Algea or Bacteria ?

[Prismaco]

I clean my sand bed yesterday and it was like a think layer of algea on top of the sand. When I got home from work today its coming back. Someone from my work said "if it comes off like layers and then comes back the next day then it may be a bacteria..." Is this true ? Here is a picture of what I am talking about...


-Paul

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Read this link:

Cyano bacteria/Red slime algae

[mojoreef]

cyanobacter. Actually it is both bacteria and algae

Mike

[Prismaco]

Where can I purchse the Redox ?

-Paul

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Hey Paul!
When I posted that link for you I realized that what they offered was a temporary fix to the problem you are having. You need to address the source of the problem and I have had the same problem and in fact have some now.
I need another power head or put in a spray bar like Jay has built to get current to all parts of my substrate to eliminate "dead spots" in my DSB. I also have cut back on feeding considerably and this has help as well! May others will add to this! HTH

[Prismaco]

I may add some type of spray bar or another Power Head...

-Paul

[Dad]

Prismaco,
Before you try the redox, try increasing the circulation in that area. We had the same problem (but woooorse) for a while...we fixed it by changing the circulation, and doing a lot (read that as a LOT) of water changes. I did buy a skimmer but didn't get it in until the cyano had pretty much gone....I think the circulation thing was what helped the most tho...
good luck...

bob

[Prismaco]

Thanks for the advise, people like you guys are keeping me from going crazy and not just giving it all up...thanks...



-Paul

[seamonkey]

I just recently went through a cyano and red hair alge out break. I at the time had no power heads. I purchased 2 power heads and did a couple water changes but I only did a few and I added some thing I was told not to but it never harmed my tank and I have been alge free for 2 months now.

[thefatman]

SM you mentioned that before. i'm dying to know what it is that you used, but weren't supposed to use.

if you tell me i promise not to try it myself, (i try to keep my tanks as chemical free as possible) i jsut really want to know out of curiosity. you can pm me if you dont want to get a spanking in public

[foobuddha]

Jay,

It may have been Chemi-Clean that SM is referring to. Chemi-clean is purported to be completly reef safe with no adverse effects to inverts, nitrifying bacteria etc. It is not an anti-biotic as some other red slime removers are. I used it years ago and it does the trick _BUT_ it doesn't address the underlying problem and invariably the cyano will return.

Cyanobacteria is naturally occuring in the ocean, it is just one more step in the food chain. Eventually it will be out performed by other higher order algaes. It is almost always present in reef tanks to some extent, just not at the plague proportions we see when a tank is still relatively young and cycling.

After being mostly cyano-free for 6 months I have re-aquascaped and released alot of detritus into my water column, even a largish water change left too much nutrient in the tank and I have seen a recurrence of cyano. Between releasing all the detritus, changing the flow from powerheads and 6 month old bulbs, it has taken hold for the past few weeks, but now I'm seeing it slowly being overtaken by other algaes. Patience always wins out in the end.

Paul, I would imagine that once you get your 'fuge up and running, the macro's will out-compete the cyano for available nutrients.

[seamonkey]

Nope it was em tablets. I tossed 2 in and then 3 days later I tossed 1 more in. And for doug and the others that said not to do it(sorry I can't remember every ones name) I read up on it and yes while the em kills bacteria it also targets certain kinds of bacteria and lets others alone. Any body that uses a phosphate remover or filter and looks up whats in them they contain em. Although if you have corals I would not suggest doing it though. When I treated my tank I had no carals. After a week and a 25% water change I started to add corals and anemones.

O and for those wondering EM stands for erythromycin.

[foobuddha]

SM,

Did you see cycle after adding the EM?

Antibiotics aren't selective about what bacteria they kill, that's why they make digestion a bit more 'difficult' when a person is put on antibiotics, they kill the 'good' bacteria as well as the bad.

[thefatman]

hmm interesting.. just regular old human antibiotics.. never heard of that before..

i wont try it, because it goes agaisnt my beliefs. glad it worked fo you with no adverse affects.

[Prismaco]

Yea I cant wait to get my fuge up and running. Hopefully some algea will go away.


-Paul