another newbie question

[kellehar]

how it goin all?
some more question for ya if you dont mind me picking your brain.

1) i have what looks like some kind of red to maroon color algie growing on my l/r right under my aq 500 drop feed is this a good or bad kind of algie?

it is also starting to show up on my substrait gravel around same area.

perameters are at: ph 8.0, temp 78f,salinity 1.024, ammonia 0.13,nitrate 0.1, nitrate 0.1 these are the only test results i have at the moment as i need to get the other kits still

thanks for the help ahead of time

Justin

[Ryan]

is it slimy looking or red leafy looking? Slimy stuff aint good. I thik it is a type of canyo or Red Slime aglea. The red Leafy stuff is good I got some in the tank at school.

[kellehar]

its doesnt look slimy. looks more like velvet

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by kellehar

perameters are at: ph 8.0, temp 78f,salinity 1.024, ammonia 0.13,nitrate 0.1, nitrate 0.1

Justin,

Probably cyanobacteria. Have a few questions for you...

- your test results look a little wonky. What brand of kits are you using?
- are curing new LR or do you have cured LR in the tank?
- how big is your tank, how often do you do water changes, and how much do you change at a time?
- how often do you clean the media (in outgoing changewater, not tap which will kill your bacteria) in the AC 500's media chamber?

[kellehar]

hi beverly
the l/r was already cured and was bought from AI.
test kits are hagen
tank size is 75 gal
I do a approx 20% water change every weekend
i clean the media filters everytime i do a water change.
i clean them with some freshly mixed tank water i put aside for them

hope this gives you a better idea

[Beverly]

Justin,

Have not used Hagen ammonia, nitrite or nitrate kits, but you shouldn't be reading any ammonia or nitrite if the LR was cured.

Are you using dechlorinated tapwater for water changes? If so, this could account for ammonia and nitrite levels.

Do you have an aragonite sandbed, or crushed coral? Aragonite is a better sandbed. It allows microfauna to live more easily in it, whereas crushed coral is considered by many to be a detritus trap with very little microfauna which will fuel the growth of unwanted algae and cyanobacteria.

One last thing.... was at AI this morning checking out the LR. They must have gotten a large shipment lately because the LR tank was absolutely full Was looking closely at the rock and noticed most of it had all kinds of dead stuff and various algae all over it. I thought if I were to buy some, I would scrub off each rock before putting in my curing tank. Did you scrub off dead material before putting the rock in your tank? If not, this would also be another source of nutrients to fuel cyanobacteria growth.

[kellehar]

thanks for helping beverly
i declorinate all water prior to mix salt ,after mixing saltand checking salinity i then add the water to the tank .
yep scubbed it when i got home as i had read a post on here before about doing that.

i just now again scrubbed the live rock in another tank and which took off that red stuff easily.re cleaned filter medias and now doing another 20% water change as i drained some water to clean live rock and filter media. i hope this helps with the caynobacteria

thanks for all your help beverly and ryan and hopfully it doesnt come back.

[jws444]

Justin,

If this is a recent setup, the cyano bacteria is just part of the cycle. If your water parameters are good, chances are it will die off. Dechlorinating the tap water is generally a good thing, however it will do nothing to remove phosphate and silicates. These 2 will be the main food source for your intial algae blooms when first starting up a new tank. The best way to control this is to limit the amount of feeding (if you have fish?) and most definately use ro/di (reverse osmosis/deionized) water. If you do not have this system, look for ro/di water in your supermarket. Distilled water will be good too, but more costly. I fear that since you're doing large weekly water changes and not removing phosphates/silicates, you're only compounding the problem and this cyano issue will plague your tank.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by jws444

Justin,

If this is a recent setup, the cyano bacteria is just part of the cycle. If your water parameters are good, chances are it will die off. Dechlorinating the tap water is generally a good thing, however it will do nothing to remove phosphate and silicates. These 2 will be the main food source for your intial algae blooms when first starting up a new tank. The best way to control this is to limit the amount of feeding (if you have fish?) and most definately use ro/di (reverse osmosis/deionized) water. If you do not have this system, look for ro/di water in your supermarket. Distilled water will be good too, but more costly. I fear that since you're doing large weekly water changes and not removing phosphates/silicates, you're only compounding the problem and this cyano issue will plague your tank.

are you confusing Cyano with Diatoms? Cyano should not be an expected part of any "algae cycle" as they are not an algae but rather a bacteria.

Steve

[Willow]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

are you confusing Cyano with Diatoms? Cyano should not be an expected part of any "algae cycle" as they are not an algae but rather a bacteria.

Steve

yep and not normal. try increasing your flow in infected areas and it should help.