Strange Algae And Air Bubbles

[Amelia]

Hi, I am new to this site and am looking for a little help. I own a 300L reef tank which has been up and running for 4 years now. A few months ago I started to get a brown algae covering my sand, live rock and corals. This wipes off really easily but is back 10 minutes later. When I brush it off the rock etc it seems to have lots of tiny little air bubbles in it. It is driving me mad I have tried everything I can think of. I use rowaphos and my phosphate reading is 0 and all other water parameters seem fine. Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 5 Calcium 450 Ph 8.1 KH 10.2 Temp 76 Salinity 1.023. My tank runs on live rock and a deltec skimmer that i clean out weekly. I have 2 250w halides and 2 T5 blue acnitics which I have also changed but this has made no difference. I have siphoned it out used the net but it always seems to come back. I have also done large water changes but still no difference. If anyone has any idea what this is and how to get rid of it i would be grateful! Thanks Amelia

 

[@ombomb]

sounds very much like cyano bacteria to me

bit surprised by the test results, what brand are they and how old?

 

[Amelia]

sounds very much like cyano bacteria to me

bit surprised by the test results, what brand are they and how old?

Thanks for the speedy reply. The kits are salifert and a few months old dates on them are ok.

 

[SkiFletch]

Cyanobacteria for sure. What's your input water source?

 

[Amelia]

Cyanobacteria for sure. What's your input water source?

I have a deltec ro unit which has had all the parts changed about 3 months ago. I add kent osmoprep and superbuffer dkh to my ro water. I have 4 maxi jet 1200 powerheads on a wavemaker to and a good variety of clean up crew. What causes cyano bacteria and how do i get rid of it thanks for all your help

 

[rictheredneck]

try turning your light off for a day or two, this works good for me! your corals will be fine, try and remove as much as you can physically before hand and also do you know the tds of your ro water, you say the filters were replaced 3 months ago, it could be that one was damaged...

 

[Amelia]

try turning your light off for a day or two, this works good for me! your corals will be fine, try and remove as much as you can physically before hand and also do you know the tds of your ro water, you say the filters were replaced 3 months ago, it could be that one was damaged...

thanks for the help. I will try what you said and turn my halides off for a day or two and see how i go. I will also test my ro water to. I have been reading up on cyanobacteria and it says one thing that causes it is feeding live food. I have a seahorse tank to and feed my seahorses mysis and have since been throwing some in to my main tank for my fish. Do you think this could be the problem even if my seahorse tank is not suffering from this algae problem

 

[rictheredneck]

try turning your light off for a day or two, this works good for me! your corals will be fine, try and remove as much as you can physically before hand and also do you know the tds of your ro water, you say the filters were replaced 3 months ago, it could be that one was damaged...

thanks for the help. I will try what you said and turn my halides off for a day or two and see how i go. I will also test my ro water to. I have been reading up on cyanobacteria and it says one thing that causes it is feeding live food. I have a seahorse tank to and feed my seahorses mysis and have since been throwing some in to my main tank for my fish. Do you think this could be the problem even if my seahorse tank is not suffering from this algae problem

its possible i guess but i think its more water in the pouches you get of live food in that are bad if you get what i mean, if you strain them i'd say you were pretty good... ive had cyno twice the first time i couldnt figure out how to get rid of it and had it for weeks because i didnt think turning the lights off would work but it works a treat for me hope you get on good and let us all know how your doin with it!

 

[Amelia]

thanks again. will let you know how it goes

 

[Amelia]

Well I followed your advice and switched my lights off for 3 days. I scooped the algae out with a net and really kept on top of it for the 3 days the lights were out. It seems to have worked great all the algae and air bubbles have completely gone and my lights have been back on for a week and it doesnt seem to have come back My tank is looking great and all parameters are spot on so hopefully that will be the end of it. I still wonder what caused it but at least for the time being it is gone. Thanks for all your help and advice. All corals are fine to!

 

[rictheredneck]

awesome!