Green vs. Red Coraline Algae

euphoria

Active Member
I'm seeing lots of growth of what seems to be green coraline algae on my rocks. Does green grow easier and before the red/purple type? Does the presence of green necessarily mean that the red/purple type will start to develop soon?
Thanks
 

dingo0722

Member
I have lots of purple in my tanks and recently, green has been growing. thank god! I thought the purple was taking over, and I never used any stimulant like purple up
 

clown52

Member
I had Green grow in mine for a while but now it seems like everything is pink. It's growing like mad now. I just had to scrape a ton off the front glass.
 

thegrog

Active Member
I have found that green grows faster and starts off quicker on new surfaces. Then the reds and purples take over as they seem to be more agressive. Don't know if this is accurate, but it is from observation of dead base rock in my tank going from green to purple.
 

euphoria

Active Member
can coraline algae grow on the surface of sand? The same green stuff I see on my LR, which I think is coraline algae is on some areas of my live sand as well.
 

rhomer

Member
Most likely that's not coraline algea. If you see the same green stuff on the sand as on the rock it's probably cyno bacteria. To check if it is, see if the stuff just moves off with your hand. If it does and it's kinda slimy then it's not coraline algea, it's cyno bacteria.
Coraline alge does not grow on your sand. At least I've never seen it there in the past 7 years.
 

euphoria

Active Member
oh shoot, that would suck real bad. I'll try it when I get home in a few hours and post it here.
Thanks for letting me know.
 

euphoria

Active Member
HOMER --- I just rubbed my finger on the rock and nothing came off. There was no green stuff on my finger and I didn't feel any slime.
SO does it mean it's not cyano and it's coraline? Would a picture help if I posted one?
Thanks
 

rhomer

Member
It's definatly not cyno if it didn't come off. What is on your sand could be diatoms. A pic wouldn't hurt.
Rob
 

euphoria

Active Member
The weird thing is the stuff on some spots of the sand is same color as the stuff on the LR. The OTHER weird thing is that the green stuff on the sand is mainy on the very large sand particles, that are about the saize of rice grains. The very fine sand material is white and has no green stuff on it. SO maybe it IS coraline and is also growing on the little pieces of rock in the sand too?
 
L

lockemup

Guest
Need more of a close up, but I had similar thing happen and it turned out to be a form of alge, but not coraline. Also, I thought coraline can be different colors depending on the water conditions and lighting... I have had pink grow on plastic things like the powerheads, but green on my glass. However, recently I have had pink start forming on the glass as I am dosing with purple up.
 

rhomer

Member
I agree that it might be some sort of algea just not coralline algea. I would guess that this is part of the cycle of the tank. I've noticed over the years that I will have the sand change colors for a while then return back to white then change to some other color, and this change is over long periods (>3 months).
I wouldn't worry about it, anyway its kinda cool looking.
Rob
 

euphoria

Active Member
my hermits are kinda stupid :) They don't know what they're doing. I bought 50 of them and now only see a few around.
The green stuff doesn't come off, so I don't know how the blenny would eat it. also I don't have any pods. Don't blennies need pods to survive?
Yeah I had algae during cycling and once my MH's were on the tank, then the sand went all white, now it has some of this green on it, but ONLY on the large sand particles.
I'll try a close up, but I"m not good at taking close up pics w/ my camera.
Thanks
 

mudplayerx

Active Member
The green coraline algae tends to be lime-colored while the green microalgae tends to be forest green-colored. Simply brushing it lightly with a new toothbrush will easily remove the microalgae.
 
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