What is The MAROON, dust.

[bina770]

My tank is the the making for about 7 months. 5 fish, Skimmer, Filter, everything is doing fine.

In the past 3 weeks I have noticed that the MAROON, dusty film that gathers on the the glass and on the sea bed is getting more and more, it accumulates everyday. I clean it with the MAGNOFLOTE but the next day there it is. Its not hairy like the alage, but dusty. Any suggestions??

Sorry cam is not good enough for pics.

[garrettm]

Frequent water changes for a while and scoop it out as much as you can.

[bina770]

Maybe my filter is not good enough, B/C I just did a water change and the next day it was accumulating. Any one else.

[addicted4life]

might be cyanobacteria, if so it can be treated with chemiclean from your LFS

[filishy]

It sounds like cyanobacteria, for the description you are giving. How big is your tank? How much and how often do you feed your fishes? How often do you change water? How much water you replace each time?

Cyano (and other problems) happen when there are too many nutrients in the water and they are not being used up or exported.

Do you have a refugium? How often you service your filter? What kind of filter do you have; protein skimmer, power filter, other? How old is it?

All these are questions you need to answer to really determine if it is indeed cyano and what you need to do to restore balance in the system.

One last thing, if you can, do not rely on chemicals to solve problems. A lot of the times all it takes is discipline and careful observation.

HTH.
Maria

[~SIRENA~]

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm having a similiar problem. It's purplish dust that seemed to come from inside the sand bed. It started on the sides of the tank, under the sandbed and it kinda just crept up. It's not stringy like cyano - I've checked plenty. The consistency is more like diatoms, but purple/maroon. Does that sound like what you have? I'm thinking flow could be an issue in my tank so I bought some Koralia pumps and I'm hoping that will help some. I'm also cutting back on feeding and lights. If you have any suggestions please post. I can't seem to find anything in my research. Thanks!