# Some ID



## janos1 (Apr 3, 2017)

Hi to all.Need some help with that rusty brown staff on the gravel,cleaned every day and next day coming back.All parameters ok in tank.Try to upload some pics.Thank you for your help


----------



## mmatt (Feb 12, 2012)

Borwn Algae. Most likely no flow in that area. Got a clean up crew? Mexican turbo snails would work. Strawberry conch would be the best. Is it a fairly new set up? As in under a year? Lots of highs and lows during the first year in a reef tank. Then different highs and lows as it matures. Lol


----------



## janos1 (Apr 3, 2017)

Thank you mmatt for your replay,setup is 6 mo old,and my PO4 was more than it should be o.o48 now i try to lowered with GFO.Maybe my light is to strong to,so lowered to 30%,let see what is coming more.


----------



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

This is cyanobacteria, and it shows up when nutrient levels are high.

Turbo snails won't touch it. I've never tried a conch, but no other clean-up crew I've had would touch it either.

Flow doesn't matter. I've had cyano grow right in front of a powerhead. Light levels don't matter. Cyano can survive blackouts that would wipe out corals.

The only thing that can cure cyano is nutrient export. Cleaning it up everyday is a form of nutrient export, although not particularly efficient.

Are you using a skimmer or a refugium?


----------



## janos1 (Apr 3, 2017)

Thank you solarz but that is not cyano because not red and stringy,try the red slime remover did not working,now i had 3 day no light cover the hole tank,did not work,because after just the second day slowly but surly start to come back.
No i try to do some test what i read in the R2R forum,that could be Dinr just regular Diatom.Diatom just brownies dust like,but Dino have some tiny bauble on the string on the top.Thank you again.


----------



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

janos1 said:


> Thank you solarz but that is not cyano because not red and stringy,try the red slime remover did not working,now i had 3 day no light cover the hole tank,did not work,because after just the second day slowly but surly start to come back.
> No i try to do some test what i read in the R2R forum,that could be Dinr just regular Diatom.Diatom just brownies dust like,but Dino have some tiny bauble on the string on the top.Thank you again.


Is it slimy? Does it break apart easily? Can you blow it off with a turkey baster?

Cyano does not have to be stringy. Diatoms are more of a yellowish brown. The dark brown is more characteristic of cyano, and the fact that it comes back the next day after manual removal is cyano to a tee.

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk


----------



## Kooka (Feb 8, 2011)

+1 Looks like red cyano to me as well. What kind of lighting do you have?


----------



## carl (Feb 11, 2010)

I got some blue leg hermit crabs that I brought back from that will eat it, $1.50 ea


----------



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

I've never had any luck with hermits and cyano. I've bought dozens, red and blue legged, all to no avail.


----------



## carl (Feb 11, 2010)

I have a new customer with a 160 gallon tank with a bunch of cyano I put 50 blue legs in two weeks ago and it was almost cleaned up in a week


----------



## janos1 (Apr 3, 2017)

Thank you for all the replay,hermit crab do nothing to cyano,at least in my tank,not sure about Dino because cant see the little bauble on the top,but if it is cyano i have the remover and it should work.Try the remover and nothing gat removed no i try the Hydrogen Peroxide let see,and i could try one more thing,take out the hole gravel and was with top water just from the kitchen .


----------



## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

janos1 said:


> Thank you for all the replay,hermit crab do nothing to cyano,at least in my tank,not sure about Dino because cant see the little bauble on the top,but if it is cyano i have the remover and it should work.Try the remover and nothing gat removed no i try the Hydrogen Peroxide let see,and i could try one more thing,take out the hole gravel and was with top water just from the kitchen .


There's no need to resort to such drastic action, you just need to control your nutrient levels. If you don't, it doesn't matter how many times you wash the substrate, the algae will come back.

What size is your tank? What non-coral animals do you have in there? Are you using a refugium or a skimmer?


----------



## janos1 (Apr 3, 2017)

Thank you for your replay solarz,the tank is 30x30x18 so around 70 gal Unfortunately no sump,skimmer is Tunze 9012 Dc Lot of softy some LPS and 3-4 hard coral.One anemone I will wait with drastic treatment because my PO4 started to go down to 0.03 and i see less and less brown staff on the gravel


----------

