What is this growing?

Discussion in 'Algae' started by JustinNJ, Apr 12, 2014.

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  1. JustinNJ

    JustinNJ Plankton

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    Hello,

    My tank has been running since December 27th. For the past two weeks or so I have noticed this purple hairy looking stuff growing on the rocks and spreading to the sand. During my water change I was able to siphon it off the rocks, but it grows back. In the morning after the lights have been off overnight, it seems that it has died off, but once the lights go on it appears again in a few hours. What is this growing? All of the fish seem fine, but can this harm them? Thank you for your help.
     

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  3. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

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    cyano bacteria, do you use tap water? how often do you feed?
     
  4. RoloSaez

    RoloSaez Millepora

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  5. chris adams

    chris adams Purple Tang

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    the above post id it properly.

    Would help if you post your parameters(nitrate, phosphate, ph, etc), type lighting, filtration etc etc..
     
  6. JustinNJ

    JustinNJ Plankton

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    I use RO/DI WATER. I feed Hikari seaweed pellets in the morning and then feed frozen mysis shrimp at night.
     
  7. JustinNJ

    JustinNJ Plankton

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    I can check those in a few minutes. But I use Coralife T5 HO Double light fixture. During the week they are on from about 2:30 PM to 10 PM. On weekends they are kept on most of the day. I have a sump setup with a coralife superskimmer 125.
     
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  9. JustinNJ

    JustinNJ Plankton

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    Ok, here are the water parameters:

    Salinity-1.024
    High Range pH-8.0
    Ammonia-0 ppm
    NitrIte-0 ppm
    NitrAte-about 20 ppm

    These readings were from a liquid API test kit. I do not have a test for phosphate.
     
  10. oldfishkeeper

    oldfishkeeper Giant Squid

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    believe it or not, your tank is actually pretty new/young. You will struggle with various algaes due to that. You just need to try and siphon/remove as much as you can with water changes and try to keep your nutrients in check - phosphates and nitrates.
     
  11. JustinNJ

    JustinNJ Plankton

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    Is cyano bacteria harmful to the fish? Are there any cleaners out there that would eat this stuff? I do a 32 gallon water change every two weeks. Should I be doing smaller weekly water changes so I can siphon it off the rocks more frequently?
     
  12. Billme

    Billme Eyelash Blennie

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    After about 9 months I still have a little cyano showing up. I use a turkey baster to blow it loose. I assume it then gets taken up by the filtration. Cyano will absorb phosphates and nitrates and act as its own reservoir. Siphoning and just blowing it loose has worked for me. Feeding less also helps. A note on the API, I found their tests inaccurate. I've switched to salifert and found them reliable.