edc381
New Member
I have an established tank, about 1 1/2 yrs old. The last 6 months I have seen an overgrowth of a reddish purple algae on my rocks and sand. Originally, it was hard, crusty pinkish purple. I was told by local saltwater aquarium store this was a good algae (coraline algae). Today I stopped to get supplies and talked with a different guy at store and he says he thinks it is cyanobacteria. I have tried in past to get small polyps of coral to take hold, but the "algae" has kept rock too slippery for algae to take foot.
The reddish purple algae now has a thick dark green coat over it. The astrea snails I have have done a moderate job eating it, but not quite keeping up. I have scraped some off the rocks and within 2-3 weeks it is covered again.
I'm concerned the second store guy is right and this is cyano rather than coraline. I do have coraline growing on the walls of the tank that I scrape off periodically when it becomes too much. Is this the right thing to do? Is the covering on my rocks algae or bacteria? If bacteria, I understand this is almost impossible to get rid of.
I have 2 clowns, a yellow tail blue damsel, a 3striped damsel, a LARGE Beau Gregory Damsel, a HUGE neon (blue velvet) damsel, and a yellow tang. All fish are almost as old as the tank. I did have a large anemone but when my heater broke, the temperature change killed it. Several snails and few crabs. This about sums it all up.
I welcome all info and suggestions as most of what I know has come from some books and the local store people.
The reddish purple algae now has a thick dark green coat over it. The astrea snails I have have done a moderate job eating it, but not quite keeping up. I have scraped some off the rocks and within 2-3 weeks it is covered again.
I'm concerned the second store guy is right and this is cyano rather than coraline. I do have coraline growing on the walls of the tank that I scrape off periodically when it becomes too much. Is this the right thing to do? Is the covering on my rocks algae or bacteria? If bacteria, I understand this is almost impossible to get rid of.
I have 2 clowns, a yellow tail blue damsel, a 3striped damsel, a LARGE Beau Gregory Damsel, a HUGE neon (blue velvet) damsel, and a yellow tang. All fish are almost as old as the tank. I did have a large anemone but when my heater broke, the temperature change killed it. Several snails and few crabs. This about sums it all up.
I welcome all info and suggestions as most of what I know has come from some books and the local store people.
