[jimw369]

Not to steal anyone elses thread but is this the red stuff everybody talks about?

[jimw369]

Sorry heres a pic. of the red stuff.

[glampka]

That's it Jim. Cyano. Get some water flow in that area & check your phosphate/nitrate levels. You may be able to siphon it off but it'll come back. Getting the nutrients levels down is the best way to get rid of it.

[jimw369]

Just changed the power heads a little and that has increased the water flow in that area a lot more. I must admit that area has had the least amount of water flow there and thats where a lot of detritus has built up at times I have vacumned out. Just the past week since I started the phytoplankton for the scallop has this started. I will let the skimmer work round the clock and cut way back on the phyto and see what happens.
Phosph: 0
Nitrates: 0

All I have are color charts for these tests. I often have others look at the colors and give me their opinion. Is there a better way to test for these things?

For other than asthetic reasons will it help to vacumn the sand?

I cut back on the light a few weeks ago to 8 hours and the brown algae went away rather quick. This week I went back to 12 hours and this showed up much stronger so I will cut back on the light again.

Thanks for the plain simple advice!

[glampka]

You could vacuum/siphon the stuff off the sand. Cutting back on the lights & the food should help as well.
Unfortunately I'm not aware of any other test kit that uses something other than color charts. Just be sure you're in good light when you try to read them & hopefully you're not colorblind!!!

[jimw369]

I dont think Im color blind. Does Salifert make a test for that? Of course everything has gone downhill since the day I turned 40.

[glampka]

Not sure but I would think they would. If you think things went bad at 40 just wait

[kolokefalo]

Cyanobacteria. It is the bane of reef tanks. Syphon it as much as you can without disturbing it.

When it happens to my tank I grab a spatula and an empty bag and scoop it as carefully as possible off the substrate, put it in the bag and dump it outside. I wish I could hear the millions of them screaming in agony as they bake on my 90+ degree Florida driveway.

Then as stated by others change some current around and get that area more flow.

[jimw369]

Glampka! My tank thanks you!

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