Green Algae... I think?

[mcvicker]

So my tank is about 2-3 months old, 58 gallon oceanic show. Nitrates, ammonia, phosphorous are all negligable. I have a good coral load and a big cleaning crew 30+ snails and crabs. The corals are all very happy, however I am not getting coraline growth. Rather all the rocks are coated in a thin vibrant green coating. It looks like they where airbrushed neon green. I had hair algae at first but this is basically gone but this green coating bugs me. My lighting is pretty extreme (2 400w mh one 15k and one 14k) do to me using what I had on hand for ballasts. Does anybody have any experience with this? Will coraline grow over this? I just adjusted back my lighting period to about 8 hours to reduce exposure time, but I am wondering what else to do. My calcium is pretty high almost 500 due to my addition being a little aggressive (I heard this helps coraline).
-chris

 

[jsmkmavity]

hard to say without seeing it but it sounds like it is coraline.

 

[liveforphysics]

If it wipes off, its not coraline, and likely bright green diatoms which like super powerful light.

Coraline hates strong light. Coraline is also a huge PITA.

Now, my advise to you would be to just be REALLY happy that your tank doesnt grow coraline.

But if you feel like you gotta have it, I would recomend getting a couple lbs of Garf Grunge and sticking it in a shadowy place in the tank, like under a rock shelf near the bottom. Once you get some coraline growing, you can take something like a dental pick and scratch it deeply all over while the filtration is turned off. That helps to spread the seeds all over the tank.

But seriously, I feel like a ass just for giveing the tips on how to grow it, you will really hate it after it gets going. Huge PITA, and if you have an acrilic tank, its even more of a huge PITA.

 

[Krish]

Usually sometimes coraline starts out like a neon green and then changes purple or pink. I've had it happen in my tank that way many times. I'll see if I can find any of that green in my tank and shoot a photo to see if it is what you have. Not sure if there is any left, but i'll check. In the meantime, if you have a photo, it could be id probably pretty easily

 

[Krish]

K...Here's what I shot a few minutes ago. Not much green left in there, but I'm sure it will start up again. The floor of my tank is BB and started out in a lot of places green and then turned that pinkish purple color you see. You may be able to see some traces of green if you look around a bit.




This rock here was the most troublesome rock to get color. It was always whitish/brown, and that's it. Now you can see the flourescent green popping up in a few spots and also the purples as well...








If you'd like I shoot some of my really colorful rocks that have 3-4 different shades or coraline

 

[spongebob lover]

hmm without pictures, i agree with everyone it can be coralline.
I have the same thing going on right now (to bad my camera doesn't work).
i mean unless you start seeing some sort of hair, then i wouldn't worry because it'll turn into pinkish/purple (mine is turning that way) you'll see little spots turning pinkish first.
And if is it Hair algae.. well the helper of all helpers ... water changes will do the job and scraping/ brushing your rocks.

 

[mcvicker]

Thanks for all the feedback. I think you might be right about it eventually turning pink and being coraline. It doesn't scrape off and the snails don't eat it. I will take some pictures tonight and post them tomorrow. There are spots of pink on the rocks and it is turning purple/blue where there isn't light. The only thing is I don't like the color of the bright green and would be stoked if it turned to a blue, purple, or even white.
-chris

 

[Krish]

and would be stoked if it turned to a blue, purple, or even white.

It will change up for you if it is coraline

Here is how some of mine have turned over the months. I just grabbed this one as well

 

[bc_slc]

why is everyone so recently down on coraline algae? Other than having to scrub the front glass, I don't see the downside. The pinks, blues and purples look great on my rocks. Am I missing something?

 

[Krish]

why is everyone so recently down on coraline algae? Other than having to scrub the front glass, I don't see the downside. The pinks, blues and purples look great on my rocks. Am I missing something?

Naw man...I love it too. I keep the glass under control. If you neglect the glass then it's trouble, but other than that I`love it!

 

[liveforphysics]

If it wasnt for that pesky coraline, I would never need to touch my glass. The way it is now though, every couple months I have to run a razor blade over the whole front of the tank. It used to not be so bad when i had halides, but now with T5 and VHO on my tanks the coraline has created new BS maintence work... I gave up on the back and sides as lost causes, which is a shame cause I used to enjoy looking in through the sides, but now they might as well be painted over with pink paint.

I also hate it because its just sucking up calcium and things that the SPS and other things could be putting to use. If I didnt have a Ca reactor, that would likely cause me to need to do waterchanges or use a Ca additive.

 

[bc_slc]

I guess that is true, but the coraline takes up residence on the rocks preventing other nuisance algaes from settling in. It also looks nice and it may use up some of the calcium, but once it is established it surely uses less calcium than when it is trying to get established.

 

[mcvicker]

Here are some pictures

Okay after seeing some of your tanks I think you may be right that this is coraline. I posted three pictures of the green rocks and I am hoping they will turn purple, blue, and so forth. There is one spot near the porite that has hair algae, which I consider the pasture for my rabbit fish...

 

[Krish]

Kinda hard to tell from the photos, but in the first one where the right blue chromis is wants to look like it. Still not sure though...Nice looking tank BTW

 

[Boomer]

It might very well be coralline but just so you know there is a form of blue-green that also looks like that. You often see it staining calcareous materials, such as corals, mollusk shells, rock etc..

 

[Paul B]

It is also a little soon, your tank is only 12 weeks old, give it some time.
Paul

 

[bobfnp]

I have the same stuff , and pinks and purples are staring to over grow it...I have read elsewhere that this will happen if Ca+ levels are right. I personally love the coraline, as many different shades as I can get.... anyone want to send me their scrapings ? I have a new tank and love seeding new bio diversity.... also hair will not grow on the stuff from past experience....which is awsome !!

 

[burning2nd]

Hmmmmmm i dont know thats hard, look at this , 2 pic b4 and after and this is only 3 months or so. my colin is outta control, im worried my hole setups gonna be red, and for the bright green stuff. i have a few patchs of neon green

OK this first pic is like 2 hours in to the tank being built

now only a few months later

in the very first couple of weeks i had a hair algae out brake, fallowed by a red slime out brake, to me it seemed like a large amount of the red slime (cryo something) turned in to coraline. i dont know if thats possabul but im just saying where there use to be big amounts of slime blowing in the wind, theres solid none scraping off coraline,

some is darker then others,

the green bush was removed this morning

oh the glass, i have the same problem, its just growing and growing and growing, but the only diffrentce is that my calcium is low im at like 250 or so,

i just cant get it up



lol

 

[bobfnp]

. "my colin is outta control, im worried my hole setups gonna be red"

The verbage is killing me , I'm sorry....Ummm... cyanobacteria can be treated with antibiotics, I have done this before with sucess.... but I would check with some of the gurus here before trying that. ZLooks like you are growing colraline, but I don't know how if the Ca+ is so low.... I suspect your test kit is inaccurate....

 

[burning2nd]

lol, salifert could be inaccurate

Im with out a doubt growing colraline