another newbie question
 

how it goin all?
some more question for ya if you dont mind me picking your brain.

1) i have what looks like some kind of red to maroon color algie growing on my l/r right under my aq 500 drop feed is this a good or bad kind of algie?

it is also starting to show up on my substrait gravel around same area.

perameters are at: ph 8.0, temp 78f,salinity 1.024, ammonia 0.13,nitrate 0.1, nitrate 0.1 these are the only test results i have at the moment as i need to get the other kits still

thanks for the help ahead of time

Justin

is it slimy looking or red leafy looking? Slimy stuff aint good. I thik it is a type of canyo or Red Slime aglea. The red Leafy stuff is good I got some in the tank at school.

its doesnt look slimy. looks more like velvet

Re: another newbie question
 

Justin,

Probably cyanobacteria. Have a few questions for you...

- your test results look a little wonky. What brand of kits are you using?
- are curing new LR or do you have cured LR in the tank?
- how big is your tank, how often do you do water changes, and how much do you change at a time?
- how often do you clean the media (in outgoing changewater, not tap which will kill your bacteria) in the AC 500's media chamber?

hi beverly
the l/r was already cured and was bought from AI.
test kits are hagen
tank size is 75 gal
I do a approx 20% water change every weekend
i clean the media filters everytime i do a water change.
i clean them with some freshly mixed tank water i put aside for them

hope this gives you a better idea

Justin,

Have not used Hagen ammonia, nitrite or nitrate kits, but you shouldn't be reading any ammonia or nitrite if the LR was cured.

Are you using dechlorinated tapwater for water changes? If so, this could account for ammonia and nitrite levels.

Do you have an aragonite sandbed, or crushed coral? Aragonite is a better sandbed. It allows microfauna to live more easily in it, whereas crushed coral is considered by many to be a detritus trap with very little microfauna which will fuel the growth of unwanted algae and cyanobacteria.

One last thing.... was at AI this morning checking out the LR. They must have gotten a large shipment lately because the LR tank was absolutely full :eek: :biggrin: Was looking closely at the rock and noticed most of it had all kinds of dead stuff and various algae all over it. I thought if I were to buy some, I would scrub off each rock before putting in my curing tank. Did you scrub off dead material before putting the rock in your tank? If not, this would also be another source of nutrients to fuel cyanobacteria growth.

thanks for helping beverly
i declorinate all water prior to mix salt ,after mixing saltand checking salinity i then add the water to the tank .
yep scubbed it when i got home as i had read a post on here before about doing that.

i just now again scrubbed the live rock in another tank and which took off that red stuff easily.re cleaned filter medias and now doing another 20% water change as i drained some water to clean live rock and filter media. i hope this helps with the caynobacteria

thanks for all your help beverly and ryan and hopfully it doesnt come back.

Justin,

If this is a recent setup, the cyano bacteria is just part of the cycle. If your water parameters are good, chances are it will die off. Dechlorinating the tap water is generally a good thing, however it will do nothing to remove phosphate and silicates. These 2 will be the main food source for your intial algae blooms when first starting up a new tank. The best way to control this is to limit the amount of feeding (if you have fish?) and most definately use ro/di (reverse osmosis/deionized) water. If you do not have this system, look for ro/di water in your supermarket. Distilled water will be good too, but more costly. I fear that since you're doing large weekly water changes and not removing phosphates/silicates, you're only compounding the problem and this cyano issue will plague your tank. :(

are you confusing Cyano with Diatoms? Cyano should not be an expected part of any "algae cycle" as they are not an algae but rather a bacteria.

Steve

yep and not normal. try increasing your flow in infected areas and it should help.

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

Was it slimy and soft? Coraline is basically a coating of calcum. It would only 'scrub' off with something really abrasive like sand paper, or it will 'chip off' into tiny gritty pieces which feel like your substrate sand.

it wasnt slimy but it was soft

If it was soft and yet you're sure it wasn't cyano, you may have scrubbed off a sponge. I have and organge sponge that grows as a thin sheet, but once again, sponges don't like a lot of light so I find them on the undersides of rocks. Coraline of any colour is hard and any coraline bits you scrub off, will sink rather than waft around in the water.

I guess time is the only way to tell. If it was indeed cyano, it will come back pretty fast if you haven't changed your routine in any way. If it was coraline and you scrubbed it off while inside the tank, you may have helped it spread. :) If it was a sponge, it may never come back.

If it was teh same as my pic, then its not cyano. Cyano does not like flow, it can be blasted with a turkey baster. This stuff is growing right underneath one of my returns in the highest flow area of the tank. I'm guessing its coralline, but its jws444 says it prefers darker areas, but mine is growing on the tops of all my rock, that pic is one of my rocks closest to the surface. Now I don't have my MH's yet....just PC's so it may receed once my MH's go up in a couple of weeks.

Hey, that's the same stuff I've been wondering about lately as well, and it fits your description to a T. At first I thought, "burgundy coraline?" But it does have a slightly velvety texture, but I can't scrape it off with a fingernail.

I'm hoping its cyclical - some of it seems to be receding, and its only on one or two rocks at one end of the tank... :confused:

It is almost like a thin plating sort of cyano??

I would really like to know if this is common or not - anyone else have this stuff?

Maybe if this was moved to the Reef forum?

i have the same stuff, i always assumed it was coraline.

Have a look at an encrusting sponge - Monanchora barbadensis

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/spongesiii.htm

4th pic from the bottom.

I guess we'll have to look really close at the red formations on our rocks. I see the sponges definately having an 'organised' system of canals. I definately don't recall seeing mini siphons on mine.

No man, not sponges ("we don't need no stinking sponges"). :mrgreen:

I guess it must be a type of coraline, then. Just seems a little different, almost velvety as mentioned. And a little more opportunistic maybe.

yeah i dont thinks so either. because its smooth with a velvet look