Corraline or Cayno?

Zachary S. · Dec 10, 2019

Hello I was just wondering if this purple spots were corraline growing on my rocks, or maybe it’s caynobactria?? My tank is about a month and a half old so ignore the green algae please, still trying to work out the lighting schedule. Also was wondering what these small blackish dots were? Any ideas?

I recently put in a coral, whose base has a ton of corraline as well as some snails with corraline.

mta_morrow · Dec 10, 2019

Does it blow off with a turkey baster? If so, it’s not coralline yet.

Pinback · Dec 10, 2019

That's hard to tell. Can you blast it off with a turkey blaster? Guessing by the age of tank, the dark is not Coraline. The bright green might be though. Mine Was bright green and a few months later it turned purple. I had to increase my calcium to get the Coraline to really take off. Dark spots look to me to be green hair algea starting.

UCF Alum · Dec 10, 2019

It’s a new tank. You’re likely going to get cyano, GHA, diatoms, dyno or a combination of all the above. Let it run its course. Don’t try to fix problems with chemicals or mechanical filtration until later on. Whether it’s cyano or coraline, you’ll eventually have both. You sound like me when I first started. Analyzing every shade of the rainbow wondering what it could turn into. Remember, everything bad happens overnight. It takes forever for the good to start happening.

Zachary S. · Dec 10, 2019

UCF Alum said:
It’s a new tank. You’re likely going to get cyano, GHA, diatoms, dyno or a combination of all the above. Let it run its course. Don’t try to fix problems with chemicals or mechanical filtration until later on. Whether it’s cyano or coraline, you’ll eventually have both. You sound like me when I first started. Analyzing every shade of the rainbow wondering what it could turn into. Remember, everything bad happens overnight. It takes forever for the good to start happening.

Thanks for the reply! I have watched many videos and I know that I shouldn’t try fixing things with chemicals early on. I have already had diatoms but my clean up crew took care most of it.

Zachary S. · Dec 10, 2019

Pinback said:
That's hard to tell. Can you blast it off with a turkey blaster? Guessing by the age of tank, the dark is not Coraline. The bright green might be though. Mine Was bright green and a few months later it turned purple. I had to increase my calcium to get the Coraline to really take off. Dark spots look to me to be green hair algea starting.

Woah I always wondered what the bright green spots were!! Also is the hair algae good? I have a grazer in my tank. (Flame angel)