So I have this slimey coating that is present on rocks and sand, and it is a maroon red color...I assume cyano. It is in the tank I removed my octo from that has metal halides...always used RO/DI water, ammonia/nitrite/and nitrate all 0 with weekly water changes. What could have been the cause of this, and most importantly...how do I remove it?

It could be related to cycling in which different algae types can come and go up to a year after setup. It could be nutrients and will appear in low flow areas.

People have reported great success with having lights out for 3 days on a thread on Reef central. However, this might not get to the root of the problem.

Heres the thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=9545925

There are chemical products that wipe out cyano, but I would hesitate in using that since we have no idea how it would affect a ceph.

Well this is the tank he used to be in, so I might check these chemicals out. The tank itself is almost 9 months old...so maybe it is natural cycle of algal growth...there is good flow on the areas it grows also. Im going to go read the reefcentral thread now, thanks paradox

also try checking ur lights. after a while, they get too high in the red spectrum and can cause the unsightly cyano to appear.

Try some blue leg hermits. I put 15 small hermits in a gross looking 40gal and they had it all cleaned up in 2 days. You could also try some phosphate remover granules ( sorta like a white carbon ) or try growing some caulerpa somewhere in your system to slow and keep out the slime and hair algae.

This is one of the challenges of keeping a ceph tank. Especially an octopus tank since it will eat all the hermits and snails.

Old lights and nutrients can promote cyano.

Things that help with nutrient export are refugiums (to remove some phosphates and nitrates), deep sand beds (remote or in tank to remove nitrates), Phosban reactor (This works great to remove phosphates), sulfur denitrators (to remove nitrates).

I have a pretty deep sandbed, over an inch in areas...in both tanks. But since I just took my octo out of this tank Ill go with a bunch of hermits...I didnt think they really cleaned up well according to some people online Ive heard. But thats cheap so Ill try that, wont be able to do it in the octo tank obviously...hopefully the breakout doesnt occur in his current tank due to the far superior skimmer.

I actually prefer to have a much deeper sand bed than that. I usually go with 3-4 inches as a minimum.

I have had good success with a product from Chemiclean called Red Slime Remover (I have used another brand but highly prefer this one). I use a different method than the recommendations though. If you have a cannister or overflow filter, place a very small amount on the first water contact side of a the filter media (I use a Poly-Filter and a hang on overflow style filter for this) so that the water contacts the pad then flows through the filter. This maximized the water contact with the chemical but minimizes the chemical contact with the tank critters. I have not tried it while an octo was in residence but have not had any ill effects with corals.

ive used chemiclean and it worked great for me, but I never tried it on a ceph tank which is the reason I was hesitant to suggest it.

Check your silicate levels, a high count is often the case for red slime too.

Either that, or the Martians are invading! :bugout:

Check your silicate levels, a high count is often the case for red slime too.

Either that, or the Martians are invading! :bugout:

or both :rolleyes: