Good or Bad Algae???

[prbhasson]

Attached are a couple of pictures of some live rock. Is this good or bad algae. I seem to think it is not good for the tank but not sure. Looks like it is a deep red or brown. Any help would be appreciated...

 

[Brenden]

Hard to tell what it is from the pic. Looks like diatoms. If so it will run its course and die off. Water changes with RO/DI water will help. If it is red and slimy (small bubbles on it) it is cyano. Does not look like cyano from the pic.

 

[Krish]

I agree...Hard to tell from the photos. Any chance on getting a closer shot?

 

[Scooterman]

If you can siphon it off then it becomes good the rock that is, looks like it would just suck right off, I'd go for it. If it is encrusted then it most probably is coralline, which is desirable!

 

[SaltyTemple]

This is the same stuff I have - I'll wager BAD because it has jumped to my sps and killed a couple of branches, it has jumped onto my star polyps and killed patches of that. It is now creeping up the bases of my LPS. I'm looking into what eats it. I have heard Pacific Turbo Snails. My search continues.

 

[ronj]

it just looks like something that will cycle through..my rocks that don't get good flow on them have something similar!

 

[prbhasson]

Scooterman, I am not able to siphon it off as it is attached to the rock. It is short and fuzzy too. My 2 tangs eat some now and then but it seems to be spreading. I hope I can find a way to get rid of it.

Ronj, I am not sure if it is from low flow or not. I have a seio 820 and 2 maxi 900's in the tank for flow and a mag 9 for the return pushing about 700 gph after headloss.

SaltyTemple, Keep me posted if you find something that may help.... Thanks everyone

 

[Scooterman]

You may need to remove the rock & scrape it off, I had that a few times & if caught early can be removed with little problems.

 

[Brenden]

Sounds like diatoms. How old is this tank?

 

[ronj]

maybe the tangs will take care of it for you!!! BTW, what kind of tangs are they???

 

[angelfish]

red hair algae, i had them in my tank not long ago. it spreads real fast on the live rock. now it's under control after i introduced a sailfin tang

 

[prbhasson]

ronj, I have attached 2 photos of my tangs. They are the best ones I have right now as I am using an old digital camera....

angelfish, I think you may be right, any other way to get rid of it besides a sailfin? I also attached a better picture of the algae... Took a piece of rock out of the tank and took picture....

 

[Brenden]

Looking at that last pic I think it is hair algae also. Send me your rock. My fish are pigs. I bet it would not last 20 minutes.

 

[angelfish]

ronj, I have attached 2 photos of my tangs. They are the best ones I have right now as I am using an old digital camera....

angelfish, I think you may be right, any other way to get rid of it besides a sailfin? I also attached a better picture of the algae... Took a piece of rock out of the tank and took picture....

are you using a calcium reactor & what is the ph reading of your tank water?

 

[prbhasson]

No calcium reactor. Just weekly 10% water changes. No corals in the tank yet. Tank is still quite new about 6 months old.

 

[angelfish]

foxface also very effective of removing hair algae

 

[SaltyTemple]

any small fish?

 

[prbhasson]

I have a pair of tomato clowns with an RBTA, 2 Damsels and an engineer goby. I think he is going to have to go pretty soon. Really starting to mess with the aquascaping with his digging. Also had a six line but he decided to go carpet jumping a week ago. Poor fellow, didn't realize he was missing until it was too late...

 

[angelfish]

any small fish?

none that i can think of beside sailfin tang & foxface. maybe some other more experience members can give you more advice

BTW, another option is to encourage coraline algae grow