bubbles and red stuff growing on everything

[sstanle4]

Can y'all tell us what causes these bubbles? And if they're good or bad? We rearranged our tanks, sweeping the bubbles off everything and a week later, they're back. Is this "bubble algae"? It's in our 8 and 14 gallon biocubes.












We also have red slimy stuff everywhere. We cleaned it off when we rearranged everything and it's starting to come back. In the mornings, its barely visible. But throughout the day it gets darker. (Pics of this will be posted tomorrow (one in the morning and one in the afternoon))

 

[Sergie]

If anything I'd say it's Cyano (red slime algae) and those bubbles are coming from the gas it expels. But those are a lot of bubbles. The def look like gas bubbles and not bubble algae. Bubble algae would be a tougher type of bubble, normally green but I've also seen red. Do you have a lot of surface agitation that causes a lot of mini bubbles in your water?

 

[sstanle4]

No and this is on 2 different tanks. One has the bubbles and the other has the red stuff

 

[Crystal A]

The algae produces the bubbles! It's the leftovers after they have eaten the nutrients. Give it time, lessen the lights, and it should stop. I just turned my lights off for 3 days and boom algae is gone! I'm slowly turning them back on, 2 hrs a day to start. But yes it's cyano, mine was black. Is it a new tank?

 

[sstanle4]

No its been set up for a while now. We have had this problem before and we used chemiclean but we had no fish in there. Can we put it in there with fish and coral in the tanks?

 

[OniTweak]

What does your setup look like. From personal experience i've only seen cyano in low flow areas.

 

[sstanle4]

Its all over the place. In high water flow, especially. But its also on the back wall really bad where there's not as much flow. Here are the pics. The first one was taken this morning around 9:30. And the rest at 7:30 this afternoon.

 

[sstanle4]

It was much much worse than this before we scrubbed everything last week. But u can still see how much has grown.

 

[cosmo]

It looks a lot like cyano. What water do you use? Cyano's usually a product of low flow, bad water, and high phosphates.

 

[FlopNewsom]

For some reason I have trouble with this in my biocube too but not in my big tank. I think the over feeding thing is probably the cause because the tank is so small. Mine currently looks just like that. I did a big water change and am changing out a gallon or so everyday. This has worked in the past but it's a slow process.

 

[FlopNewsom]

A small power head will help with flow. I took mine out but I'm going to put it back in. I have my heater in the compartment that is right behind were yours is.

 

[Bonessurf]

Just use the chemiclean. I've used it on my reef a few times. No adverse effects. Just follow the directions

 

[cosmo]

Just use the chemiclean. I've used it on my reef a few times. No adverse effects. Just follow the directions

The problem with this theory is that it doesn't solve the problem, just cures it for a bit. Ya need to solve why this is happening or else you're just gonna keep battling it. low flow bad water, over feeding, bad param's, etc is where ya need to start. IMO

 

[sstanle4]

Well we use RO/DI water and we have checked to see if we had Phost. but we dont. I have got a 125gph pump already in this tank I thought that would have been enough. Our parms. are pH 8.1 (goes up and down because we use Balance to help not bring the Alk up) ammonia always 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 0-5, cal is about 420-450, alk is about 10-12, and like I said phost is 0-0.25.

 

[FlopNewsom]

I do the same. I've never used the chem clean so I don't know about it but the water changing works. It took about 2 weeks for it to completely go away but it just gradually faded. With the biocube the water change is much easier. I mix a 5 gal bucket and change out a gallon or so every evening. From what I've read on this forum nitrates may be low because the algae uses it. Starve the algae.

 

[OniTweak]

Well we use RO/DI water and we have checked to see if we had Phost. but we dont. I have got a 125gph pump already in this tank I thought that would have been enough. Our parms. are pH 8.1 (goes up and down because we use Balance to help not bring the Alk up) ammonia always 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 0-5, cal is about 420-450, alk is about 10-12, and like I said phost is 0-0.25.

I had an additional 245gph powerhead in that same tank and it fixed my cyano problem. You could also look into changing the return pump for a better one as well.

 

[sstanle4]

That's not to much water flow in an 8 gallon tank?

 

[grinder]

Just use the chemiclean. I've used it on my reef a few times. No adverse effects. Just follow the directions

It can also deplete the o2 in the water column and become a tank killer if not used with extreme caution,personally I wouldn't use it at all.

The problem with this theory is that it doesn't solve the problem, just cures it for a bit. Ya need to solve why this is happening or else you're just gonna keep battling it. low flow bad water, over feeding, bad param's, etc is where ya need to start. IMO

Couldn't agree more,you need to find the source of the problem or you didn't fix anything.

That's not to much water flow in an 8 gallon tank?

Thats not enough flow in the tank,but thats the least of the troubles I see in your pics.You do have cyanobacteria in some areas,but the bubble filled brownish stuff covering everything is dinoflagellates,not cyano.They will only get worse if not acted on and can kill inverts and coral.

Treatment involves raising the ph to 8.4 via kalk drip coupled with a 4 day blackout and reduced flow during the treatment (flow actually helps feed dinos).HTH

 

[sstanle4]

Thats not enough flow in the tank,but thats the least of the troubles I see in your pics.You do have cyanobacteria in some areas,but the bubble filled brownish stuff covering everything is dinoflagellates,not cyano.They will only get worse if not acted on and can kill inverts and coral.

Treatment involves raising the ph to 8.4 via kalk drip coupled with a 4 day blackout and reduced flow during the treatment (flow actually helps feed dinos).HTH

But it does the same thing though. Morning its nothing and then in the afternoon its there.

 

[grinder]

But it does the same thing though. Morning its nothing and then in the afternoon its there.

Thats because it's photosynthetic just like your cyano,hence the 4 day black out. Have you ever heard of "red tide"? You have the same thing going on in your tank.Reading up on it is highly recommended as it can be a real nightmare for some.Also stop doing water changes until you've read up on dinos and treatment,the fresh trace elements in newly made salt water will also continue to feed them.