red brown very long stingy alge

[johnnydoe]

ok how do i get rid of it ??? its manely on the bottom . im using 2 175 20k mh lights , 75 gal tank . is the 20k lighting toooo much ???

[zhenya]

ok how do i get rid of it ??? its manely on the bottom . im using 2 175 20k mh lights , 75 gal tank . is the 20k lighting toooo much ???

I don't believe the lighting has anything to do with it, it is definately not too much, especially if it is 20K bulbs.
Could you post a picture of that stringy algae? It could be cyanobacteria( which isn't an algae at all) and could simply indicate that you may have nutrients removal problem ( like not enough skimming, overfeeding, etc.)
Without an image it;s hard to guess or tell what exactly you are looking at.
How long your tank has been set up?

[johnnydoe]

hi im using a red sea prizm pro delux , i know , i know , POS . i also was thinking the same thing so i ordered a new one ASM G3 . yesterday , i was also worryed about the lighting , wasnt sure . well about the pictures i cant figure it out .

[Reefland]

Hi johnnydoe,

You don;t have a camera to take a picture or you don't know how to get them loaded here?

[johnnydoe]

loading them , i cant figure it out .

[Reefland]

Under the last post in a thread you will see this button:

Click that button and on the page that displays, click on the Manage Attachments button that is located under the text box that you type in near the bottom of the page. Pretty easy from there.

[johnnydoe]

hope this works

[johnnydoe]

wow that was ez , sorry . so what do you think ??

[Reefland]

Humm, I am going to see what someone else might think first. I would think cyanobacteria but I don;t see the typical "mats" growing, just the long strings.

[zhenya]

I think it is a cyanobacteria. Can you easily blow it off? I see that it's begining to smother your polyps that are on the send bed.
There are few ways to deal with it but first I think it would be a good idea if you could post your water parameters(whatever you test for) and age of the tank, inhabitants and all that.
Also, what kind of water flow you have in the tank? Sometimes if water flow is not adequate in certain spot( read dead spots) then detritus can accumulate there, uneaten food and all that. For time being, I would recommend manually removing all you can and perhaps do a water change if you haven't done it in a while.

[zhenya]

Humm, I am going to see what someone else might think first. I would think cyanobacteria but I don;t see the typical "mats" growing, just the long strings.

Scott, take a look at those polyps just above the strings...I think it may very well be cyano.

[Reefland]

Yeah that rock is covered but just the strings on the sandbed threw me off.

[johnnydoe]

ok i will go test the water out , but ill tell you whats in it now , ok 75gal tank , 25gal sump , 2 175mh 20k , IWAKI MODEL MD-70 , squid,outlet
on each side . also pvc tubing looking like a upsidedown letter " A " closed loop mag 7 pump behind all the rock . i drilled little holes all over it . i have a red sea prizm deluz pro skimmer(ordered a asm g3).trickle filter above the sump bottom cut out , drans in to sump . had tank for 25years plus . only salt fish4 months ago turning it in to a reef tank . trying .

[zhenya]

Johnny,

I looked a bit closer and it seems that you don't have any sand( judging from the first picture). If that's the case, I would perform a water change and try to syphon all of that stuff that you can. Do you use RO/DI or tap water to mix your saltwater and top off?
Also, can you describe what you feeding your fish and how much. If you use frozen foods, do you discard water that you thaw your food in? Something is fueling your cyano and we need to determine what it is. ;)

PS. I also think that perhaps your trickle filter needs maitanance? I really don't like those things for just that, they need a whole lot of attention and can't be allowed to accumulate any detritus on the media. Years ago, when I first started my first tank, I also used trickle filter and had a battle with cyano as well and couldn't keep my NO3 levels down either. After I removed those bio-balls the things finally begun to stabalize and tank started to look like a reef tank.

[johnnydoe]

ok i will remove the balls , try to syphon the bottom , also i do have a ro/di filter thats what i use . i use brine shrimp frozon . i thaw them out in with tank water , i dont disguard it just dump when thawed , how do i get take them out there so small ??????? as for the sand about 1/2 to 1 inch of it on the bottom . oooo-ya feed them 2 times a week . sometimes 3 . do i need more sand ??? i was told to have a little bit of sand just to cover the glass but that was a long time ago .

ok did the test

ph 8.4
nitrates .5 or less
cal 500

[zhenya]

do i need more sand ???

No, not necessarily, unless you want to use deep sand bed.

ok i will remove the balls

Make sure you do it slowly, little bit at the time, hand full one week and then hand full the next and so on. Test you water as well between removals.
Have you checked for phosphates at all? You'll be surprized at how much phosphates could be found in all of the frozen foods( they use them as preservative). I think it would be a good idea to buy yourself a brine shrimp net and drain your thawed food through it. I even rinse drained food with RO/DI water a bit to remove as much phosphate as I can.

[johnnydoe]

ok ill do that , rinse brine with net in ro/di , get net , remove balls slowly , and get a phosphate test kit .ill let you know what happens . thank s so much .

[Poseidon]

EWWWW! That is some yucky stuff. I agree with Scott and Gene, try and remove as much as you can, and do a couple of water changes.