newbiefishgirl Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Well aside from bring in the apx middle stages of the cycle and seeing brown all over, I notices something new on my sand bed. It is purple/pink in color kinda like the coraline color. Its pretty, I wish that the whole sand bed was covered in this instead of the brown junk. IS this coraline particles???? Why is it down on the sand?? Is the coraline living ok under the brown stuff???? Iheard the green hair alge is next. No signs of this yet! Thanks for the help!: Link to comment
drdrew Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 could be cyanobacteria....you might not wish the whole sandbed was covered in it. Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 5, 2003 Author Share Posted June 5, 2003 What is cyanobacteria??? Is it harmful?? WHat do I do about this? Link to comment
palaegic Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Hey Becky. Do I recall that you started your cycle with a shrimp? Just like we want to grow the bacteria that ends up consuming and breaking down nitrogen, we can also get other bacteria - like cyno. It looks like a film, and is either purplish red, blue green. A heavy concentration of disolved organic material in the water can contribute to a cynobacteria bloom. If you don't own a turkey baster - pick one up. The things are great for sucking up the red slime. Your still in the midst of a cycle correct? So no animals are in the system. Don't add any, not until you know where you stand with the red slime. If you have the ability to increase the water movement in the tank, do so. Throw in another power head. If the cyno increases and spreads, remove as much as you can, and do a 20% water change. Worse case scenario, there are compounds you can purchase that will kill the cyno - but we're not there yet. Strongly advise using the NR "Search" feature and enter cyanobacteria. Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 5, 2003 Author Share Posted June 5, 2003 ok, so is now the time to take the shrimp out palaegic???? I will try and get that out, the red stuff, tonight when I get home. No I dont have anything in the tank. I can add the air line that makes bubbles if that will help. If I do a water change tho, wont that stop the cycle? Link to comment
palaegic Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 If you still have a rotting shrimp in there - definitely get it out. If you have, or can get a baster - blast as much of the red slime off the rocks/sand as you can. Use the baster to suck up the gunk. A bit of cyno during a cycle isn't uncommon and as your system breaks in hopefully it will diminish. So if you currently just have a bit, no need to panic. But this stuff can also blanket a tank inside of 72 hours, so keep an eye on it. No water change yet - but if you notice the film is spreading, a water change will be in order. Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 5, 2003 Author Share Posted June 5, 2003 Thanks palaegic!! I will go home and take that all out including the shrimp. I will report on this tomarrow. Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 6, 2003 Author Share Posted June 6, 2003 Well I went home and took out the shrimp. Boy did that thing smell:x ! Then I used the baster and sucked out the sand bottom where the spots were. My boyfriend noticed it all over one of the rocks, so he sucked that off. Then I added an airline in the general area. Tested my water. My ammonia is down to .25 but no Nitrite spike yet? Why is that?? I though that was next? When I got up this morning I still saw some more red stuff on the sand again. Will this continue?? Or end now that the shrimp is out?:*( Thanks guys for all your help A worried lil fish girl Link to comment
palaegic Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 Cyno seems to thrive when 2 components are present: High disolved organics, and low flow. The shrimp is probably accountable for the red slime. I'll give you my opinion. Keep in mind, my recommendation is based on the assumption that this stuff is continuing to thrive. If it is just a small spot, and not a spreading mat of the stuff, you can wait and see what happens. The removal of the shrimp itself will not halt its growth. Hopefully you'll get some others suggestions as well, and you can make an informed decision. Remove between 3 and 5 gallons from your tank. Make up a fresh batch of seawater in another container to make up the difference. Let it run for several hours and make sure the pH, and sg match your tank (assuming the tanks numbers are good. pH of 8.2 to 8.4, and specific gravity of 1.023 to 1.025, temp between 78 and 82 degrees) So you should have 2 buckets of water now - one of good water and one of bad water. Take any of your liverock that has red slime on it out of the tank and give it a scrub in the bucket of 'bad' water. An old toothbrush comes in handy for this sort of thing. Also use your baster to once again suck up any cyno on your sand bed. The gist here is, we want to get rid of all visible signs of this stuff. Because if the conditions are right - any trace of it will simply start to grow again. Rebuild your squeaky clean rockwork and then add the fresh seawater to top off your tank. If you were using a filter pad with your Emperor filter, remove and replace it with a new one (or leave it empty). Lastly, you may want to do some research on some of the products that kill red slime algae. Will this throw off your cycle? Maybe, but it certainly won't halt the cycle - but if your tank is covered in red slime algae, a completed cycle won't make much of a difference. Buckets, turkey basters, old toothbrushes and smelly rocks. Welcome to reefing. Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 6, 2003 Author Share Posted June 6, 2003 OK But I dont have any live stock. So thats a good thing!! I will see if it has spead any by the time I have got back home today. Link to comment
palaegic Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 The fact that you don't have any livestock is a good thing. Cyno can smother corals in a matter of days. Not having any livestock also means we can tear up your tank without upsetting any occupants just yet. Hopefully your red slime bacteria problem will be minimal - on the other hand I have seen red slime infect an entire marine retail display, about 20 tanks. They fought the stuff for months. Assuming your'e using RO/DI water for mixing and top offs, is this correct? Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 What kind of water are you using and are you running any phosphate removers right now? Pray that cyano doesn't take over the tank. I had some early on and controlled it with ChemiClean but you aren't to that point yet. Water changes and sucking it out (and of course contributors that are not 'feeding the cyano fire') will help right now. HTH! Link to comment
newbiefishgirl Posted June 6, 2003 Author Share Posted June 6, 2003 I had used tap water to set the tank up, but now use RO to do water top offs, I didnt do any water changes yet because I am still cycling. I didnt want to slow the process. If it is spreading, will I see it by just over the last 8 hrs and notice more when I get home. I want to nip this in the bud, so to speak before I leave on vacation for two days!!!! Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 tap water = bad news, even for a cycle. Anyway, yes it won't take long for you to see if it's spreading, etc. If you leave the tank for a few days unattended with cyano trying to attack, you could come home to something unrecognizable. GL! Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 I would agree with all the advice given, especially the cardinal rule of reefkeeping. If it's not working, do a water change. As far as RO water is concerned, do it. Everything in your tank will thank you. Plus, it's better drinking water. Here out in West Des Moines, we've got terrible water quality. Nitrates are often as high as 10 ppm. Terrible for kids. Terrible for expecting mothers. Terrible for tanks. Yep...I'll be using that as my excuse to get a quality RO/DI unit put in under the kitchen sink! Link to comment
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