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reddish/maroon color film on my live rock

R

roadking05

I'm getting reddish/maroon film on my live rock. Mostly on top layer? Tried to suck it out with targetfeeder, but came back. :mad: 72gal set up since 2 months. I have 2100 rio with 2' head pressure for sump pump and 2 maxijet 1200 for powerhead.
 
M

mladencovic

Edward771 said:
I was just going to say that. And tell you that Aqu Obs on St. George has the stuff to get rid of it.
Click to expand...

Or he could just wait a bit more for a tank to mature and at the same time do more aggressive skimming and nutrients control, reduce feeding, collect the biomass accumulated in the bacteria mats, modify the water flow and let his cleaning crew mess with the rest (my buble-tip brittle star likes cyanos on a sand, for some reason)
 
Edwardw771

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
Don't wait kill that stuff. It gets all over everything and is nasty. I've seen it kill zoas. One or two treatments kill it.
 
M

mladencovic

If cyanos would encroach on a corals in a well established and mature tank, then you might try to use something drastic like that. However, since his tank is only 2 month old and is nowhere near being in balance, then this treatment, IMHO, will do him more harm then good - in the long run. Since cyanobacteria will always be present in your tank, always, the only thing you could do is to regulate and control the factors that lead to spread of cynos: excess nutrients, inadequate light and inadequate water flow.
 
Edwardw771

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
he has enough corals in there that he needs to fix it long term and short term. I'm not going to get into an agrument over this. Just giving my experince. Kill that stuff asap. he has a good skimmer and enough flow. Maybe some more water changes.
 
E

Erich

Suck up as possible of the stuff in the troublesome area. Then do 20 - 30% water change Repeat in a 5 -7 days if it comes back again. Sounds like to much proteins in the water. Don't over feed as this is a large possible cause of the problem. I have done this method and it works every time. Chemicals are good but you still need to do a more frequent water changes until it goes away.

Also check your skimmer if your getting amount of junk being produced daily.

This method worked for me as I had done about a 50% water change twice over a 20 days, I do not recommend it only if its the last result. My problem would not have gone away with out me doing this.

Do this only if your positive its Cyano, this algea is really a pain to get rid of.
 
C

Carlo

I like Cyano. It shows you everywhere in your display tank where your circulation isn't good enough and needs to be improved. :)

Cyano is ever present in our tanks. It's a needed bacteria that forms part of our little eco systems. Almost every new tank will get an outbreak in months 2 to 4. Yes it can get ugly but it is serving a needed purpose. You can siphon it out or use a turkey blaster to blow it off your corals/rocks but it will come back until it's purpose is served.

There are a couple of "Red Slime Removers" on the market but I wouldn't add any of them to my system if you paid me to do it. They can cause O2 problems, invert and coral death as well as good bacteria death. It's just not worth it IMHO.

The better solution is to fix the source of the problem. If you get Cyano you DEFFINATELY have nitrates and phosphates in your system regardless of what any test kit will show. Reduce them (especially the phosphates) and you'll see the Cyano disappear almost overnight. I wouldn't recommend water changes to solve this problem as it does very little on the phosphate front which is normally the culprit. The phosphates will leach right back out of the rock and subtrate.

A refugium will go a long way towards helping. If you already have a decent sized fuge and still get major cyano outbreaks check your iron level as it may be limiting the export of nitrates and phosphates via macro algae.

If you have a fuge and get cyano in there let it be. The cyano will tend to grow in one spot if it can so you can get the cyano in the fuge this way instead of in the display tank. Once the cyano has served it's purpose it will die off on it's own when it's food source is diminished.

Carlo
 
C

concept3

Guest
Dude, just get rid of it. Whatever makes you content :) and happy. Water changes definitely help!
 
C

Carlo

Merv Rubiano said:
Dude, just get rid of it. Whatever makes you content :) and happy. Water changes definitely help!
Click to expand...

Not always and sometimes it can hurt you. What do you accomplish by doing a water change? You export some nitrates but hardly any phosphates since they leach into the subtrate and liverock. Over time your phosphates build and build while the nitrates get "normalized" by the water changes. In any event unless you do many massive water changes you still have nitrates in the water and of course phosphates. This is all that's needed to fuel the cyano and other algaes. It could be you remove enough nitrates that this becomes the limiting factor but as soon as more is produced in the tank the outbreak begins again since it won't be limited anymore. Worse then that is the fact that, what wasn't the limiting factor continues to grow (i.e. carbon and phosphates).

The way to stop cyano is to:
1 Find the cause and limit it (IE over feeding)
2 Have another mechanism(s) in place that limits either nitrates and/or phosphates (both preferred). Typically some type of organic removal by foam fractioning/skimming (n & p), dripping kalk/lime water (p), macro algae (p & n), DSB (n), additional live rock (n), phosban style reactor with proper media (n and/or p), sulphur style nitrate reactor (n), Lanthanum Chloride (p), raising carbon in water column to fuel other good bacteria to out compete some of the nasties (n & p), AZ NO3 (n), etc...

Ideally if you can keep macro algae alive (not really needing to grow much at all) and test zero on nitrates and phosphates you are in great shape. The macro algae will normally out compete the problem algaes on a large scale and keep them in check. If you have macro algae that grows fast you have both a nitrate and phosphate problem even if you can't get a reading on a test kit. More then likely you have a very bad phosphate problem too as much of it has leached into your rock. (I have to dose iron and feed heavy just to keep Cheato alive)

Water Changes: Ideally you don't do water changes to export stuff out of the water. You do them as an easy way to get new trace elements into the water. If you have a good balanced system and test/dose the proper elements you can forgo water changes as a whole. You will always need to add little bits of made up salt water regardless because of spilling, salt spray, emptying the skimmer collection cup etc, that lowers your salinity.

You can replace evap water with RO/DI water treated with 1 gram per gallon of Kent Marine Osmo-Prep (salts of sodium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium, carbonate and bicarbonate) and 1ml per 10 gallons of Kent Marine Essential Elements (Inorganic mineral salts of aluminum, boron, bromine, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iodine, iron, lithium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, potassium, selenium, sulfur, strontium, tin, vanadium, and zinc).

Using the above 2 products on replacement Evap water has saved me tons of money compared to what it would cost in salt alone. If you use a two part additive or drip kalk you could skip the osmo-prep and just dose the essential elements to the tank/sump directly as needed.

Or course for those without the proper test kits it's probably easier to just remove and add new salt water.

Carlo
 
C

concept3

Guest
Carlo said:
Or course for those without the proper test kits it's probably easier to just remove and add new salt water.
Click to expand...

I don't like testing my water and my tank started showing me signs of stress so I started doing water changes again. It's all better now!
 
R

roadking05

Thanks for all the info. I think it's definitely from overfeeding and missing pygmy angel. :-[ Hopfully this will pass. Tank is looking better than 2 days ago. My foxface is helping me out by eating this stuff off my rock ;)
 
JohnS_323

JohnS_323

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Hey Danny,

I just realized that no one took the opportunity to say


4.gif



Welcome to NJRC!
 
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