will do have already turned the aqua clear up to full. going tommarow to pick up some power heads tp help

On an Edmonton mailing list for aquarium hobbiests, I recently read that Edmonton's water is now going through "the spring" stage where there is much more bad stuff in the water than usual. I would like you to consider using RO or distilled water bought from such places as Safeway for water changes. Comes in blue 5g bottles. Or buy an RO or RO/DI unit for your tank. Will make some difference at least.

would you say it looks almost like cotton candy?

Steve

yeah i think for the better i going to have to invest in a ro/di unit. it may cost more now but it'll save in the long run. steve i'd still have to sticlk with my first discription as velvet. but it was very easy to remove with a tooth brush.

Justin,

Does it look soemthing like this?

http://www3.telus.net/bcwolfen/pics/velvet.jpg

ALL: I've been meaning to ask about this myself. All the coralline on the back glass died off after I bought the tank from the move. Still had lots on the rocks. The stuff on the rock is slowly bleaching and being replaced by this. At first I was afraid it might be Cyano but then after reading, I realised this stuff is growing in my highest flow areas, right beneath my returns and in front of powerheads, which rules out cyano. There are small pathces of it appearing on the new rocks and things in the tank. It looks like velvet and has a very rich color. Is it just another form/color of coralline?

Thanks

(Justin: Hopefully this is the same stuff as what you have and the responses will answer your question)

right on the money. :smile:

Yes, cyano is a bacteria for sure. Sorry if I made it sound like an algae. However, I disagree that it's not normal for it to show up, especially on new tanks not using good ro/di water. Almost all new tanks will get it. It just depends to what degree and if you do things to promote it or take proper actions to stop the promotion. If conditions are good it can be the size of a dime for a few days and then simply disappear and never show up again. If it was unnatural for it to appear, then there would be no cyano posts at all from people with new tanks. From what I see, there are lots of these posts out there. :)

so is that cyano or so form of algae? because that stuff in the pic bc wolfen posted is what i had in the tank on my L/R.

If it's exactly like Wolfen's then that's good! It's a type of coraline algae that I think is the most beautiful. It's deep, dark velvet red. It can look like cyano at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it's very low profile and encrusting on the rock. Cyano usually gets thick and gelatinous and can be blown off with a turkey baster.

From what I experienced, this type of coraline doesn't like a lot of light and tends to grow in shaded areas or on undersides. IMO, it's somewhat hard to please. It's the purple ones that are the easiest to keep. That's why all our tanks are purple, and not red. Too bad though. Coraline also comes in shades of white and green.

:frown: and i scrub it all off kicking my self now