View Full Version : GREEN CAROLINE ?
scootrnerd
03-01-2008, 10:07 PM
i have noticed this new algae for the past 3-4 weeks at first it was a little and then BAM! its everywhere i tried to scrape it of with my finger and it ain't budging. so is this caroline? and if so is it good or bad never seen anything like it. i test my water weekly all good and w/c biweekly the only thing i dose is a/b oceans blend.
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blinxxpunk182
03-01-2008, 10:15 PM
wow...actually im not sure if this is what they were talking about, but when i first started my tank up i had green algae everywhere and they asked if it was soft or hard. soft was good and hard was bad. ive never had hard green algae so dont take the "its not good" from me. wait and see if anyone else has experienced what your having. read up on it a bit. some sites are saying that its very good and i guess its hard to find out about green algae coraline.
http://www.reefbuilders.com/forums/reef-discussion/465-green-coraline.html
pebble
03-01-2008, 10:22 PM
alage grows quick on base rock. dont think it's coroline though. this is just my opinion from experience.
scootrnerd
03-01-2008, 10:24 PM
its not just on the base rock its also on older pieces of rock
blinxxpunk182
03-01-2008, 10:25 PM
if you end up getting other algae, try using phosphate remover or phosphate pads. but watch your chemicals if you take that approach.
scootrnerd
03-01-2008, 10:26 PM
i test for phosphates there are none! i said my parameters where good
blinxxpunk182
03-01-2008, 10:28 PM
thats weird then. im stumped. as of what i know, phosphates and sunlight is the main source of algae and if your params are good then i dont know what to tell you buddy.
pebble
03-01-2008, 11:37 PM
cut down ur lighting and get an extra powerhead for more water circulation.
Boltster
03-02-2008, 7:48 AM
i test for phosphates there are none! i said my parameters where good
That's not uncommon. A lot of times test kits won't pick up phosphates because they're all bound to the algae. It's especially true for cyano. I'm not sure what kind of algae you have but it definately isn't coralline.
Reefscape
03-02-2008, 8:08 AM
I would say there is a good chance its coraline algae if its hard and does not scrape off with your finger nail...All plague algae's are soft to touch and come off the rocks very easily..
Catpicklesdog
03-02-2008, 8:10 AM
wow...actually im not sure if this is what they were talking about, but when i first started my tank up i had green algae everywhere and they asked if it was soft or hard. soft was good and hard was bad. ive never had hard green algae so dont take the "its not good" from me. wait and see if anyone else has experienced what your having. read up on it a bit. some sites are saying that its very good and i guess its hard to find out about green algae coraline.
http://www.reefbuilders.com/forums/reef-discussion/465-green-coraline.html
It's the other way around. Hard algae is corraline, it's the nuisance algae that is usually soft.
joander123
03-02-2008, 8:37 AM
well thats weird. usually coralline is hard and the bad ones are soft like everyone is saying, and i have seen some little patches of green coralline, but nothing ever to that extent.
Thats actually pretty ugly in my opinion, coralline is good but i'm not sure i'd want that in my reef tank.
Just a thought, your tank seems to be getting a good deal of natural sunlight in those pictures? Or is that just the camera flash? Natural sunlight can lead to improved algae growth, especially if there is something not quite right in the water already.
kay-bee
03-02-2008, 8:51 AM
i test for phosphates there are none! i said my parameters where good
What test kit brand was used?
blinxxpunk182
03-02-2008, 9:58 AM
i personally wouldnt buy it, but there are phosphate test kits that are top of the line and pretty much too much if you ask me but they cost like $80. theres most likely something with your phosphates if it is algae, but like i said earlier. im stumped. ive never had hard green alga coraline. im surprised nobody has had this yet.
Reefscape
03-02-2008, 10:04 AM
i personally wouldnt buy it, but there are phosphate test kits that are top of the line and pretty much too much if you ask me but they cost like $80. theres most likely something with your phosphates if it is algae, but like i said earlier. im stumped. ive never had hard green alga coraline. im surprised nobody has had this yet.
A search of the forum, and you'll find plenty of people who have had / still have green coraline algae....and i include myself in that....
Sregnar35
03-02-2008, 10:12 AM
I've seen nice purple coralline algae go green if it doesn't get the right lighting, don't ask me why, but I have seen it. My lfs sells live rock under no real lighting and it's got alot of green coralline, after a while in my tank it goes back to pink and purple though.
kay-bee
03-02-2008, 10:16 AM
Some types of 'nuisance algae' doesn't come off easily. I've had green algae on live rock which resembles the green algae in question: (pics of some of it on the rocks when my tank was a lot newer; not certain if it's the same stuff but it looks like it).
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a259/y2kenny19/Saltwater/DSCN9985.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a259/y2kenny19/Saltwater/newzoos2.jpg
It eventually disappeared as my tank matured.
One way to find out if it is coraline or not is to see if you can wipe or rub it off with something like a filter pad or something like that. If it's not coraline you should be able to remove some of it that way (a small patch of it anyway). Another way would be to use a algae scraper. If it comes off in 'chips' it's likely coraline.
How long has the tank been set up?
joander123
03-02-2008, 10:28 AM
i agree that green coralline is around... just never seen so much of it to be honest. I wonder what causes it to form green instead of purple/red?
Amphiprion
03-02-2008, 10:32 AM
Many people with very intense lighting report a lot of green coralline algae. It seems to be more tolerant of brighter lighting, IME. That doesn't mean that it doesn't occur in lower lighting as well. I do think, however, it is easily outcompeted by other species.
joander123
03-02-2008, 10:37 AM
maybe i just have not come across it because i use t5's. Interesting though.
Hopefully the other types of coralline will soon take it over.
scootrnerd
03-02-2008, 12:31 PM
I would say there is a good chance its coraline algae if its hard and does not scrape off with your finger nail...All plague algae's are soft to touch and come off the rocks very easily..
thanks , thats what i was looking for. someone who knows more than i do to give me advice. and as for as water flow i have 386 canister 300 sump X2-250 power head =1186 gallons an hour i don't think thats a problem
scootrnerd
03-02-2008, 12:35 PM
Just a thought, your tank seems to be getting a good deal of natural sunlight in those pictures? Or is that just the camera flash?
its the flash those are night pictures
scootrnerd
03-02-2008, 12:38 PM
How long has the tank been set up?
almost a year but i transfered most of this stuff from my 33 gallon and it was setup for a year prior
Geoff_7
03-02-2008, 12:38 PM
I have the exact same thing covering my rocks, in the first picture you can see the bad algae covering the rocks, it will brush off with an algae scrapper, or clear up when I switched to RO/DI water. In the scond pic it has been cleaned up.
These rocks have what I think is the green coraline, IMO. in the little branch piece you can see the green and it's starting to turn purple :)
ohh.. and ignore the apatasia:rant2:
Catpicklesdog
03-02-2008, 12:54 PM
thanks , thats what i was looking for. someone who knows more than i do to give me advice. and as for as water flow i have 386 canister 300 sump X2-250 power head =1186 gallons an hour i don't think thats a problem
Ideally in a reef tank you want 25x turnover. If this is your 55gal then you're looking at 1375 gph. Personally I don't count any other pumps other than my powerheads when it comes to flow.
Amphiprion
03-02-2008, 1:34 PM
I have the exact same thing covering my rocks, in the first picture you can see the bad algae covering the rocks, it will brush off with an algae scrapper, or clear up when I switched to RO/DI water. In the scond pic it has been cleaned up.
These rocks have what I think is the green coraline, IMO. in the little branch piece you can see the green and it's starting to turn purple :)
ohh.. and ignore the apatasia:rant2:
I don't want to disappoint you or anything, but what you have there is 100% genuine cyanobacterial films.
Geoff_7
03-02-2008, 1:39 PM
I don't want to disappoint you or anything, but what you have there is 100% genuine cyanobacterial films.
ohhhhh... Thats is dissapointling lol...:1zhelp:
joander123
03-02-2008, 1:52 PM
I don't want to disappoint you or anything, but what you have there is 100% genuine cyanobacterial films.
but it also seems to resemble the algae shown by the thread starter, doesn't it?
Amphiprion
03-02-2008, 2:38 PM
but it also seems to resemble the algae shown by the thread starter, doesn't it?
The thread starter's algae looks closer to true green algal films to me, not cyanobacteria or coralline.
scootrnerd
03-02-2008, 7:37 PM
the algae in my tank will not just scrape off nor will it scrub off it will come of in flakes however if i dig at it with a butter knife
joander123
03-02-2008, 8:53 PM
sounds like coralline, just doesnt look like it.
I'd say just let it take its course as others have said.
O-man21
03-03-2008, 4:54 PM
On my recently purchased live rock, all the white patches that were formally known and "purple coralline algae" have begun turning a very bright, almost neon green.
I have read on the nano-reef.com forums that it's common for coralline algae to turn white from being out of the water for an extremely short amount of time, even a minute they said, and then either go back to purple, or turn green and then go to purple.
I'm not concerned with my tank, I'm just assuming that since the LR was shipped, the coralline died, or maybe went into hibernation, and is now coming out of it as green, only to turn into purple later.
But I'm also a huge noob, so don't trust me.
cliftonsinclair
03-03-2008, 9:03 PM
The little bit of coraline that was on my rock when I bought it turned white switching from tank to tank, then it all turned a really nice green color. It is now in the process of turning to purple.
Many people with very intense lighting report a lot of green coralline algae. It seems to be more tolerant of brighter lighting, IME. That doesn't mean that it doesn't occur in lower lighting as well. I do think, however, it is easily outcompeted by other species.
Yes, when I got my MHs the green aglae took off. In fact, I have to scrape it from the glass during water changes. Blinx, I have green, purple, pink, red, burgandy and orange coraline in my tank.
i agree that green coralline is around... just never seen so much of it to be honest. I wonder what causes it to form green instead of purple/red?
Lighting and where the rock was collected.