Purple and Green Algae

Discussion in 'Algae' started by Jeff01, Dec 29, 2011.

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  1. sticksmith23

    sticksmith23 Giant Squid

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    @ West Allis Dad, yours looks like diatoms to me. If that is the case it will take care of itself in a week or two.
     
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  3. West Allis Dad

    West Allis Dad Astrea Snail

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    It has been this was for about 1 month with it slowly getting worse.
     
  4. sticksmith23

    sticksmith23 Giant Squid

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    Then it probably isn't diatoms. Are you running GAC or anything to help control phosphates. I know once I started running GAC or something like it to control phosphates (even though I got a 0 reading) my cyano was kept at bay.
     
  5. West Allis Dad

    West Allis Dad Astrea Snail

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    No, I am not running a GAC or anything to control phosphates. Should I be?? Right now the only thing I run is a Bak-Pak skimmer and my aqueon filter. :confused::confused:
     
  6. sticksmith23

    sticksmith23 Giant Squid

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    It couldn't hurt. I am using ROWAphos Phosphate Removal Media. It seems to be doing a great job. I don't have any more problems with cyano like I was.
     
  7. West Allis Dad

    West Allis Dad Astrea Snail

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    Would purigen or chemipure take care of this issue for me???
     
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  9. 55gfowlr

    55gfowlr Zoanthid

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    Ok, just trying to take this thread back to the original owner, The purple stuff is cyano bacteria, as said before, get a hold of this by controlling nutrient intake to your tank. What are you feeding with?

    The Green stuff, as I see it on the rocks, is coralline algae already growing. You probably have seen this for some time now. Green is first, then all the other colors will come. If you look closely you'll see streaks of pink and some red, but with cyano in the tank it's probably hard to tell the difference. (I thought my red was coralline until it spread like wild fire. lol)

    Don't worry, the worst it's going to do so long as you keep your nutrients in check is look crappy. Suck out as much as you can when you do your water changes, and don't stir it up too bad between water changes as this will just spread the bacteria.
     
  10. sticksmith23

    sticksmith23 Giant Squid

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    They wouldn't hurt, but neither one of them take care of phosphates which usually feed nuisance algae.
     
  11. 55gfowlr

    55gfowlr Zoanthid

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    And yes, just as Smitty mentioned, controlling excess Phosphates is a good idea too, but try and focus on one thing at a time for the start. Usually one issue can be subtly linked to another.
     
  12. sticksmith23

    sticksmith23 Giant Squid

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    That is correct. Sometimes it is hard to diagnose what the root cause is and we tend to treat the symptoms just like in medicine. It can get very frustrating but well worth it in the end if you can figure out the problem. Algae is the main reason why I plan on adding a reactor with bio pellets in the future. Just a precaution more then anything.
     
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