Help with identification, please.

[dan9960]

My 120 gallon tank is about 9 months old. Started with Marco Rock and Caribsea Special Grade sand, both dry. About 2 months ago, what I thought was cyano showed up. I hit it with Chemi-clean, which has worked on my other tanks, but it didn't seem to have any effect. My parameters seemed fine, except for my nitrate and phosphate, which were both 0. I started dosing NeoNitrate and NeoPhos. Currently my Nitrate is 5.6, but I can't seem to get my phosphate off of 0. I will keep increasing the NeoPhos dose till I get some reading.
The more research I do on this, the more my head hurts! At this point, I'm just going in circles. I attached some pictures and a video from my microscope. I've blown the stuff off the rocks and have scraped it off the sand. The red stuff starts coming back on the sand overnight and eventually covers it in a couple of days. Very frustrating. I've got a couple of blastos and some zoas, which seem to be fine, if not growing. I also have 4 Chalk Basslets and they are doing fine. Any help in identifying this stuff and how to get rid of it, would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Formulator]

Despite the chemiclean not working, it does appear to be cyano. I would not recommend using chemiclean again. The effect on your biome is severe and with zero phosphate you are rolling out the red carpet for dino.

It looks like you may have a flow issue. High flow will keep cyano from taking hold. For the sand, you need to get it turning over. Nassarius snails, conch, or a sand sifting goby would be very helpful. Keep going with the phosphate dosing.

What is your lighting schedule like? Also, is the tank near a window that gets sunlight?

 

[dan9960]

Despite the chemiclean not working, it does appear to be cyano. I would not recommend using chemiclean again. The effect on your biome is severe and with zero phosphate you are rolling out the red carpet for dino.

It looks like you may have a flow issue. High flow will keep cyano from taking hold. For the sand, you need to get it turning over. Nassarius snails, conch, or a sand sifting goby would be very helpful. Keep going with the phosphate dosing.

What is your lighting schedule like? Also, is the tank near a window that gets sunlight?

Formulator, thanks for the reply. I now have a direction! Concerning my flow issue. I have 4 MP40's, 2 on each end of my 4 ft. tank. On the left, one is at 55% Tidal Swell and the other is at 65% Tidal Swell. On the right, one is at 50% Tidal Swell, the other at 65% Reefcrest. What would you suggest I have them at?
For my lighting I have 2 Radion XR30 G6 Pros. Running CoralLab AB+ at 100% intensity. Lights on at 12:00 to 10:00 PM. They ramp up and are only at full strength from 4:00 to 7:00 PM, when they ramp down till they're off. The tank is in a room with windows, but it doesn't get direct sunlight. Maybe seasonal, I'll keep an eye on that.
I'll be getting some of those sand stirrers. I've actually been holding off, till I get this under control. Maybe I have it backwards. As far as the microscope video, the swimming little critters are beneficial and not dinos? Thanks.

 

[Formulator]

Your lighting sounds reasonable, though it may be beneficial to cut back temporarily, or even do a 3 day blackout period to help get you ahead of the cyano. I’m not really very knowledgeable on LED’s so you may need to enlist the help of someone else on here to dial in the specifics. I use metal halide lamps and T5 fluorescents on my tank. Its old-school, but I prefer it .

Regarding flow, it sounds like you are very well equipped. Maybe just turn up the mp40s a bit or position one or 2 of them closer to the bottom. Just have to toe the line to get close, but not so close you are creating a sand storm.

I would go for the sand stirrers now. Even in my very mature tank, I struggled with annual cyano outbreaks that coincided with longer days in the summer with my tank by a southern facing window. It was almost always limited to the sand. I added a diamond goby and haven’t had a single spot since. My sand is crystal these days. Trade off is not really being able to put any corals on the sand bed because he will get sand on them and irritate them. If you don’t want another fish, conch and nassarius are great too. Just make sure you get enough of them to make a dent.