purple velvet looking algae-Algae-3reef Forums

greek machine · 01-25-2008, 05:06 PM

I have a 35 gallon reef tank with 60lbs LR, Live sand, assorted fish (2 Blue Chromis, 2 Clown, 1 Mandarin Goby and 1 Rama Grama) 2 Shrimp, enough crabs and snails and 1 sea urchin.

My problem

is purple velvet looking algae on my rocks. My water paramaters are perfect.

Any Suggestions on how to solve the problem? Is it even a problem?

lunatik_69 · 01-25-2008, 05:12 PM

Are you sure its not coraline?

greek machine · 01-25-2008, 05:54 PM

dont think so,its like its contained on one piece of rock growing over my polyps.

DiamondBitsUSA · 01-25-2008, 06:08 PM

Is it cyanobacteria?

lunatik_69 · 01-25-2008, 06:12 PM

yeah I think its that DiamondBitsUSA.

greek machine · 01-25-2008, 06:16 PM

99% looks like cyanobacteria,thanks .

DiamondBitsUSA · 01-25-2008, 07:25 PM

The color can vary from green to purple to red to black. It's all pretty much the same stuff. It is a sign that there are too many excess nutrients in the aquarium. Are you running a protein skimmer? It sounds like your clean up crew is large enough and an urchin will usually keep it in check. You may need to reduce the frequency or volume of your feedings. It will also help if you can manually remove it when you do water changes.