Nasty Algae

[ocram]

Hi

Can anyone tell me what kind of algae this is on my sand bed? Partly it also covers my live rocks.

The really strange thing is that it grows over night (and covers most of the sand bed when the lights go on) and mostly vanishes during day time just to grow during night again

Thanks
Marco

[DaisyDuke]

I would take the siphon to that immediately.
Maybe Diatoms?

[djryan2000]

I can’t really tell from the picture but if it vanishes it might be Cyanobacteria. If your tank is new and just cycled it’s most likely diatoms. If it’s established it’s almost definitely cyano. In that case use something like a credit card and scrape it into a pile and siphon it out. Also increase the flow in the tank and reduce nutrients if possible. If that doesn’t fix it maybe try a product meant to get rid of cyano.


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[ocram]

Thanks for your replies so far. Tank is 1 year old, nitrates are close to zero and phosphates also. Is it normal that cianos or diatoms grow at night? And vanish when lights are on?

Thanks Marco

[Michael Hoaster]

It looks like cyano. I've not heard of any algae that grows at night and dies during the day. Are you absolutely sure that is happening? Prove it. Take a pic in the morning, and another one right before lights out.

Usually, I'd recommend a 3 day blackout for cyano. Also manual removal every other day for a week or two.