Brown Sand. Help.

[zaitmi]

Hello guys, can you just tell me what is this on my sand?

Is it diatom bloom or is it cyano?

Tank replaced 2 months back with old sand & water & 2 fishes.

Transfer 20 gallons to 8 gallons.

 

[toothybugs]

Looks like cyano to my eyes

 

[Sapelo]

+1 cyano
New tank blight
I feel your pain!

 

[lespaul339]

Cyano. Kill your light for a couple days and it should go away.

 

[zaitmi]

Ok i will turn off lights. But can i open fr half an hour to feed my 2 fishes?

 

[zaitmi]

Ok i will turn off lights. But can i switch on lights fr half an hour to feed my 2 fishes?

 

[zaitmi]

or should i use erythromycin? will they harm corals? i have zoas and expecting hammer.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Why do you want ot dose erythromycin? No need to. You can add the new corals when they arrive. Cyano is a bacteria that is going to run it's own CYCLE as it's all part of CYCLING the tank. Turning off the lights or putting more flow to the area keeps the visual part of the bacteria from growing as fast but the fact of the matter is you would have to keep the lights off for 2-3 weeks which is the natural cycle of the bacteria. The best thing you can do IMO and IME is to allow the algae (the visual part) to grow into a mat which takes about 5-7 days and then roll it up with a fork and then remove it from the tank. Your sand will be clean again until it grows back then repeat the removal of the mat after 5-7 days. The cyano will leave as fast as it started once it's run it's course.

 

[zaitmi]

Ok thanks. I wont use erythromycin. But the cyano are growing slowly they have grown this much from last 3 weeks. They might take another 2 weeks to become a mat.

I also read here after long battle ppl have tried ultralife red slime remove...just guessing it might help? Cyanos i have suffered earlier also but couldnt win that was in t5 light but now i use led dimmmable sanrise.

 

[zaitmi]

Cyano came back again after 3 days light off.. Can you guys tell me whether they use erythromycin from any pharmacy or use fish medication?

 

[sumer]

Cyano came back again after 3 days light off.. Can you guys tell me whether they use erythromycin from any pharmacy or use fish medication?

Using chemicals should be the last resort. It might come back again. Find the gap in you rsystem that is causing it.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Cyano is part of the cycle of a saltwater tank. It needs to run it's course and will go away as fast as it started when it's finished. Best to remove the mat of red or green snot weekly rather than to try daily. The mat will be easy to collect, I used a plastic fork and worked wonderfully to remove it. Until then be patient.

 

[zaitmi]

Ok..i wil be out for some days..when i come back i will try fork trick. A demo video would have helped.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Sorry, I didn't bother to do a video. Just use the fork to kind of roll it up or scrape the fork across the top of the sand and it will bunch up. I turned off my pumps so there was no circulation while I was getting it picked up. I held a cup close to the top of the water and put the slime in the cup as I got it to the surface. It will tend to want to slide off of the fork and it's fairly heavy for what it is. You don't have to get every little bit of it but most will work. Once done turn back on the pumps and wait until the next week clean up.