

[bskerrichard27]

Btw do you use rodi water or tap water?

 

[gsxr750]

tanks is a 110gal with 20gal sump refugium i feed two little cubes of frozen reef caviar every other day. i little algae strip every day. 1 fox face , 2 clown, 4 green cromies, 1 mimic tang,1globie,1 green mandrain,1srepant star, 1 banded shrimp,5 hermit crabs, couple snails and little neon blue fish . i get my water from local salt water fish store . and it is ro di , same as they use at store . as for flow i have 3 power heads . in pict . if i fan the sand it disperses in water and settles again . i can use the power head to blow rocks clean and in couple days they look bag again . thanks

 

[PurplePolyp]

I would just start doing weekly changes and siphon it off your sand. I had an outbreak about 6 weeks ago. I siphoned it off the sand and rock every week along with a 20% change, and also added a protein skimmer on my tank. I nearly have it all gone now. There is still some growing on the rock.

 

[PurplePolyp]

You aren't over feeding. I feed half a cube every day and a strip of seaweed and also drop a couple of pellets for my crabs. And mine is almost gone.

 

[mr_X]

That looks like diatoms to me, not cyano.

 

[aadair22]

That looks like diatoms to me, not cyano.

+1 I certainly hope it's diatoms... Otherwise I am dealing with a massive cyno outbreak which I would prefer not to happen


I say diatom

 

[mr_X]

Cyano or diatoms, neither are reason to worry. The diatoms will burn out as soon as their food source disappears.

 

[Knuckles]

Sand sift goby will solve it ?

 

[mr_X]

I wouldn't add more to the bio load for any problem. Diatoms will leave as fast as they came once their food source is depleted.

 

[obscurereef]

Sand sift goby will solve it ?

Sure it will, but it's not good to add a fish/invert for the purpose of solving a problem. You won't be solving the problem, you'll just be putting it off and it will always come back (hair algae is a better example of this).

 

[bskerrichard27]

Do u have a clearer picture? Is the algae slimy or like powder?

 

[aadair22]

tanks is a 110gal with 20gal sump refugium i feed two little cubes of frozen reef caviar every other day. i little algae strip every day. 1 fox face , 2 clown, 4 green cromies, 1 mimic tang,1globie,1 green mandrain,1srepant star, 1 banded shrimp,5 hermit crabs, couple snails and little neon blue fish . i get my water from local salt water fish store . and it is ro di , same as they use at store . as for flow i have 3 power heads . in pict . if i fan the sand it disperses in water and settles again . i can use the power head to blow rocks clean and in couple days they look bag again . thanks

What is that pump you have the left?

 

[Schism]

Looks like diatoms to me too. Just silicates in your sand bed being consumed. Diatoms will die out once they have consumed available silicates.

 

[gsxr750]

Cyano or diatoms . how do i get ride of it ( what is their food source

 

[aadair22]

Cyano or diatoms . how do i get ride of it ( what is their food source

Diatoms will go away after silicates are consumed.. Don't worry about it.

I think the red stuff on the glass might be cyano.. Cut back on feeding, do some water changes and get as much of it out as you by siphoning or something along those lines

 

[aadair22]

Cyano or diatoms . how do i get ride of it ( what is their food source

Still curious as to what pump that is on the left

 

[nicolea]

If it is Cyanobacteria, usually an antibiotic will fix that problem real quick. My Lfs gave me some, not sure what it was, but worked great. Also +1 to the sand sifting goby: I had a sleeper. Sand was clean all the time.