# alright, my sand is turning red....



## Heymybigfish

well, tank has been set up one week now and the sand is starting to turn red in spots....alge bloom?


anyways...where should i go from here?


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## musho3210

red stuff growing over it or is the sand literally becoming red?


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## Heymybigfish

the top of the sand is having red stuff grow on it


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## Fishboy93

Cyano Bacteria


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## Heymybigfish

cyano? ok...but what does that mean? is it good or bad? should i put in more of a clean up crew? put on another power head?


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## leveldrummer

another powerhead would help, but waiting is the best thing, the algae will exhaust its food supply and crash as fast as it showed up. PATIENCE!! lol, 

the best fix for this is what a very wise old reefer told me, and no one knows this trick either, get a whole roll of duct tape, and a friend. sit in your favorite chair, and have your friend tape your hands together, then your legs, and finally tape your whole body to the chair. AND WAIT!!! chill out and wait, when you think you have waited enough, wait some more.


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## CollegeReefer

you need to give your tank time. This is all part of the cycle. You should be reading up on this stuff while your tank is cycling. And then when the tank is cycled keep reading. Ask quesitons on things you don't understand, not things that you can find out easily by doing a little research. If you do not put the time to learn about your tank and process of keeping a saltwater aqurium, you will not suceede not matter what size tank you have. If you won't put the time into the tank you won't be able to keep a saltwater tank. I know reefneck has said this before or something similar. And also coming from someone who said he would be patient and take it slow, you seem to be moving very quick and making a lot of uninformed decisions.


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## Heymybigfish

i know...im kinda getting caught up.....i read about all this stuff and its like, as soon as something happens i draw a blank and cannot remember a thing i read...im just having SO MANY people tell me different things....if i amde the choice from what i have read i would

let the tank sit and keep checking the lvls over the next 1-2 weeks...

BUT , im new to this and know im not always right...so this is some of the things i have been told...and i dont know who to believe...

1. your tank is already cycled...you basically cloned a tank, add some livestock now.

2. if you dont add live stock now....your bacteria will die and you will have to re-cycle your tank

3. keep waiting

4. add your clean up crew now before your alge gets out of hand.


with all them different things being told to me...i have backed off on reading and kind of resorted to asking a ton of basic questions....you see my dilemma here....

so....am i right in taking Bears advice (i think i would be) by just waiting 2 weeks and monitoring lvl's? then by that time if the lvls are zeroed i can add live stock...

OR

should i add some damsels and let them 'help' cycle....because some peeps told me the benefical bacteria will die off with no ammonia to eat.


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## CollegeReefer

1. FALSE I am not sure who told you this whether it was someone on this forum or somewhere else this is far from the truth. I know i have said this several times and others have as well, but no matter if your rock you added is cured or not, your tank will go through some sort of cycle. When you add fish your tank will go through a small cycle. That is why when you add any sort of livestock you have to wait another couple of weeks before adding more.

2. FALSE I am not sure who has been telling you this but this is wrong in both freshwater and saltwater. Any die off will start the cycle. Even if you didn't use liverock all you would have to do is drop one raw shrimp into your tank and let nature takes it course. Livestock should never be used to cycle a tank, even if it somehow servives. It is just not right. No living creature should be put through that.

3. True Yes this is correct and should be what you are doing. I am not sure where you are getting all that information from, but i know from here we have been saying to take it slow and be patient. If you aren't you will have a bad experience. There are always people getting out of the hobby because they weren't patient and the end result was there tank crashing. If you are patient you will have a much more enjoyable experience.

4. This you may get mixed opions. I say wait till your tank is cycled. They will clean it up once they are put in. Also many algae will come and go with the cycle. But seeing you added some things already i guess this isn't really a question for you anymore.

Lastly bear, myself, reefneck, oldsalt, fishfirst, leveldrummer, and others really know there stuff and it is great to get their advice, but you really need to pick up some books on the subject and read from the professionals. Everything we know comes from the books and expereince. You have been giving some very bad information and i hope it wasn't from this forum. Read, read and read some more. I am still learning new things. Good luck.


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## musho3210

i think there are a few things but i dont know anything off the top of my head that eats cyano.


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## TheOldSalt

Cyano smells bad enough. I'm sure it tastes even worse. No clean up crew is going to be much help.

The red velvet of despair grows best where other things can't. It's an opportunistic sort which takes advantage of a lack of competition. You may need more light or more water circulation to make conditions unfavorable for it and make things better for the stuff you DO want. 

You can either let it take over your whole tank and eventually fall back maybe, or you can remove the stuff often, which will prolong the time it's in your tank greatly but at least look nicer. Since this is a new tank, you might as well just leave it alone and try to fix whatever is causing it.

There are some products available which might tempt you, but don't be tempted. The side effects are simply not worth it, and your tank would take months to heal, assuming it ever did.


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## Fishfirst

cyno bacteria is a toughy, it can come and go, but if it stays it will be quite a tough situation... one thing is for certain... do not just stir the sand and cover it up, this will not kill it but make it spread and the small bit that survives will actually feed off of the stuff that dies. If you do anything about it A) add more flow B) get a good skimmer if you don't have one already C) remove it manually with a fine meshed net so it is completely out of the system D) do regular water changes, it may prolong your cycle (if you go through one) but it keeps nutrients low preventing the stuff from spreading (nutrient levels are the #1 cause of nussiance algaes) E) if all else fails some intense lighting would also help if you don't have it


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## Fishfirst

PS - how deep of a sand bed are you using (be accurate get out a ruler)


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## Heymybigfish

ok, for lighting i have a 48" Corallife Aqualight 10k/260w actinic light....i keep it on 6-8 hrs a day.

i have a 65/gal coral life superskimmer running 24hrs

fluval 305 filter runnign 24 hrs

and the sandbed is 1.5"


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## leveldrummer

what do you have for flow in there?


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## Heymybigfish

the exhaust of the filter and a power head...that sends a stream along the top...i thoght i shoulf make waves....and i could not really angle it to make like a jet stream...i should by a better one...i will tomorrow....any suggestions?


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## leveldrummer

seio's are nice, also look for koralia's, or if you got the cash, cant really beat tunze


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## Fishfirst

look and see how many times per hour your tank is circulating. (add up all your powerhead flow + the flow of the canister filter) it should be "turning over" (total flow/tank gallons) at least 10X/hr I would also suggest rinsing your media in the cansiter filter every couple days, especially if you have liverock.


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## Heymybigfish

hey fishfirst, where in WI are you from? im from Eau Claire.


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## Reba

Wow fishfirst that's a lot of tank cleaning!! What is FOWLR?? Have you had any experience with Dwarf FW Puffers? I have a 55 gal FW I tried GSP (see GSP killer post) Did not know BW. Would like to avoid changing tank into BW
I have 2 coral cats and a pleco in there now and have learned they would not survive BW. Any advice would be great!!


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## Heymybigfish

fowlr is a saltwater term...Fish only with live rock..it basically means no coral.


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## Ice

You can have corals in FOWLR.


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## TheOldSalt

Not and still call it a FOWLR, you can't.


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## leveldrummer

Ice said:


> You can have corals in FOWLR.


uh... wouldnt that make it a reef tank?


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## Fishfirst

I'm from Stevens Point, originally from Wisconsin Rapids, but I have relatives in Independence WI so I am around that area often.


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