Cyano or Dinos?

[jdelfranco5]

Hello everyone this is my first time posting on this site as I am new to the hobby and experiencing my first challenge. My tank has been running for almost 5 months now and has been flawless up until this point. Recently there has been something taking over my sandbed and I cant seem to identify it. Parameters are solid all around but the two numbers in question are Phosphate being .08 and Nitrates at 3ppm. All corals and fish are doing great regardless of the outbreak in my sand but I would love to find out exactly what this is and rectify it ASAP. Thanks!

 

[Tahoe61]

It looks like Cyano to me. I have found that when I increase the nitrate level slowly Cyano tends to be less of a problem. I haven't used Microbactor Purple yet but I would give it a try (I use Microbactor7). If you can increase surface aggitation I would do that as well.