Algae ID

[marco93]

Hello everyone, I’m here for some clarification. My aquarium has been running for about three months, and I hadn’t had any algae until now, mainly because the lights were off until about two weeks ago. After the first additions and starting the photoperiod, I quickly found myself overrun. These yellow/brown algae appeared, which look reddish under blue lights. They are growing on the substrate, glass, and rocks, and some of them have small air bubbles from photosynthesis. In your opinion, are these cyanobacteria or just diatoms?

 

[Gone Reefin’]

Hard to tell with pics. Quick test may be to blow them/baste them. If it quickly disperses like “dust”, prob diatoms. If it comes up in particles/sheets and does not disperse, cyano.

 

[marco93]

I blew a little water with a small pipette on the rocks, the ones that all have air bubbles on top. Actually, they came off quite easily and are a bit filamentous, but not too much, and as I said, they detached immediately. So, I know about diatoms, but diatoms shouldn’t produce bubbles.