Diatoms? Yes, I messed up

never a dull moment. Either watching the show or doing something to make the show even better.

 

The show must go on!

 

Well the more I've read and the more I've stared at my tank I'm wondering if I have red slime. It's really taken over the fuge and looks really red in there. Small areas of sand cleaning only comes back the next day just as strong. Thoughts and directions would be greatly appreciated.

Taking a knee.

 

the red on your sand bed definitely looks like cyano to me. I just did a chemi clean treatment on my tank because I thought some of the yuckies I had was cyano. I did the treatment this past weekend and I can tell you, the tank looks great! all obvious cyano is gone. Still have some yuckies that weren't cyano but I have to say I'd recommend the treatment for a cyano problem.

 

Thnx OFK. I was thinking about getting some chemiclean but wanted to wait and see if anyone had other suggestions.

 

I've heard great things about chemiclean but it is an antibiotic. Some have used it with no ill effects while others have had negative effects. I personally had to battle the cyano nightmare and not just red but blue/green as well. It took over a year for the reef tank to mature and putting a chemical that could upset my bacterial balance was a no go for me. I started from square one. It didn't appear from thin air so I wanted to fix the problem not patch it. Long story short my ro membrane was the wrong size and I didn't know it so all this time I was dumping who knows what in the tank. TDS is only half the story. I stayed diligent and literally months later I have no more red slime and couldn't be happier. An occasional green spot on a rock shows up but is easily blown away. It's a night and day difference. My biopellets are in full swing now and all is really well balanced. My point to you is this, find and fix the route cause because it will come back no matter what product you use. Most importantly be super patient! I honestly came to a point where I was going to drain the tank and start fresh! For now just run a sock if applicable, blow off rocks every day with a baster, a toothbrush scrub once a week if necessary and siphon out the red coated sand. Rinse the sand in saltwater until it's clean and put back in the tank. There could be many reasons why your having a cyano outbreak so take your time in finding the cause.I hope this helps and good luck my friend.

 

I was doing good until I decided to rid a couple spots on my sand bed during my first WC and while I figured why not clean up the entire bed. The next day, POW, an explosion. My TDS reads 1 and all the membranes are just under 4 months old.
I've been changing the socks every 3 days now.
My media reactor is tumbling slow and my carbon reactor is turning over a bit faster.
UV runs 24/7. I know none of these can get rid of everything but each will help a little.
I'm thinking about breaking down the fuge and cleaning that up. Hate to lose all those pods that I've worked hard at getting established but the fuge is covered in cyano as well.
I've started doing 10% WC once a week and will keep at it until this all clears up.
I know I caused this and I know it wasn't from stirring the sand bed. Although, stirring the bed got em all excited. I'm not sure if it was caused from no WC for almost 4 months that might of caused this.

NUMBERS today.
temp 78 - 79
ph 8.05
salinity 1/025
ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite .05
phosphate .08
alk 9.8
mg 1400
cal 410

 

Same as above for me. I had blue/green cyano just a couple months after starting my tank and tried many, many methods rid it and diligence is the key. If you start to get REALLY overrun, I suggest a total black out for 3-4 days. This will make it die back and make it more manageable but won't cure your problem. I do a 10% WC weekly and siphon the crud off the sand while turkey basting the rocks daily. It is starting to really clear up now but like DSC said, it took about a year.

 

Well, I'll be a knowledgeable person when this is done at least. :/

 

How long has the tank been cycled? I built an ATS which i believe has helped with my cyano situation but i don't know that for sure. I have been thinking of taking it down and seeing how things do. The only problem with that is if it dries out, it would take several weeks to start running at full capacity again.