green on gravel and rocks

fishguy007 · #1 12-29-2008, 01:28 AM

i have had my tank set up now for about 4 months. noticing that my gravel )crushed coral) and the rocks are turning green and red. is this normal and what is causing it.

The protein skimmer is also sucking out alot.

I was told it should slow down AFTER A few months? could i have a problem

i attached a picture if anyone can view it and see what may be happening.

banditpowdercoat · #2 12-29-2008, 01:33 AM

posibly feeding to much?

Myka · #3 12-29-2008, 02:44 AM

Crushed coral is a poor choice for a reef tank. It is best suited to a fish only tank where you would be gravel vacuuming it. In all honesty, I would suggest removing it. A royal pain in the butt, but you would be much happier in the end. A more suitable substrate would be any type of aragonite sand like Caribsea Seaflor Select. The reason why it isn't a very good choice is because it traps a lot of detritus in the large open spaces between the pieces of crushed coral. The purpose of your skimmer is to remove detritus from the water column, and it can't do that if it is trapped in the cc. On top of that you say your skimmer sucks. What kind of skimmer do you have? Having this excess detritus is causing an excess of nutrients, and algae is taking hold. You are getting green film algae and cyanobacteria (the reddish stuff) from the sounds of it as either your problem is very minor so far or your photo isn't showing it very well. Take a reading through the Guide in my signature on hair algae, and it will help you understand why you are having algae issues, and what you can do to help alleviate your problems. Best to get on it as soon as possible.

Black Phantom · #4 12-29-2008, 04:22 PM

Actually Myka I think he said his skimmer is sucking out a lot not vice versa

Which is a good thing.
Myka is right though. That crushed coral will turn into a detrius magnet and totally drive you nuts. I cultivated the world best 250 gallon hair algae display until I changed mine. Went with a medium sand that my Gobies and other sifters like. Dropped my lawn mower in the tank

and within a few months and a couple thousand gallons of water changes, all was well.

Myka · #5 12-29-2008, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Phantom

Actually Myka I think he said his skimmer is sucking out a lot not vice versa

Oh, haha!! I'm notorious for skim reading, which is great when you're reading a novel, not so great when details matter!!

fishoholic · #6 12-29-2008, 06:38 PM

From the pic it looks to me like coraline (which is good) algae is starting to grow on the rocks.

fdiddy · #7 12-29-2008, 08:13 PM

Looks like you have sunlight shinning on the tank. Does the sun at any point hit the tank. I know when my tank was upstairs, the sunlight would barely touch one corner during the winter and that corner would always turn that bright colour of green. Hope this helps.

fishguy007 · #8 01-10-2009, 10:52 PM

there is light on the tank. from a window. rocks are turning green and some red string on the gravel. took a few more pics. what can i do to get rid of this quick?

tang daddy · #9 01-10-2009, 11:12 PM

looks like cyano bacteria to me. You have a couple options I wont really go into detail however you can:

shut off lights for a few days
do large WC
lessen the feeding
Antibiotic treatment like use bluecross red slime remover,or chemiclean
add sugar

The last two are pretty good however if you have any filter feeders I would not go with antibiotic treatment.

I like sugar the best as it's not harmfull to anything I used 2 tablespoons per 50g and after 3 days did a 50% WC.

good luck, Chris

moldrik · #10 01-10-2009, 11:30 PM

When I first started my tank, I wanted about 2-3 weeks to get some snails. I got 5-6 turbo snails and they just kept any nuisance algea from growing in the tank. They are still doing a good job and I'm getting some nice coraline growth all over the tank, the heater has some nice purple spots on it.