Algae ID please!

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Jul 26, 2009
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Ok well this is some algae that is growing in my aquarium. it startied off in one corner and has basically taken over. What can I do to get rid of it? What kind of algae is it?

Got some pics of it, sorry but there not that good. I lost my camera charger, which had my camera battery in it :mad:


Pics are in the post under forgot to add in original post...
 
223a.jpg

222ec.jpg

221dn.jpg
http://img192.imageshack.us/i/221dn.jpg/
 
ard to tell from the pics.
can you give us some more info?
how old is the tank?
what are your paramters? specificly nitrates, phosphates, temperature
how long do you run your lights and what lights and what tank size?
 
tank is about 6 months old and is a 50 gal. Lights run ~9 hours a day. Temp is about 75 degrees F.


Yellow Tang doesn't seem to want to eat it.
 
You should probably raise the temp in the tank to around 80, but that won't do anything for your problem.
To me, it looks like cynobateria, which is not an algae but a bacterial bloom. Usually caused by too much nutrients in the water, usually nitrates.
Try cutting back your lighting -- it tends to lighten up when its dark; don't overfeed and apply more flow to the area.
Not sure what you're water change routine is, but may want to increase its frequency. Also, if you're not running a skimmer, I highly suggest you do.
Hope this helps.
 
I have a bit of cyano in my tank and my yellow tang picks at it all day.
what color is it exactly? it didnt look very red to me in the pics. And that last pic was kinda spidery web shaped or something.
If it is indeed cyano just sut the lights off for 3 days and no more cyano.
The other methods about adding flow as stated above will also work allthough its sometimes hard to do without blowing sand all over the place. Which is why I have two small patches of it :P
how about those nitrates and phosphates?
Do you use RO/DI water?
 
yep, most likley cyano then. you can add flow or cut your lighting off completley for 3 days. either way should eliminate it
 
Holy smokes that is a lot of Cyano.... lights off wont do it..that's a bandaid fix. Not on that amount.

You first need to put a dent on what boosts it's growth...detritus build up could be the cause on that part of the tank...

there are several things you may want to do here.

First off Clean up:
1. Siphon out 50% of your water is what I recommend due to the fact you do have enough nutrients in that water or sand bed..or both for it to grow like that.... Siphon out the slime and some of the layer of sand it rests on.

2. You must attack this with same method as vs algae...the only twist this thing is a hybrid algae/bacteria it will spread easily if you try to brush it ....so second attack is getting flow adjusted.


Now prevention is to keep your nitrates down way down...and you need to test your water for nitrates and phosphates regularly and keep those down. Phosphate at zero would be ideal it's a fertilizer for it to rapidly grow.

I've dealt with worse..but that is bad.

Get it all cleaned up and major water change...adjust flow... and yes you will see it try to form up again even after a good cleaning. Just stay on top of keeping nitrates and phosphates in control....and good flow ....

thats a slower method in taking care of it but its the non nuke option.

Nuke option is after big water change...Chemiclean nuke the tank. Then another big water change according to instructions ....

works like a charm if you want to go the Nuke route....

Still you have to identify the root cause of this or it will only occur again .... abundance of nitrate,phosphate and detritus build up in the sand will do it.

Cutting back lighting is great tip from above...but it wont attack the root cause...focus on that....
 
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