Algea ID - Red Corraline?

JonoH · Sep 19, 2023

Been wondering what this Algea is for a while now, it only seems to grow on the overflow in my tank.
Initially i though maybe Cyano, but its almost encrusting onto the overflow, like i have to scrape it off with a Razor Blade to remove it. Besides the rest of the tank is very clean, and there is none on the sand at all.
Its quite different to the Corraline that is growing on the rear glass and on parts of the overflow also.

I'm wondering if its maybe a Red Corraline?

Red Coralline algae | Melev's Reef

melevsreef.com

Darstar301 · Sep 19, 2023

It may be red turf algae.

JonoH · Sep 19, 2023

Darstar301 said:
It may be red turf algae.

Is this encrusting? It doesnt seem to grow any hairs on it though.

Will try and scrape it off again this weekend though.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 19, 2023

JonoH said:
Is this encrusting? It doesnt seem to grow any hairs on it though.

Will try and scrape it off again this weekend though.

Why scrape it off? It looks nice

Subsea · Sep 19, 2023

It looks nice to me also. Is this on the 220G new build. I also saw that you collected some live rock. Neat that you can do that.

JonoH · Sep 19, 2023

Subsea said:
It looks nice to me also. Is this on the 220G new build. I also saw that you collected some live rock. Neat that you can do that.

This is in my existing 120G tank, so its going to be shut down in the next few months anyway.

I've been collecting it from people shutting down tanks and picking it up when its going cheap.
There are some places i could get it from where i live in AUS, but we are not really tropical so very little area's with coral etc. (I do know of a few though).

JonoH · Sep 19, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
Why scrape it off? It looks nice

Good point...i guess i was concerned it would take over, but it doesnt seem to be affecting anything as all my levels are good.

Will leave it then!

Sisterlimonpot · Sep 19, 2023

JonoH said:
Been wondering what this Algea is for a while now, it only seems to grow on the overflow in my tank.
Initially i though maybe Cyano, but its almost encrusting onto the overflow, like i have to scrape it off with a Razor Blade to remove it. Besides the rest of the tank is very clean, and there is none on the sand at all.
Its quite different to the Corraline that is growing on the rear glass and on parts of the overflow also.

I'm wondering if its maybe a Red Corraline?

Red Coralline algae | Melev's Reef

melevsreef.com

It looks to me like dinoflagellates.

Curious what your nutrients are?

Tuan’s Reef · Sep 19, 2023

Anytime i have a question about what kind of algae is in my tank.... i whip out my microscope. Its very satisfactory when i discover what it is and how to deal with it.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 19, 2023

Sisterlimonpot said:
It looks to me like dinoflagellates.

Curious what your nutrients are?

You don't need a razor blade to remove dinos

JonoH · Sep 19, 2023

Sisterlimonpot said:
It looks to me like dinoflagellates.

Curious what your nutrients are?

Def not Dino's, had them and this is very different!

PH- 8.2
Nitrate - 26.7
Alk - 9.3
Cal - 542
Mg - 1300
Phosphate - 0.06
Temp - 25°
SG - 35

My Nitrate and Phosphate are a little high at the moment, but i have a pretty high bio-load at the moment as i am housing more fish than i was planning in this tank (swapping over to a larger tank soon).
When i had Dino's a few months back, these were both at Zero, and everything is thriving at the moment, coral is growing like crazy and sand is clean.

Subsea · Sep 19, 2023

@JonoH

Would you take a full tank picture with white light

Sisterlimonpot · Sep 19, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
You don't need a razor blade to remove dinos

If it weren't on the overflow, I don't think a razor blade would be required. It doesn't look calcareous to me.

A sample under a microscope will tell us what it is.

JonoH · Sep 19, 2023

Sisterlimonpot said:
If it weren't on the overflow, I don't think a razor blade would be required. It doesn't look calcareous to me.

A sample under a microscope will tell us what it is.

Its on parts of the glass around the overflow also...and i can promise it will only come off with a blade...

My son does have a microscope so will have a look, but considering it will come off as a large flake it probably wont show much.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 20, 2023

JonoH said:
Its on parts of the glass around the overflow also...and i can promise it will only come off with a blade...

My son does have a microscope so will have a look, but considering it will come off as a large flake it probably wont show much.

Yeah, not sure where the "dinos" talk is coming from at all.

JonoH · Sep 20, 2023

Subsea said:
@JonoH

Would you take a full tank picture with white light

Full tank pic (took a while as i had to wait till i got home from work)

JonoH · Sep 20, 2023

Sisterlimonpot said:
If it weren't on the overflow, I don't think a razor blade would be required. It doesn't look calcareous to me.

A sample under a microscope will tell us what it is.

Pic under microscope

Was glad to see plenty of phytoplankton at the same time!