red stuff on the rocks/ glass

[jarock]

My tank has been up a year. prior to this happening my tank looked stunning no algae or anything but this red stuff was on the glass a little bit , i don't do very many water changes, until recently since this stuff has started to grow on all my rocks and glass and i have dead spots on the surface in corners and it stays there as well.any ideas from the pics what it is ?

 

[little_fish]

Looks like cyano.

How old are your bulbs? How many fish? What do you feed?

And i would start doing more frequent water changes to remove nutrients from the water column. And then you can suck that stuff up when you do the changes

 

[jarock]

i only feed mysis, bulbs around 6 months old, 3 fish should i start sucking that stuff out ? also should i add something like roaphos ?

 

[wontonflip]

+1 lilfish....usually it's bad flow, bad bulbs, or water issues that cause 'em.

 

[jarock]

what would be a good amount of water to change without being to drastic a week ?i have been doing 5 gallons a week haven't changed my flow at all and have never had a problem before .

 

[little_fish]

Maybe pick it up to 10 gals a week and suck out everything you can when do the water change.

I would also pick up the flow because you have an issue now, and change the bulbs.

 

[jarock]

ok thanks i will have to order some stuff with my order tommarow, would an under rated skimmer be the problem to ? i am using a skimmer that would be rated for probably a 16 g allon tank

 

[little_fish]

Ya, that could be part of it. You usually try to get a skimmer rated for twice your tank volume.

Personally i would stay away from the chemical stuff that kills that, i dont know how well it works, and the stuff that survives that is generally even harder to kill then before.

 

[Smitty]

Are you using tap water, if so, then that's where it's coming from.

 

[jarock]

i only use r/o water

 

[fastrd400]

It could be bad RO water. Where are you getting it from? When were the filters and membrane changed out? Pull 10 gallons out, keep that in a bucket. If you can, pull the rocks and scrub them down in the old water, and replace in your tank. Add another power head, or 2.