Red algae

[Slyguy00]

and its only on the sand, nothing else.

[daplatapus]

It may actually not be algae. Try googling cyanobacteria and see if that's it.

[Slyguy00]

That is it for sure! guess i gotta read up now lol. Any opinions on this stuff? how to get rid of it, why its there? Thanks for the info

[daplatapus]

Maybe fill us in on your system and we can help out a bit better.
How old is your tank?
How old are you bulbs?
What's your lighting schedule?
WHat is your feeding schedule?
What's you livestock?
What's your flow in the tank?
What are you tank parameters? Nitrate, ammonia, phosphate?

Stuff like this is almost always related to nutrients and flow. Finding out where the nutrients are coming from and what the bacteria is eating will go a long way in getting rid of the problem.
I've never had it, but I've heard 3 days of a blacked out tank helps, but unless you get rid of the nutrients it may just come back.

[Slyguy00]

Well lets start off by saying my tank is now about 6 months old and everything in it is healthy. Its a 50 gallon bow front with a fluval 304 external filter cleaned every 3 days, 50lbs of live rock and 40 lbs of live sand with no sump or skimmer. My light is only 3 months old, but it is a marineland led which i have heard is not very good. I have 2 clowns, a convict tang, a mandarin goby and a six line wrasse. I have lots of different corals and frags. for flow i have to 720gph power heads. My water perameters have been really good ( i test everyday) and I just tested now, and my nitrates are super high, nitrites are next to 0, no amonia, no phosphate. What would cause my nitrates to go so high in one day, but not nitrites? needless to say im about to do a water change. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Slyguy00]

thanks reef pilot, i will look into that for sure

[Reef Pilot]

What do you call super high nitrates? And how often and how much do you change water?

[daplatapus]

Originally Posted by Slyguy00

My water perameters have been really good ( i test everyday) and I just tested now, and my nitrates are super high, nitrites are next to 0, no amonia, no phosphate. What would cause my nitrates to go so high in one day, but not nitrites?

Just to comment a bit on this. The progression of the breakdown of nutrients in our tank systems starts with ammonia after they begin to de-compose. Beneficial bacteria in our tanks feed on this ammonia, process it and turn it into nitrite. More bacteria then grows and feeds on this nitrite and turns it into nitrate. If you have a deep sand bed or other area that is very low in oxygen, or an anaerobic area, there are further bacteria that will process this nitrate and turn it into nitrogen. But if there is no deep sand bed or anaerobic area, the nitrates sit there until you get rid of them with water changes.

If you have a sudden spike in nitrates without a reading of nitrites or ammonia in the days previous, the only answer I can think of is an error in testing of either of the 3. If you are in fact testing every day and diligent in those tests, it would seem unlikely (but not impossible) that both the ammonia test and nitrite tests got fouled and you caught it in the nitrate test. But if the first 2 tests were accurate, I'd suspect the nitrate test could be inaccurate. This is where good quality tests and a clean, conscientious routine of testing is invaluable.

[Reef Pilot]

You may not have enough flow near your sand bed either, allowing detritus to accumulate there. I have Orange Spot Sleeper Gobies in my tanks, which constantly sift the sand and keep it stirred up. I think that helps, too.

[Reef Pilot]

I regularly dose MB7 to keep it in check. Has many other benefits as well, and helps keep my water really clean and clear. If I ever see any cyano start somewhere, I just dose more for a couple days, before it can get out of hand.
http://brightwellaquatics.com/produc...robacter7t.php

Of course you have to keep your N03 and P04 down as well.

If it is really bad, then use Chemiclean to get rid of it. But it will come back if you don't correct the underlying cause.
http://boyd--enterprises.com/chemiclean/