Algae on sandbed (Pictures page 2)

I know a picture makes it so much easier but I am at work and unable to get one at the time being.

Question is I have noticed what I thought was diatoms on my sandbed in certain spots. Nitrates 0 phosphates today were .02. I stirred up the top layer of sand where it went white but within an hour it looked like the brown diatom was back in the lower flow areas!! Know I know it can not grow this fast, it is also a low light area. Could it be when I stirred it up the diatoms jsut settled back down? I think I need to replnish my CUC been a year and many of the hermits and snails have died off I think.

 

If your tank has been set up a year and you have not recently added any equipment or sump or sand then I believe you are seeing a type of Cyanobacteria rather than diatoms.

 

Cyano would not be brown though would it? It looks just like diatoms! It eventually covered the majorioty of the sandbed but builds up much faster in low flow areas. You may be right though, what would cause this I dont have excess nutrients in my WC

 

Cyano can be green, black, red, purple.....Diatoms are seen with elevated silicate levels. Silicates are introduced when tanks, sand, equipment are new. Once the silicates are utilized by the diatoms more silicates have to be introduced to keep the bloom going. It's possible you are introducing them via certain types of supplements .

Are you using new water containers? Is this actually Dino?

 

It doesnt look like Dino, no air bubbles or anything and it doesnt really string up from the sandbed. Also doesnt look like byropsis as there does not appear to have that feather look to it. As stated it looks like diatoms. I can see maybe a brown cyano though as in really lowflow areas that do not get disturbed, like the very back of the reef behind rocks, it gets thick enough that I can remove it like a small clump with sand trapped in it.

I do store my RO/DI water in 6gal plastic water jugs people use for camping. It stored for 1-3 weeks depending how often I refill and I did add a new one a month or so ago.

 

Get a sandsifting goby abd your sand will always be clean

 

I have a similar situation, but mine is a very dark green and it is like a sheet in low flow areas as well. None of the patches get any bigger than a few square inches. I've not heard of sand sifting gobies sifting sand with cyano on it. I recently went to a new water source to possibly not introduce nutrients to my tank. Is there any thing CUCwise that could help remove this stuff? It's in areas that really can't reach to clean.

 

After looking really close today the algae is so small you cant see anything but the brown matt without a magnifying glass. If there is a feather or strand like texture, as with byropsis or dino, you cant see it without some sort of magnification.\

Im not an expert but does this basically rule out Dino or byropsis? They are both large enough to see with the naked eye correct?

 

Need image!

 

It really sounds like cyano to me, but Corailline is right, the picture will really help people be more definite...