Hair algae? What about the rock?

I can't figure out what is on the rock. The algae on the sand also seems to turn it into a weird consistency. Thank for the help!

 

looks like your sand have some cyano AKA red slime. first pic I can't tell neither.

Hope someone else can help

 

best i can tell it is cyno on both. Top right coner of the rock pic looks like cyno.

 

The sand has cyano bacteria and diatoms. The rock appears to also have some cyano, turf algae (brown capet-looking stuff), hydroids (white lines/sticks), nerite snails eggs, and coraline alage.

 

Thanks Seano, about half of those are good =-)

I purchased the BRS bio-pellet reactor. will put that to work and up the water changes. Is Cyano harmful to my livestock?

 

You're welcome.

No, it is not directly harmful to livestock, but it does mean you have an increase in phosphate levels, as it survives by consuming them. Running GFO should help reduce phosphates.

What brand of pellets will you be using? I purchased WM ULNS pellets, but I need to get some parts for my diy reactor.

 

I bought some from BRS (came with the unit). I already run Eccobak in my other tank so I could always switch to them if the BRS stuff doesn't work.

What are your thoughts on dosing vodka?

 

OK, cool. I have never done it myself, and haven't looked into it all that much. though some people on here have had good luck with it.

Now, I have a quick question for you: Do I need to dose Microbacter 7 (or a similar bacterial supplement) when first starting to run biopellets? I thought if the tank was mature then you didn't get the bad bacterial blooms nearly as bad? Is this correct?

 

I didn't use anything, just added the recommended amount of pellets and waited. I may have had a little algae outbreak, but with about 3/4 cup (based on memory) on my 55 I didn't see anything. On a side note, about 2 months after starting bio-pellets I noticed a lot more life in my tank. This could very well be coincidence as the tank is right around a year old but I noted it

 

Thanks for the tip. I won't use any either then.

The amount of algae you have now doesn't look out of control, and I actually let my tank grow some algae as I think it looks more natural. The snails keep it under control.

I seem to be finding cooler things in my tank, weekly. I hit 13 months about a week ago (gosh, now it sounds like I'm talking about babies).