id algae

[biocube8]

I am trying to seed my live rock with coralline because it looks so good, but i am not sure if the new growth i see is coralline or not. my seed rock came from a ***** tank and was entirely covered with pink and purple coralline algae, aside from a little light shock at first, the rock is now in fantastic condition (algae is pink and purple instead of white) i have been scraping the seed rock and seeding the tank with the algae scrapings with the pump off. but i have yet to see the algae grow on my main rock. i heard garf grunge (crushed coralline algae from all over the world) is a good method of seeding the tank. but the importance of the garf (i have NOT used) is that i heard the new growth starts as green and then fades to purple/pink. all of my aquarium is now green but appears to be more pinkish everyday. i am wondering if this is coralline algae starting or something else. heres the pics sorry so long-winded.

 

[biocube8]

sorry photos are so bad.. the pink spot without any green is a spot i scraped two days ago. no new green grew just pinkish red. btw i am almost ENTIRELY sure this isnt a diatom bloom

 

[shrimpy brains]

Hard to tell, but I would say the pink/purple is def. corraline. The green looks much thicker. I believe it to be hair algae.

 

[biocube8]

i truly hope its coralline. it looks like it is coralline but it doesent seem to grow in circular shapes like i have typically seen in other tanks. this is the only thing that makes me think it isnt coralline algae. still have fingers crossed for coralline

 

[biocube8]

by the way the picture on post number 2 is of the overflow wall not the glass. the glass is scraped clean.

 

[olemiss]

Coraline usually starts out as small circles and grows slowly, which leads me to believe the red on your glass is something different. Does a mag float take it off easily?

 

[biocube8]

i have tried the mag float only on the green algae and no luck. the pink is removed with a plastic gift card and a significant amount of pressure.. i have also noticed that it isnt growing in circular shapes. is there anyway that all the seeding i did (alot alot alot) in my 8 gallon just made it bloom like crazy? have you heard of garf grunge?(crushed coralline)it will cover a tank in coralline but it starts as green growth and fades to pinkish purple. i have not used garf, i am just wondering if anyone knows if i obtained the same effect by scraping and crushing my pink and purple seed rock.
btw when i scrape the glass, the scrapings appear to be maroon but bleed VERY NEON pink and orange colors into my sand bed.. since it probbably isnt coralline, why havnt i seen any coralline? i have been seeding for 5-6 weeks with no new algae that is obviously coralline. this is beginning to make me very irritated because all my efforts seem wasted.
Water parameters: salinity 1.024-1.025 ph 8.2 temp 79-80 (a little high) calcium: supplemented with reef accelerator and my ph buffer (buffer max) PLEASE HELP!?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[cranberry]

So you scrap the glass free of the pink and it comes back just a couple of days later? Did I read that right? If so, it's not coralline.
That green stuff is not the stuff you see before coralline either. It's some sort of nuisance algae.
Keep your water parameters good and in time coralline will grow. Stop seeding. You're wasting money at this point.

 

[biocube8]

thank you cranberry. would you suggest removing the green hair along with the red/pink algae, or is this green algae helping with ammonia or other contaminates? i posted my parameters and i was also wondering what else i could do to have a decent covering of coraline algae. temp too high? i worry about the heat alot because it uses compact flourescents. also cranberry, i saw another thread where you were interested in this illusive black worm and i was wondering if you obtained it and if you think it shrunk to a smaller size or if it maybe reproduced asexually and the big one is still in the original tank. anyways thank you very much.

 

[cranberry]

Remove it all. Keep up on husbandry and it will work itself out eventually.
The coralline is a waiting thing. I'm just starting to get mine now in a tank I set up in Sept. It takes time unless you buy rock with it on there.
I don't have the worm yet. We're working on that. To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about them besides what they eat.

 

[biocube8]

thank you VERY MUCH CRANBERRY!!!! im glad that i know now. its about to be removed. btw the rock has already grown back where i scraped it off many weeks ago so hopefully that means my other rocks will follow suit. anyways thank you VERY much for the insight.. and i hope your worm arrives unstressed!!!

 

[smoothie]

A toothbrush will work wonders for ya