How can I get rid of this

[Jaime casanova]

[Clown79]

That is cyano.

 

Do you vacuum the sand?

How much flow is in the tank?

What is your maintenance routine?

[Jaime casanova]

@Clown79 I clean it every weekend sumtimes Wednesday if it needs it but yes I cleaned the sand and it comes back 

[Tired]

How old is the tank, did you start it with live rock, and what are your parameters? 

What animals do you have? 

How often do you do water changes, and how much do you change? 

What water do you use for water changes? Tap, distilled, RO? 

How long has this been going on? 

[Jaime casanova]

@Tired yes I have live rock and I only have 1 clown fish and a shrimp and corals and I do water changes every week and I get mine from my local store for fish and it just started a about a week ago probably less the tank is like 2 months old 

[Clown79]

It's a fairly new tank, it's still going through various stages.

 

The first things to look at

 

1. Do you have cuc for the sand bed to keep it stirred like nassarius snails?

 

2. Have you tested the lfs water you buy for tds, nitrates/phosphate?

 

3. Is there enough flow in those areas?

 

4. What are the nitrate and phos levels in the tank

 

5. What filter media are you using- how often is it changed

 

6. What are you feeding and how much?

 

Theres no quick fix and without detailed info on the set up, maintenance routine, test results, equipment being used it's hard for ppl to evaluate and help

[colinadam]

Chemiclean will knock it out, but you need to get your filtration ramped up or it will just keep coming back. 

If you use Chemiclean follow the instructions very closely. 

[Tired]

Don't use chemiclean. You need to get rid of what's causing the cyano, not the cyano itself, or it'll come back. Cyano is an opportunistic bacteria that will always be present in the tank, and small amounts are harmless. Outbreaks like this can be caused by too many nutrients, or by a lack of competition and predators, or both. You need to keep your nutrient levels low, but not at 0, otherwise everything else in the tank will suffer. What you want is to have many types of algae, which will all compete with each other and the cyanobacteria, making it difficult for any of them to have outbreaks like this. You also want to have plenty of pods and other creatures that will feed on cyano and algae. In short, you need biodiversity. 

 

Again, we need your water parameters. Probably the answer is in there. 

[Jaime casanova]

I’m a go get my water tested tomorrow I go get my water tested but I think it’s the water there is to much of something 

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

4 hours ago, Jaime casanova said:

I’m a go get my water tested tomorrow I go get my water tested but I think it’s the water there is to much of something 

It’s a natural part of a new tank, it’ll eventually go away, it always does. Just keep doing water changes and make sure your nutrients aren’t too high. It’s really not a horrible nuisance like other types of algae and like aptasia, it just looks bad to be honest 

[Clown79]

5 hours ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

It’s a natural part of a new tank, it’ll eventually go away, it always does. Just keep doing water changes and make sure your nutrients aren’t too high. It’s really not a horrible nuisance like other types of algae and like aptasia, it just looks bad to be honest 

Algaes don't necessarily come in stages, it's a misleading belief. For some reason there is a belief that every tank will have every algae, go through stages a then you are in the clear. 

In a way that would be great!

 

Cyano can be a nuisance and take over, it can smother corals and kill cuc.

 

Some have struggled to get rid of it and need chemiclean. I think it's good to use as a last resort.

 

The one algae that does go away on it's own is diatoms.

 

9 hours ago, Jaime casanova said:

I’m a go get my water tested tomorrow I go get my water tested but I think it’s the water there is to much of something 

You should start getting your own test kits. Relying on going to a store isn't very convenient and when you need answers or daily testing, it will only become more inconvenient