Red Growth on Rocks

jacobreynolds6883 · Jan 25, 2020

I have done some research but would rather post a picture and see what the consensus is. Tank is 2 years old great coralline algae on over half of my rocks. The other half was added 6 months ago and is starting to grow. Under blue lights you are starting to see the red spots, however under white lights they really stick out as the pictures show. It was only on this piece showing in the picture however I’m starting to see small spots on larger rocks. I have tried to brush off but doesn’t. Is this just a form of coralline or is this a nuisance? Thanks for any help in advance.

jacobreynolds6883 · Jan 25, 2020

Failed to mention above these spots have small stingy like hair attached and flowing in the current.

reef lover · Jan 27, 2020

Looks like cyano but u stated it wouldnt brush off...

jacobreynolds6883 · Jan 27, 2020

reef lover said:
Looks like cyano but u stated it wouldnt brush off...

It will not with a soft bristle brush, I've not tried with a steel brush. In the past few days it has really spread and by looking online I agree to the effect it looks like cyano. I think my first course of action will be treat for cyano by using Chemi-Clean and possibly adding a phosphate reactor. Do you have any suggestions on treatment or a better way to eliminate this bacteria?

Flippers4pups · Jan 27, 2020

Agreed, looks like cyanobacteria.

acropora4u · Jan 27, 2020

jreynolds6883 said:
It will not with a soft bristle brush, I've not tried with a steel brush. In the past few days it has really spread and by looking online I agree to the effect it looks like cyano. I think my first course of action will be treat for cyano by using Chemi-Clean and possibly adding a phosphate reactor. Do you have any suggestions on treatment or a better way to eliminate this bacteria?

Please make sure you test for phoshpates before treating with GFO.. regards, D

reef lover · Jan 28, 2020

Id try manual removal and adding more flow to prone areas, before i used chemiclean...

vetteguy53081 · Jan 28, 2020

When using using ChemiClean, turn off skimmer or keep an eye on it as ChemiClean will make it go nuts
This stuff should break loose with gentle blasts from s turkey baster

jacobreynolds6883 · Jan 30, 2020

Ok new details, I finally received my Salifert phosphate test kit in and tested my water. Test results show 0, maybe I did it wrong read instructions and tested again and showed 0. Now I’m really confused can I have Cyanobacteria with 0 phosphates? Also the red has really spread out all over the tank but has much so blended in, also I noticed the other day my scarlet crab was setting in a spot of it and ate an whole area of it. Could this be a different color coralline that was introduced to my tank from my newest zoa rock? Any suggestions or help would be great! Here’s a photo of the crab eating, and a photo of some other rock.

reef lover · Jan 31, 2020

Ya still cyano. The test most likely shows 0 as your algae is taking it in..i would still manually remove and add more flow.

lilgrounchuck · Jan 31, 2020

Yep, you can definitely have Cyano while reading zero. I had an outbreak when my nitrate/phosphate bottomed out. I manually removed it for about two months and it kept coming back. Last go around I removed as possible and then did a round of chemiclean. it’s been gone for two months now. I did remove my phosguard, turn my skimmer way down so it collects as dry as possible, and start feeding a bit more though to get nutrients up.

jacobreynolds6883 · Jan 31, 2020

lilgrounchuck said:
Yep, you can definitely have Cyano while reading zero. I had an outbreak when my nitrate/phosphate bottomed out. I manually removed it for about two months and it kept coming back. Last go around I removed as possible and then did a round of chemiclean. it’s been gone for two months now. I did remove my phosguard, turn my skimmer way down so it collects as dry as possible, and start feeding a bit more though to get nutrients up.

So what is your purpose in bringing nutrients back up, testing to see if it will come back?

I plan to treat with chemiclean this weekend after water change and removing as much as possible first. How did you run your phosguard, in a reactor? If not, is there another way to treat a tank temporary until I have a reactor setup?

lilgrounchuck · Jan 31, 2020

jreynolds6883 said:
So what is your purpose in bringing nutrients back up, testing to see if it will come back?

I plan to treat with chemiclean this weekend after water change and removing as much as possible first. How did you run your phosguard, in a reactor? If not, is there another way to treat a tank temporary until I have a reactor setup?

Reading a ton of threads on this forum. I have a big leather that decided to hit a growth spurt and my levels dropped to zero. That’s when I started seeing the red pop up. I thought keeping nutrients low would help kill it, but then I noticed my montis starting to lose color. I did more reading and it seems like this I a common occurrence: go ULN, corals start bleaching, get Cyano or Dino problem. I didn’t want to start dosing nutrients so after the chemiclean I just cut back on some of the export. Corals are back to growing quickly, montis colored back up, and no more signs of Cyano. I’m far from being experienced, but I leached on to some of the info I’ve found on these forums that seemed to mirror my situation and that is what worked for me.

jacobreynolds6883 · Jan 31, 2020

lilgrounchuck said:
Reading a ton of threads on this forum. I have a big leather that decided to hit a growth spurt and my levels dropped to zero. That’s when I started seeing the red pop up. I thought keeping nutrients low would help kill it, but then I noticed my montis starting to lose color. I did more reading and it seems like this I a common occurrence: go ULN, corals start bleaching, get Cyano or Dino problem. I didn’t want to start dosing nutrients so after the chemiclean I just cut back on some of the export. Corals are back to growing quickly, montis colored back up, and no more signs of Cyano. I’m far from being experienced, but I leached on to some of the info I’ve found on these forums that seemed to mirror my situation and that is what worked for me.

Very interesting, my parameters have been great really non-existent. I wonder if this is part of my issues as well. I only have zoas and small mushroom currently and colors look ok to me but I'm far from being the one to say they look great. I do know I hardly make any skim and have read where people put skimmer on a timer to help nutrients come up. I may explore this and see if this might make thing look different after I address the cyan problem.

lilgrounchuck · Jan 31, 2020

jreynolds6883 said:
Very interesting, my parameters have been great really non-existent. I wonder if this is part of my issues as well. I only have zoas and small mushroom currently and colors look ok to me but I'm far from being the one to say they look great. I do know I hardly make any skim and have read where people put skimmer on a timer to help nutrients come up. I may explore this and see if this might make thing look different after I address the cyan problem.

It could be worth a shot. That’s what I thought, anyway. I was getting fed up and figured why not. My next step was to do the rip and clean that’s discussed in the sand rinse method thread, but so far it doesn’t look like I’m going to need to (I do vacuum my .5 - 1” thin bed weekly though, and have since I started the tank.) Keep in mind that what worked for one tank won’t necessarily work for another, but this issue seems to have some common themes. Maybe someone more experienced can chime in.

jacobreynolds6883 · Jan 31, 2020

lilgrounchuck said:
It could be worth a shot. That’s what I thought, anyway. I was getting fed up and figured why not. My next step was to do the rip and clean that’s discussed in the sand rinse method thread, but so far it doesn’t look like I’m going to need to (I do vacuum my .5 - 1” thin bed weekly though, and have since I started the tank.) Keep in mind that what worked for one tank won’t necessarily work for another, but this issue seems to have some common themes. Maybe someone more experienced can chime in.

I will give it a try after treating the tank, as for rinsing my sand bed that is not something I'm ready to do. I'm currently in the middle of a 90g setup and will be transferring this tanks rocks, corals, and marine life over too. So rinising sand bed would be alot of work and risk in my opinion with only a few more months left with this current setup. I will have all new sand in the new setup, however I am in a struggle of how deep to go with this new tank. 1-3 keep it shallow or go on and do a dsb. I've read many articles and have seen many pros and cons of both but yet to still make a decision on this.