coraline algea?

[interj]

I have a dark purple almost maroon algea growing in my 4 month old FOWLS tank. I have no live rock or corals so I dont have good ligts or the supplements. Some is on the glass but most of it is on the fake coral decorations. Could this be Coraline?? It looks nice and I'll keep it but I was just curious if you could get coraline with out adding calcium.

 

[timo]

Is it slimy?

 

[trigger reid]

does it look hard and stuck to the rock and doesnt move or does it sway back and forth

 

[interj]

It is not slimy or hairy.
What is cyano?

 

[aarone]

Cyano bacteria. Slimy junk that build up on CC or sand beds.
Cyano-Bacteria
check that out. It is not the best link but it will explain what it is.
aaron

 

[interj]

I will keep an eye on it. It is not slimy or hairy yet, It is not on the sand which seems to be the primary area for cyano. It is on the the fake corals. My Nitrates are at 0 and I use RO water, additionaly my wet dry should provide a high level of o2 so based on my research I shouldnt have a cyano problem.
I will see if I can get a picture but I already so a few that look like it on te board, some said is was coraline other red slime. I guess I will have to wait and see what it turns into.

 

[aarone]

it cna be on the false corals as well. It can really grow on anything.
aaron

 

[cprdnick]

From what I've gathered, cyano bacteria is not just a slime on the sandbed. It's just bacteria in the tank, bad bacteria. So given that, you could put a jelly donut in the tank and it would grow on it. The red-slime problem I had started out slimy as soon as it became visible, but that may not be the best indicator.

 

[interj]

I tried blowing it away with a turkey baster. Some of te research suggested cyano would blow off. This stuff did not. I even tried to scrape it with the baster and it stayed.

 

[cprdnick]

my cyanobacteria I couldn't blow off. I had to pick off the visible stuff, and used a certain product to aleveate the problem. This was after using every possible method of trying to get rid of it.

 

[interj]

CPR, how did you determine it was cyano?

 

[aarone]

Originally posted by waterfaller1
I wonder if the Tang Police would eat these??

 

[cprdnick]

I did a lot of reading on it. I had a problem for about 3 weeks before I finally decided to call it cyano bacteria. I've decided to post a pic of my aquarium during the time I had this problem. It was a 1/8 inch thick coat of slimy dark purple/red. I had used every method and piece of advice that was out there, and it didn't work. I figured I had gotten rid of the cause, now it was time to get rid of the problem. I did a water change and picked out as much of it as I could, which took a bit of LS with it. I then decided to go against my no chemical policy and went with my friend from the LFS's advice. I treated for about a week, it disappeared, I did a water change, and I haven't seen it since that week in early September.
In the pic it's on the sand bed. If it was on the rocks I didn't notice and didn't care, I just wanted it off of my pretty new white LS.