ID something yellow on LR

[mikebusc]

Can anyone ID this yellow that started growing on my LR?

 

[Formulator]

Can anyone ID this yellow that started growing on my LR?

That’s just coralline algae. Coralline comes in many color varieties from the common purple to neon orange and yellow like you are seeing. Consider yourself lucky! The non-purple varieties are more rare and can add some nice contrast to the tank IMO.

 

[saltytanked]

That’s just coralline algae. Coralline comes in many color varieties from the common purple to neon orange and yellow like you are seeing. Consider yourself lucky! The non-purple varieties are more rare and can add some nice contrast to the tank IMO.

Def NOT coralline with all that algae in the tank. Most likely an additional type of green algae that is fluorescing in the blue washed out lights

 

[Formulator]

Def NOT coralline with all that algae in the tank. Most likely an additional type of green algae that is fluorescing in the blue washed out lights

I disagree. I have the same exact kind in my tank and it is 100% coralline. Green algae doesn’t inhibit coralline growth in a tank. Only on spots it is actively growing. Both can and do coexist.

 

[Formulator]

Also there is obviously purple coralline in the photo so I really have no idea where your blunt confidence is coming from…

 

[mikebusc]

If it helps the yellow is actually yellow. Not fluorescing. And it doesn’t come off the rock easily.

 

[Formulator]

If it helps the yellow is actually yellow. Not fluorescing. And it doesn’t come off the rock easily.

Its coralline. I’d bet my tank on it.

 

[mikebusc]

But yes I’m trying to deal with the green hair algae. Could it be the ugly stage? I thought I may have gotten lucky and passed it. The tank has been up and running since beginning of January.

 

[Formulator]

But yes I’m trying to deal with the green hair algae. Could it be the ugly stage? I thought I may have gotten lucky and passed it. The tank has been up and running since beginning of January.

How are your nitrates and phosphates? The coralline is a good sign at least. I can’t recommend pincushion urchins enough for hair algae. They are lawnmowers and one of them completely cleaned up a massive outbreak in my 120g within a few weeks.

 

[mikebusc]

Nitrate 0.0, Phosphate .03
I was told nitrate may be down to 0 because I've been using Microbacter 7. I have one lawnmower and one tuxedo urchin. Do they do the same work as pincusions? Many Turbos and some narcissus'. I was thinking of getting more urchins but I thought I read somewhere I shouldn't have more than one lawnmower in a tank.

 

[Formulator]

Nitrate 0.0, Phosphate .03
I was told nitrate may be down to 0 because I've been using Microbacter 7. I have one lawnmower and one tuxedo urchin. Do they do the same work as pincusions? Many Turbos and some narcissus'. I was thinking of getting more urchins but I thought I read somewhere I shouldn't have more than one lawnmower in a tank.

I would suggest adding some nitrates before you run into an even bigger problem with dinos. It may also help with the algae, even though that sounds counterintuitive. The ratio of nitrate to phosphate matters for algae growth. Check out NeoNitro for nitrate dosing.

Regarding the urchins, I am no expert, but I can say I tried every other algae eating CUC animal other than a sea hare and nothing came close to the work done by my pincushion.

 

[mh0ward]

If you have quite a bit of hair algae, then it’s possible (and probably likely) that you have plenty of Nitrates, and that the hair algae is just consuming them. While I had a big hair algae outbreak, Nitrates had always read zero. Hair algae gone, now reads 5-10ppm with no change in feeding or filtration.

 

[mikebusc]

Would over feeding also cause nitrates to increase?

 

[mh0ward]

Yes, but if it were me, before trying to cut back on feeding, I would add some Turbo snails if you don’t already have some. I didn’t change anything really other than adding 2 turbos to my 20 gal and they knocked about half of it down in a few days. The other half took a little longer, but it’s basically gone now. I did siphon out the turbo’s poo for a little while to help with export, but with them it was easy because they seemed to eat all night, then park and poo in one spot all day… and they poo a lot!

 

[mikebusc]

I'm going to try the NeoNitro. It says it works well with Mircobacter 7 also. Although I'm confused about using the Microbacter 7 lowering nitrates. Unless I misunderstood that.

 

[mikebusc]

Yes, but if it were me, before trying to cut back on feeding, I would add some Turbo snails if you don’t already have some. I didn’t change anything really other than adding 2 turbos to my 20 gal and they knocked about half of it down in a few days. The other half took a little longer, but it’s basically gone now. I did siphon out the turbo’s poo for a little while to help with export, but with them it was easy because they seemed to eat all night, then park and poo in one spot all day… and they poo a lot!

I actually have about 8 Turbos as well as other types of snails at the moment.

 

[mikebusc]

I actually meant should I increase feedings to raise nitrates.

 

[mh0ward]

Oh I forgot to add that I did add some Xenia to help consume excess nutrients, but totally understand that not everyone wants them in their tank.

 

[mh0ward]

I actually meant should I increase feedings to raise nitrates.

I would still consider myself new, as a small disclaimer That said, when trying to address hair algae in my tank, my assumption was that if hair algae was growing quickly, there were plenty of nutrients for it to thrive off of.