sand

[slater666]

i have just recently placed about 1.5 inches of silica sand in bottom of tank before i had crushed coral what i need to know is why with this sand just being introdc'd i have red algea growing on top. i run a mag 350 a whisper 2 for filter no undergravel,lighting consists of 20 watt actinic 20 watt daylight and an aqua glo 20 watt 18000k,all water parameters are grav1.023 dkh 12 temp 79 deg nitrates at 0 also use phosphate pads and ammonia pads,is it the sand just cycling? any insight would be much appreciated. i also use reef plus every week .5 dose. sorry also have 65 lbs indonesian live rock 2 crabs 2 turbo snails gorgonians and exenia.[list

 

[Anonymous]

could be diatoms or cyano since you mention that it's red. what are you using for water circulation?

 

[Anonymous]

Also to be noted, if your intention, with the addition of this sand, was to develop a deep sand bed, this depth is inadequate. 4"-6" is more in order.

 

[klingsa]

Sounds like cyano to me, and I do think that it is just cycling. That happened to me, and most of the people I work with on this. It comes in on the live rock, and the nutrient cycles feed it off and on. So, even if your nutrient levels are normal now, they could have peaked just enough to give the algae some nice food. But, the good thing is that the algae functions as a very effective filter, by leaching those nutrients out of the water. And it adds oxygen to your water from photosynthesis. People usually think algae is always bad, but that's not necessarily the case. If it goes away, that is!
The other thing I noticed is that your lighting wattage is a bit low, and may not be balanced well in terms of wavelengths. Cyanos take advantage of completely different wavelengths of light than other algae does, so often increasing the light wattage and spectrum can alter the types of algae growth you have. I just did a successful experiment of that sort in my tank. I had a huge filamentous green algae bloom, with no nutrients in the water to feed it. I changed my bulbs, and in two weeks it was gone. Just a thought. In any case, it is probably just a temporary cycle.
Sara