Alexraptor
Well-Known Member
So I've been having the strangest thing in my Mantis tank.
I have a bit of a hair/turf algae problem, on account of there being no cleaning crew around, and some of the rock being "old". I'm guessing lot of phosphates still stuck in the rock, since I've skimmed till my skimmer wont pull anything out, and my corals are starting to turn pale.
But, the oddest thing is that ALL the rockwork, appear sto be covered in some kind of hairy bacterial growth or something. It has the consistency of very short hair algae, except there are no cloroplasts. And odder still, is that this "growth" seems to be producing, what I can only guess at, calcium carbonate grains/crystals. If I don't touch the rockwork for a week, end is up looking like this. (The white on the glass are just spirobid worms).
Please note: There are no sand storms in this tank, there is a single Tunze 6015 halfway down, pointed towards the surface, there's not enough water movement to disturb the sand on the bottom of the tank.
I keep brushing this dust/sand off, but it keeps coming back. I have never seen anything like it. Examination under a microscope didn't get me anwhyere, from what I can see they are just solid crystals.
They also appear regardless of I dose or not, and I maintan this tank around 8-9 dkh and currently use Red Sea Blue Bucket on this tank.
It also seems that whatever process is producing them is photosynthetic, as the concentrations of "dust" are higher, the closer to the top of the rockwork you get, and are practically non-existant at the lowest levels of the tank, or anywhere that is shaded.
Has anyone else encountered anything like this???
I have a bit of a hair/turf algae problem, on account of there being no cleaning crew around, and some of the rock being "old". I'm guessing lot of phosphates still stuck in the rock, since I've skimmed till my skimmer wont pull anything out, and my corals are starting to turn pale.
But, the oddest thing is that ALL the rockwork, appear sto be covered in some kind of hairy bacterial growth or something. It has the consistency of very short hair algae, except there are no cloroplasts. And odder still, is that this "growth" seems to be producing, what I can only guess at, calcium carbonate grains/crystals. If I don't touch the rockwork for a week, end is up looking like this. (The white on the glass are just spirobid worms).
Please note: There are no sand storms in this tank, there is a single Tunze 6015 halfway down, pointed towards the surface, there's not enough water movement to disturb the sand on the bottom of the tank.
I keep brushing this dust/sand off, but it keeps coming back. I have never seen anything like it. Examination under a microscope didn't get me anwhyere, from what I can see they are just solid crystals.
They also appear regardless of I dose or not, and I maintan this tank around 8-9 dkh and currently use Red Sea Blue Bucket on this tank.
It also seems that whatever process is producing them is photosynthetic, as the concentrations of "dust" are higher, the closer to the top of the rockwork you get, and are practically non-existant at the lowest levels of the tank, or anywhere that is shaded.
Has anyone else encountered anything like this???
