Cynobacteria

[usinkit]

I think i have this growing in tank. I have a couple of patches that look red but a couple that look black. It looks like black and red coralline algea, not hairy or slimy and seems to be on the hard side but will come off in flakes. I shut my lights down for the whole day and placed a forth powerhead in the tank and now i have 2700 gph that equals a 39 time turn over rate for the 90 gallon. With the lights off for the day it seems to be shrinking down. I hope this is cynobacteria and not something else more deadly. Any feed back on what everbody thinks it might be will be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[elpezgrande]

If it comes off in flakes, it is not cyano. Cyano is often referred to as red slime algae or hair algae and when you break of a piece it is definitely like slime or clumped strands of hair, not flakes. I'm not an algae expert, but the only colorful thing I have in my tank that would come of in flakes would be coraline algae which is considered a good thing to have in your tank. I have several different colors of coraline including some patches of deep red and rust colored similar to cyanobacteria.
A 39x turnover rate sounds a bit extreme. Most people aim for 10x - 20x.

 

[usinkit]

The turn over rate is a little much but more does not hurt. Iam sure the ocean currents around reefs is pretty strong. I guess I will do a search on black and red coralline algea. Thats for the reply.