What kind of algae is this

[Bschowa]

Does anyone know? I suck if off the sandbed and it grows right back. It does not grow on anything other than the sand. I let this patch sit for 3 days and now there is long strands coming from it.

Any help would be appreciated


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[Stlrockguy]

Cyanobacteria. I have it myself and its been a pain.

 

[Sniperhank]

Cyanobacteria is caused by a nutrient issue in a tank. You can address it by working on lowering nitrates/phosphates in your tank, just like an algae outbreak, but with siphoning it out like you are doing already. Articles about algae control are in my signature.

 

[Stlrockguy]

I don't know about the OP but I know my problem isn't nutrients. My tank has been fallow for a month. So it gets fed once a week just so the inverts have a little food. I'm running phosgaurd and carbon in my reactors. My coral growth has exploded since I've gone fallow though

 

[Sniperhank]

This would require large water changes to get the nitrates/phosphates out of the water column. A 10% water change will only take 10% of the nitrates out. So, if your nitrates are at 40, after a 10% water change you are still left with 36! This is why 10% is part of normal maintenance, rather than a solution to algae or cyano issues. You need large water changes with ro/di water to make sure the water you are switching out doesn't have any of the nitrate/phosphates in the replacement water.
Products like phosguard, purigen, GFO are great products to assist with keeping these levels down. But they aren't overall solutions, just like chemipure isn't a solution to cyano...only removes it for a short time unless what is causing it is addressed.
In my signature are 2 articles about algae issues. Following these steps will also lead you towards successfully winning the war over cyano.

 

[Stlrockguy]

I do a 25 gallon water change every Saturday with rodi water reading 0 tds. I have a large amount of cheato in my large skimmer rated for 265 gallons on my 150 which only has inverts and coral. I also have about 250 pounds of live rock. My system has been set up since October

 

[Stlrockguy]

Nitrates are always at 0 and phosphate are undetectable

 

[mr_X]

How is your flow? If flow isn't sufficient, you may have built up a lot of detritus in the rock scape. I don't trust hobby grade test kits. My tanks aren't really displays so i don't really care much if there is algae in them, as long as it doesn't overgrow the corals, but I haven't had a single fish in the system for months, and I have grown quite the bubble algae colony.

 

[Stlrockguy]

2 jabeo WP40s. Seems to be plenty of flow. Plus im running a mag 18 for my return and I get really good flow in the tank from that

 

[Krazykitty1586]

Phosban worked well when we had the same problem. Once we purchased our phosphate reactor all algae problems were eliminated totally.