Cyanobacteria or Coraline Algae?

[Katie2897]

This tank belongs to my uncle in which he has had for several years now. However, he neglected his reef for several months up untill my mother and I took over' getting things back slowly into order. Our question is " Is this Cyanobacteria or coraline algae? " it is a pretty red when you put on reef glasses for the blue lights, but brownish with the regular white light on. We have been doing several water changes every week for about 2 months.

 

[Pbh-reef]

To me it looks like coraline. An easy test is to blow on it with a turkey bAster or something like that. Cyno will blow off, coralline is hard and it will stay

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Second what was said above. Hard to tell by the photo, it appears to be coraline but that quick test should tell you. It looks like you can just reach in and pull that top piece out quickly to observe more closely as well. If it's calcified onto the rock, it's coraline.

 

[Katie2897]

Second what was said above. Hard to tell by the photo, it appears to be coraline but that quick test should tell you. It looks like you can just reach in and pull that top piece out quickly to observe more closely as well. If it's calcified onto the rock, it's coraline.

Turns out it's Cyanobacteria, what exactly causes it to grow? I've heard that water changes keep it from thriving, but that's what we have been doing and it returned.

 

[rhastareefer]

Turns out it's Cyanobacteria, what exactly causes it to grow? I've heard that water changes keep it from thriving, but that's what we have been doing and it returned.

This has been debated to the moon and back but in my experience, nutrient imbalance (or complete lack of) along with 'new tank uglies' that pass with patience

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Turns out it's Cyanobacteria, what exactly causes it to grow? I've heard that water changes keep it from thriving, but that's what we have been doing and it returned.

I somehow glossed over the fact your original post was your first post. Welcome to R2R!! ;Bookworm

The cyano is likely due to nutrient imbalance/deficiency. Can you tell us about the tank? How many gallons? What type of nutrient export is being used besides water changes? How many fish are in the tank? Do you have test kits? It would be very helpful to know the parameters of your water in order to start diagnosing the cause of the cyano bloom. (i.e. salinity, temp, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, ammonia...we can worry about the rest later)

 

[f8thless]

Look into red slime remover or chemiclean. That works wonders with cyano

 

[vetteguy53081]

ChemiClean works well. Also use a turkey baster to blow the stuff loose before adding Cyano treatment. Blue Line products makes a great red slime remover also