Red(ish) dirt in sand

[SaltyKP]

Curious if anyone can ID the problem with my sand.

I have a 55 gal tank with some fish and mostly softies (Duncan, torch, fuzzy mushroom, zoas, rock flower anemone, etc). I also have snails, hermit crabs, a signal goby (named Traffic ), a conch, a sea hare, and a sand shifting starfish, but my sand still has a lot of red powder on top.

My tank is over a year old and everything seems fine. Corals are eating. Fish are over 9 months in the tank.

The phosphate does bounce around quite a bit… but other stats are steady.

Thoughts?

 

[1112-425XL]

Probably Cyanobacteria.

 

[sascoaquatics]

Looks like Cyanobacteria. Test your nitrates and phosphates. And then try some water changes and siphoning the redness. I have had this in my tank for a few weeks now but I think it is almost gone after I’m doing this. Also try turn down white light