Black Algae?

RobertP

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No idea what this stuff is. One of my Mexican turbo snails ate some of it but don't think they like it. Does anything eat it?
20170219_081147.jpg 20170217_094952.jpg
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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It should be siphon removed a few times until guided out. That looks like dark cyano again, a tiny percentage of cyano posts where red mats comprise 95% of posts

Some blacks and greens have been posted lately in the 5% side pretty neat to see. Whatever would eat it as a grazer ranges, I bet some bacterial mats have chemical rejections built in to establish their niche.

Surely something from nature would eat it, but examples are too rare to find pattern imo to many common red species that margarita snails would snack on quickly

I don't know if spirulina comes in varying colors, calling these cyano is a collective term like saying coke for all kinds of soft drinks

Either way, hand guiding it out will work because natural seeding mechanisms for black cyano are clearly highly limited. This was a rare direct import among items a new tank will take on, is neat looking. TW needs a sample ID for this, neat addition to verified database for sure.

Fungi and sponges also show morphology not distant from that shown above, a high res slide shot of that would be valuable linked with its macro pic above. I'd call it a moneran mat of dark pigment bac.
 

Dancingmad

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I'd cut the pumps for a min and pull it out(+1 to siphoning it out) - looks like its right on top. I'd get some ceriths for the diatoms too - looks like you've got a pretty new tank cycling. Cerith snails can right themselves if they fall over and can get all the nooks and crannies inbetween the rock. Great cleaners IME.
 

AllSignsPointToFish

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That looks like cyanobacteria. If it is, you can blow it off with a turkey baster and suck it up. If it doesn't come off easily, it's something else.

More flow will help the diatoms subside.

By the way, my brother lives in Spring ;)

Gig 'em!
 
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RobertP

RobertP

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I have two WAV pumps coming in next week that should help get the flow going. Got the cyano sucked out and it looks much better now. Thanks
 

Keith607

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I have a problem with this black/grey stuff HELP!!!!!
20171006_093516.jpg
20171006_093525.jpg

I have two WAV pumps coming in next week that should help get the flow going. Got the cyano sucked out and it looks much better now. Thanks
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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the specific fix for that condition is this

take fish out put in buckets of tank water

rocks in a sep bucket

take the whole tank apart and wash out the sand in a sink 100% over and over until its clean and cannot cloud. do the very final rinse in new salt water.

clean the walls of the tank off nicely with a papertowel, put the tank back together with all new water on top of the pristine sand and set the rocks back on top

re acclimate the fish

repeat as needed, nothing beats that method. no doser on the planet, no form of nutrient binding filtration can beat that method we document it in hundreds of tanks. it is commanding a finish. its the polar opposite of dose something to the water and wait

all bacteria is accounted for in the approach and the action of deep cleaning is well documented too. since your tank is new and not packed, its ripe for the cleaning. most would choose the water doser and cross fingers.
 
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Ruth

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No idea what this stuff is. One of my Mexican turbo snails ate some of it but don't think they like it. Does anything eat it?
20170219_081147.jpg 20170217_094952.jpg
I've until recently never luckily had this grow in one of my tanks. But this new tank I have is much larger and now I know why, or I think I k ow lol it started on the walls so I cleaned it then like another reply I took my long baster and just blew it off looked a little better nut could see it slowly returning. Fish didnt seem to.care much about it and I was busy so I let it be for a while. But then I noticed after buying g some plants recently for the refugium because like I said new tank. The store had sold me a serpent star fish living in his display for kaeto and plants. I'm not a huge serpent star fish fan because you never see the buggers. ut in the same breath I am big on natural interventions in reef and tank husbandry as that is how nature does it. Long story short as of three maybe 4 days that guy is cleaning up the algae on the rocks like crazy. Hope it helps
 

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