Poker11 Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 I'm getting a purple blanket growth on some of my rocks. It is overwelming some of the coral. What is it and how to take care of it? tks Link to comment
Mariaface Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Is it cyanobacteria? Try basting it off first, then upping flow to the area in general, and begin the long fight against cyano? Link to comment
hey Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 yeh that looks awfully dense for cyano, its usually been quite stringy in my experience and quite pale but obv there are tons of different types. It rly looks like a red/purple variant of coralline or even a sponge. Is it stringy up close, porous, or hard and requires effort and a sharp object to scrape it off? Link to comment
Mariaface Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 yeh that looks awfully dense for cyano, its usually been quite stringy in my experience and quite pale but obv there are tons of different types. It rly looks like a red/purple variant of coralline or even a sponge. Is it stringy up close, porous, or hard and requires effort and a sharp object to scrape it off? It actually looks like a purple version of a dense mat of cyano I had on my sandbed (dumb me didn't vacuum it for... months), where there was no flow to stop it from growing like that. After flow was added it got progressively thinner. But yeah, definitely still a good idea to check if it's sponge or calcified in there. Link to comment
Poker11 Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 It's a little soft, it does come off with a fingernail scraping, but on this rock there is no way to get into all the nooks. Itsnot ugly but now it's starting to crowd other stuff out. I attached a better pic. I'll put a bit more flow across this area. Link to comment
Bobbymccray Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I'm getting a purple blanket growth on some of my rocks. It is overwelming some of the coral. What is it and how to take care of it? tks I really need some coralline scrapings Link to comment
Mariaface Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I really need some coralline scrapings Did you start off with dry rock? Even small bits of coralline that come in on CUC members' shells will spread in your tank, given the right conditions (plenty of alk/calcium, present but not overwhelming nutrients, light, etc). In fact, some people think coralline's a nuisance, it grows so fast. This post was cyano, and I'm definitely sure with the photo of it being scraped off. It's present in pretty much any tank, and proliferates when it can outcompete other bacteria and algae. Link to comment
Bobbymccray Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Yes I have a small 2 gallon I started dry and I don't have any sources of coralline Link to comment
Mariaface Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Do you know any reef keepers in your area? Or your LFS, maybe? It's as simple as taking a chip, grinding it down into a powder/paste, and letting it loose in your tank. It'll settle where it lands and grow from there, given the right parameters. You could buy a piece of rubble with plating coralline on it, break off the coralline, and discard the rock if you don't want to risk introducing pests. I'd offer you some (I've got light purple and maroon), but I'm not sure how confident I am that it'd ship correctly. If you haven't found any by the end of the week, I can give it a shot; I'll mimic Arkayology's shipment of chaeto that I should be getting. Good luck! Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Cyano without a doubt. Please do not try to simply "get rid of it." Think of it as a warning that other things are "off." Other than flow and dirty water there is another weird source of it -too much red light. If you are running PCs or T5s on the tank you will see more cyano as they age and red shift. But often simply flow and stagnant organics are the issue. Link to comment
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