3 month old tank: Is this the uglies?

[Karen00]

Hello fellow saltines,

My tank is going on about 3 months old and now I have what appears to be something red on the sand, glass and is starting on my rock (note: the rock is the CaribSea LifeRock, the purple colored type). I have just this single rock, live sand, a hi Fin goby and a pistol shrimp. I have added some pics. The blurry pic is supposed to be a pic of the stuff on the glass. I hope it might be coralline but that would've had to have come in on my pistol shrimp if that's possible. Is this good, bad or the uglies? Should I start vacuuming it up?

Thanks!

 

[Clowns-corals-cats]

Sorry to say that is not Coraline that's cyanobacteria. Yes get rid of it.

 

[Karen00]

Sorry to say that is not Coraline that's cyanobacteria. Yes get rid of it.

Ugh! Thanks!!

 

[Megability]

What are your nutrients at, nitrates and phosphates? I’ll bet they’re too low…

Too high and you get a lot of algaes, the ugly phase, but too low and you can get dinos or cyano, which can be just as bad or worse…

 

[Karen00]

What are your nutrients at, nitrates and phosphates? I’ll bet they’re too low…

Too high and you get a lot of algaes, the ugly phase, but too low and you can get dinos or cyano, which can be just as bad or worse…

Thanks for this! I haven't tested in a few weeks. I will do that. Will boosting nutrients take care of this or should I dose Coralline?

 

[Karen00]

Hello all. I wanted to provide an update. I didn't yet have a phosphate kit so I picked up the Salifert. It showed I have 0 phosphates and at the time of testing I had 20ppm nitrates although after a water change of about 30% it dropped to about 5ppm (this is a 5g). The interesting thing is that not long after I posted this the cyano has disappeared. I siphoned up the stuff in the photos and it hasn't returned. It came and went within about 2 weeks. Obviously I'm happy about this but am wondering if I should bump my phosphates up if they're still 0 (I have to retest)? There are no corals yet but I am planning for softies. I only have a couple small gobies so feeding more probably won't work (more because I would be wasting food). Should I dose of still at 0?

 

[Ulee]

3 month old tank very cool, it does look like cyano bacteria. Don't add phosphates to your tank keep syphoning the sand , the gobies good move they sift the sand around. .I'd go ahead and get a small group of blue legged hermits, let phosphates build naturally but keep them in check later on when u have full stock in ur reef. The new tank syndrome last about a year ,(ugly phase) until u have a more mature tank. More live rock will help later on against algae breaks

 

[Danroo]

If it isn’t coming back don’t worry about it, no need to raise anything. If you want to add something add power heads for the flow. the they’ll help you with your softies in the future.

 

[Karen00]

If it isn’t coming back don’t worry about it, no need to raise anything. If you want to add something add power heads for the flow. the they’ll help you with your softies in the future.

Thanks for this! I'm glad I don't have to dose anything... at least not yet. I just purchased a power head and plan to install it soon. It's a little bigger than I thought it would be so hopefully it doesn't dominate the tank.

 

[Karen00]

3 month old tank very cool, it does look like cyano bacteria. Don't add phosphates to your tank keep syphoning the sand , the gobies good move they sift the sand around. .I'd go ahead and get a small group of blue legged hermits, let phosphates build naturally but keep them in check later on when u have full stock in ur reef. The new tank syndrome last about a year ,(ugly phase) until u have a more mature tank. More live rock will help later on against algae breaks

Thank you! I hope it's gone. I haven't seen a re-appeance for over two weeks now so fingers crossed! My pistol shrimp is doing a great job moving the sand from one side of the tank to the other. Actually a little too good. I have sound mountains beginning to form. I just get it smoothed out and he immediately starts to move it again. Haha. I will start looking for some blue legged hermits. Are they for CUC? If so do the little pom pom crabs do the same thing? I would also love to have one of those.

 

[r4rlee]

Thanks for this! I'm glad I don't have to dose anything... at least not yet. I just purchased a power head and plan to install it soon. It's a little bigger than I thought it would be so hopefully it doesn't dominate the tank.

I got some nice little power heads from Amazon look up

SunSun JVP-110 528-GPH Wavemaker Pumps, 2-Pack, Black​

They was good for my 13.5 gallon

 

[r4rlee]

I got some nice little power heads from Amazon look up

SunSun JVP-110 528-GPH Wavemaker Pumps, 2-Pack, Black​

They was good for my 13.5 gallon

And they was only $30.00 Canadian for 2

 

[Karen00]

I got some nice little power heads from Amazon look up

SunSun JVP-110 528-GPH Wavemaker Pumps, 2-Pack, Black​

They was good for my 13.5 gallon

Excellent! Thanks for sharing! I will definitely check these out. I'm already concerned the one I bought (I think it's a coral box) might be too big and if I have to add another one on the other side to get complete coverage then it might be too much for the coral to handle not to mention the size of them in the tank.

 

[r4rlee]

Excellent! Thanks for sharing! I will definitely check these out. I'm already concerned the one I bought (I think it's a coral box) might be too big and if I have to add another one on the other side to get complete coverage then it might be too much for the coral to handle not to mention the size of them in the tank.

I hope it helps and this is part of the reason why we’re all here to try and give each other help and ideas and if it same time we can help people save money even better because this hobby is expensive enough it feels like my pay check she just be sent to my local fish shops lol

 

[Karen00]

I hope it helps and this is part of the reason why we’re all here to try and give each other help and ideas and if it same time we can help people save money even better because this hobby is expensive enough it feels like my pay check she just be sent to my local fish shops lol

LOL. I can verify most of my paycheck is going toward my tank. LOL I found the power heads. Wow, they are a good price. Out of curiosity is there anything that allows you to synchronize them? LIke an add-on controller?

 

[r4rlee]

LOL. I can verify most of my paycheck is going toward my tank. LOL I found the power heads. Wow, they are a good price. Out of curiosity is there anything that allows you to synchronize them? LIke an add-on controller?

I don’t know i have them plugged into the same power bar so i can turn them all off if needed well Everything else stays going

 

[Karen00]

I don’t know i have them plugged into the same power bar so i can turn them all off if needed well Everything else stays going

Thanks! One more question... Approx how many inches is the wet side? I wish the manufacturers would list this info. I found one that did on only one of their models however it was still helpful because I knew that model was too big to fit in my tank and I probably wouldn't have purchased the one I did if I'd known the size.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

If you're looking for a wavemaker with flow controls, check out the Jebao SLW series. I have 2 on my 15 gallon fluval flex and they're great! Very well priced, and have magnet mounts instead of the suction cups like the sun-suns. The suction cups will eventually stop working, my JVP 110 is dry in a box with the rest of my ill-advised purchases lol

 

[r4rlee]

Thanks! One more question... Approx how many inches is the wet side? I wish the manufacturers would list this info. I found one that did on only one of their models however it was still helpful because I knew that model was too big to fit in my tank and I probably wouldn't have purchased the one I did if I'd known the size.

Here is a photo of them

 

[Striket85]

Here is a photo of them

I had the same heater, just replaced it with a Fluval that doesn't have a temperature on it and hooked it up to an outside temp controller. I've read too many horror stories about heaters being stuck on so I didn't want to risk it o_o