brown/red patches in live sand?

K

kelipalmer

Premium Member
I have a few of these patches appearing in my live sand. I've also noticed a patch of it growing in the corner of the back wall of the tank. On the wall, it doesn't look like the other coralline algae which is growing on most of the back wall. No recent changes to the tank.
System is 100 gal reef. #s: 1.024 SG, pH=8.20, Alk=9, Am, Nitrite/Nitrate, Phos all = 0.

Ideas?
 
Cyano bacteria. Increase flow to that area and make sure you are removing nutrients from the tank. Water change, carbon, larger skimmer should all help.
 
Pictures would help to be able to identify it as there are a couple of different possibilities. It could be cyano but it could just be your sand getting dirty. Depending on what it is dictates the follow up to correct it. Is there any other algae growing in the tank such as green hair?

Haven
 
Two more pictures. Test kit is API, about a year old. The only other thing we've noticed is this small patch of growth in the back corner of the tank (pic 2). Our lights are T5s and the bulbs are about a year old. Could that be an issue as well?
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Cyano... I would have your water tested by a LFS to make sure test kid kit it is still reading correctly... It doe's look like a light issue... One year is at the end of the life of the bulbs.
 
Add flow to the affected areas. Add a second carbon bag or get a chem-pure bag into the sump. I seriously overfeed so I dose with carbon but I don't recommend it to new hobbyist.
 
Vacuumed the sand and ordered new bulbs. We'll see what happens. Are the cyanobacteria and diatoms a threat to any of our coral? We mainly have softies and LPS. We lost one branch on our torch about a month ago, and one branch of my hammer retracted last night... which was the first sign we had before the torch died. It just seems like we've had a number of problems in the last month on a tank that has been stable for over a year. Thanks for all the good advice and info!
 
That is normal, once you start fighting it it's ongoing until you control the reason it is appearing... Cyano is not what affected the branch or is affecting the Hammer... I have yet to see any results for water testing from another member or LFS... I am suspecting slight amount of Ammonia... Remember city water has additional chemicals during hot months, so don't forget to use Prime when topping off or water changes.
 
@kelipalmer wrote:
[I]@Red wrote:[/I][quote="Remember city water has additional chemicals during hot months said:
Do I need to use Prime with RODI water?"]

I always have. We had some members crash their tanks last summer when chlorine, or ammonia, or both got past their 5 stage ro/di units and killed everything. Prime is a very cheap insurance, plus it adds to the slime coat of fish and corals, so they say.

David
Click to expand...
 
We're going to try changing around our powerheads to alter the flow. We have a 100 gal rectangular (5'). As you can see from the picture below, one Evo 750 is positioned of the left side in the back corner. A second Evo 750 is on the right side in the back but closer to the surface. A Koralia 2 is running also on the right side near the surface, but toward the front of the tank. The sump return sits in the middle, with the flow moving to the left toward the overflow.

The problem with the sand is mainly in the front of the rock on the right-hand side of the tank, and in the back corner of the right-hand side (below and between the two powerheads).

Any suggestions on moving them?
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If the flow is in the same place / direction as the original set-up the coral growth may be reducing / blocking the flow. For that set-up I would consider aiming some of the flow at the glass to get deflection current going. Try not to disturb the sand bed. However I still think it is a water quality issue not flow.

Steve
 
Just replaced all of my t5 bulbs. Using Prime in all top-off water and added to new water for tomorrow's water change. Being extra careful to not overfeed. The cyano is now covering most of my sand except for one corner. How long should it take to clear up once we've fixed the cause? I have some Chemi-clean and Cyano Solution. I know it doesn't fix what's causing the outbreak, but is it ever prudent to use a product like this?
 
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