Red film at the bottom of the tank. help!

[Charles]

This red film keeps on coming back even if I blow it with a turkey baster. It seems to occur only on one side of my tank. I have attached pictures below. Please advice how I can get rid of these red films once and for all and are these good or bad?

[Orient Master]

i had some of that in my tank before, i've been told it's not file but red slime. Cyano something?? i had to go to my LFS to get some ceamical to clear it up.

[Orient Master]

Chemi-Clean is the name of the stuff that i had to put into my tank.

and i found out its called Cyanobacteria.

[tims]

yup that is a Bacteria called Cyano.
you can stop doing some of your tests for now. you will not get correct results.
time to do a water change ( a few of them) during the brightest time for your tank. the bloom will be out the heaviest during this time.
suck as much as you can out.
also we need to look at what is feeding this.
how often do you feed your tank?
what type of water do you use?
how old is the live rock?
what lighting do you have?
What is the Flow in your tank?

[jenajet]

Okay gonna get called out on this but so what! How old are you bulbs? When I set up my tank it had a new bulb and and old one. The side with the old bulb grew algae like mad! Replaced both bulbs so they would be the same from now on and no more algae. Also other possibilies is if you added new rock, those could be leaching nutrients feeding the algae. Little more info on the setup and we can get you a better answer. Such as size, age, lighting, skimmer or not, how often do you feed, inhabitants. If it is a new tank, it's just a part of the cycle and will go away on it's own.

[tims]

why would you be called out on this?
our posts are very close

[Loverotties]

All is true!

[jenajet]

Everytime I say it's lights I start a debate. But in my experience old lights cause a bloom!

[tims]

Originally Posted by jenajet

Everytime I say it's lights I start a debate. But in my experience old lights cause a bloom!

not to get the tread tooooooo far off course.. but what you are seeing there is the spectrum change...

hmm maybe we will have that as a biweekly disscusion..thanks Jena

[bubblybabs]

I also noticed that this stuff grows where the water flow is slowest...
babs

[jenajet]

Originally Posted by bubblybabs

I also noticed that this stuff grows where the water flow is slowest...
babs

that is true too, but in this case we are talking one whole side of a tank. I don't think flow is the culprit in this one.

[Casey]

Just do water changes and make sure you get any gunk off the bottom of your tank when doing the water changes and it will go with time all tanks go through this once in a while,it will be better at night the lights seem to make it happy.

[Brent Cone]

Originally Posted by Casey

Just do water changes and make sure you get any gunk off the bottom of your tank when doing the water changes and it will go with time all tanks go through this once in a while,it will be better at night the lights seem to make it happy.

Ditto! on that one! i think we have all been there before.
Brent.

[Geoff]

OK, i am the one that jumps on Jena's case about the bulbs, so i will do it again.

it is the nutrient levels in the tank that causes algae blooms. the spectrum of the lights have very little to do with it. if you do not have nutrients in the tank than you will not have an algae problem. if you have a nutrient problem in the tank then as your bulbs shift into the red algae is more able to use that spectrum compared to the higher K's. think photosynthesis. so, if your solution is to change bulbs to fix algae than you are not solving your problem, you are masking it. a lot like using the chemical means to control cyano. it is better to fix the true problem and not mask it.

nutrients build up in areas of low flow. this is where they can settle because the current is not keeping them suspended. these low flow areas need to be siphoned regularly of any fallen detrituts.

what kind of skimmer?

are you using NSW for water? if so when/where are you getting the NSW? how much are you feeding?

G~

[Charles]

Ok so this is cynobacteria, but I am a little bit confused, some of you also refer to these as algae. Sorry for my dumb question: Is cynobacteria a type of algae?

I feed once a day and there are times I feed every two days depending on my availability.

I am not using NSW, I have a skimmer, the tank is around 167 gal with a sump.

The part of the tank were I found these cynobacteria is the part where I feed the fish. And that part seems to be lacking in flow. Based on your advices, I think the culprit is low flow area, where I feed and thus excess food sink to the bottom which provide nutrients to these cynobacteria.

As to bulbs, I think my bulb is due to be replaced any time soon. And as per Jena's advice I have to replace the bulb too to prevent shift in spectrum thus providing photosynthesis to these cynobacteria.

Liverocks and tanks is 17 months old.

I think my flow is near x20.

One question, I got an elegance on that area of the tank which hates strong flow, that's why that area of the tank have the smallest flow. Now what should I do to make both elegance happy and get rid of the flow problem?