Purple algae questions

[Mikemilly245]

Hey guys, just wondering what this algae is in my 16g and what I should do about it. There was a little bit at the top of the rocks for awhile but recently it ramped up very quickly even fogging the glass

Is this normal algae that I can just scrape off and do a water change and be done or do I need to treat it? I read something somewhere about treating purple algae but wanted to double check.

 

[Mikemilly245]

Figured it’s cyano but just wondering if I should treat or if it will just keep coming back if I scrub it off

 

[WestMI-Reefer]

Cyano forsure. It will likely come back if you manually remove. Hows the flow in that area? Are your nutrients in check?

 

[Mikemilly245]

Cyano forsure. It will likely come back if you manually remove. Hows the flow in that area? Are your nutrients in check?

Params are :
1.023 salinity
7.8 ph
.25 ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
Please forgive me still using api kit (so I assume the ammonia is 0) but planning on getting all the Hanna checkers soon.
My question is is cyano something that comes and goes or do I need to treat it? If it’s just part of the ugly phase I’ll just scrape it off do water changes. I’d really rather not use chemicals. All corals are fine besides my Kenya tree which hasn’t opened since it got bad, fish and inverts are fine

 

[Dom]

As I understand, Cyanobacteria is photosynthetic. So, blacking out the lights for a day or two may help. Then reduce the amount of time the lights are on.

What is your light schedule?

And as has been previously mentioned, flow is something to look at. I've found that Cyano tends to take hold in low flow areas.

 

[Mikemilly245]

As I understand, Cyanobacteria is photosynthetic. So, blacking out the lights for a day or two may help. Then reduce the amount of time the lights are on.

What is your light schedule?

And as has been previously mentioned, flow is something to look at. I've found that Cyano tends to take hold in low flow areas.

Interesting about lights… my lighting schedule is ramp up at 7:00am then sunset at 9pm. Ramp time is 90 mins and at night i have a moonlight on not bright very dim. Thinking about setting sunset an hour back? Don’t like the idea about blacking out just cause of the fish unless I have nothing to worry about

 

[Dburr1014]

Nutrients are probably not balanced. Nitrate 0,do you know phosphate?

 

[jsker]

Params are :
1.023 salinity
7.8 ph
.25 ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
Please forgive me still using api kit (so I assume the ammonia is 0) but planning on getting all the Hanna checkers soon.
My question is is cyano something that comes and goes or do I need to treat it? If it’s just part of the ugly phase I’ll just scrape it off do water changes. I’d really rather not use chemicals. All corals are fine besides my Kenya tree which hasn’t opened since it got bad, fish and inverts are fine

Cyano is mainly caused by nutrient imbalance. Lighting will have a small part.

Your going to need some nitrates and phosphates in your system. For example, if you had 0 nitrates and .06 phosphates, you will get cyano. Another example, if you have 50pm nitrates .06 phosphates you will get cyano.

If you are running a low nutrient system. you will want your nitrates between a 3 and 5 ppm and phosphates around .02 to .04. Myself I run a dirtier system and keep phosphates between a 04 to .06 and my nitrates between a 10 to 20 ppm.

Your corals look healthy, so there are both nitrates and phosphates in your system, how much Of each Is the question.

I would suggest having a water sample tested at a local fish store. I would suggest picking up some Hanna checkers for Ca, Alk, Mg, No3, Po4. Your salinity could come up to 1.0026. As long as you us clean the syringes and tips for the reagents, you will have consistent test with any test. Hanna took the color charts and reading out. I also like the Aquaforest tests for, accuracy, price, and eases.

 

[stoney7713]

It's definitely because of nutrients being off. Zero nitrates is the red herring.

Manually remove as much as you can, increase flow, try and get your nutrients up some.

If you want to treat your tank you could but it will probably come back till you get things balanced out.

 

[Seansea]

Drop an antibiotic in your tank. Poof gone. Erythromycin you can get any pet store. You running a fuge or algae scrubber? If not suggest you do so you get this kind of crap there rather than your display.

 

[Dom]

Interesting about lights… my lighting schedule is ramp up at 7:00am then sunset at 9pm. Ramp time is 90 mins and at night i have a moonlight on not bright very dim. Thinking about setting sunset an hour back? Don’t like the idea about blacking out just cause of the fish unless I have nothing to worry about

So if I am understanding you, your ramp up starts at 7am and lasts for 90 minutes. This means that your lights are at full intensity by 8:30am and lasts until 9pm, ramping down and turning off by 10:30pm.

That is a lot of light intensity over a long period. I'd cut back.

My lighting is as follows:

2 hour ramp up starting at 11am. I am at full intensity at 1pm and stay there until 7pm. Then the ramp down of two hours, going dark at 9pm. Then I do 4 hours of moonlight starting at 10pm.

 

[Dburr1014]

So if I am understanding you, your ramp up starts at 7am and lasts for 90 minutes. This means that your lights are at full intensity by 8:30am and lasts until 9pm, ramping down and turning off by 10:30pm.

That is a lot of light intensity over a long period. I'd cut back.

My lighting is as follows:

2 hour ramp up starting at 11am. I am at full intensity at 1pm and stay there until 7pm. Then the ramp down of two hours, going dark at 9pm. Then I do 4 hours of moonlight starting at 10pm.

Good point.
My lights are on 12 hours but only peak for 5. 3.5 ramp up 3.5 ramp down.

 

[Dom]

Good point.
My lights are on 12 hours but only peak for 5. 3.5 ramp up 3.5 ramp down.

Can you dial back the intensity by about 20%?

 

[Mikemilly245]

So if I am understanding you, your ramp up starts at 7am and lasts for 90 minutes. This means that your lights are at full intensity by 8:30am and lasts until 9pm, ramping down and turning off by 10:30pm.

That is a lot of light intensity over a long period. I'd cut back.

My lighting is as follows:

2 hour ramp up starting at 11am. I am at full intensity at 1pm and stay there until 7pm. Then the ramp down of two hours, going dark at 9pm. Then I do 4 hours of moonlight starting at 10pm.

Sorry should have clarified, ramp up starts at 7am for 90 mins, then starts ramping down for 90 mins at 7:30pm, going dark at 9pm. Dialed it back to go dark at 8pm now. Planning to back it down more just wanted to do it gradually.

Hopefully that will help the rapid growth, guess I’ll try to remove some more today and see how fast it grows back..

P.S. My Kenya still hasn’t opened, everything else seems okay. Does that have something to do with the cyano ? Tried to brush it off the base of It but still hasn’t opened

 

[Dom]

Sorry should have clarified, ramp up starts at 7am for 90 mins, then starts ramping down for 90 mins at 7:30pm, going dark at 9pm. Dialed it back to go dark at 8pm now. Planning to back it down more just wanted to do it gradually.

Hopefully that will help the rapid growth, guess I’ll try to remove some more today and see how fast it grows back..

P.S. My Kenya still hasn’t opened, everything else seems okay. Does that have something to do with the cyano ? Tried to brush it off the base of It but still hasn’t opened

Are you doing water changes? If so, how much?

What is the volume of the tank?

 

[Dom]

Sorry should have clarified, ramp up starts at 7am for 90 mins, then starts ramping down for 90 mins at 7:30pm, going dark at 9pm. Dialed it back to go dark at 8pm now. Planning to back it down more just wanted to do it gradually.

Hopefully that will help the rapid growth, guess I’ll try to remove some more today and see how fast it grows back..

P.S. My Kenya still hasn’t opened, everything else seems okay. Does that have something to do with the cyano ? Tried to brush it off the base of It but still hasn’t opened

That’s still 11 hours at full intensity. I like that you’ve dialed it back, but it still may not be enough.

Please be sure to clean up the tank after the light adjustment and then monitor.

But it’s not just about growth/no growth. It’s about the rate of growth.

So if you get growth again, don’t get discouraged. If the growth rate slows from your changes, you’re on the right track.

 

[Mikemilly245]

Are you doing water changes? If so, how much?

What is the volume of the tank?

I’ve done 1 a month, started the tank the first of the year. Biocube 16 gallon

I’ve tweaked it a bit more and I’ll see how it grows. Gonna clean it again today get new carbon and maybe another water change next week. Thanks for the tips, glad it’s something that I can manage without chemicals I hate doing that

 

[Dom]

I’ve done 1 a month, started the tank the first of the year. Biocube 16 gallon

I’ve tweaked it a bit more and I’ll see how it grows. Gonna clean it again today get new carbon and maybe another water change next week. Thanks for the tips, glad it’s something that I can manage without chemicals I hate doing that

Okay! I like that you are doing water changes as this is an effective way to export nutrients.

But as a general rule, water changes need to be FAITHFUL, WEEKLY and 20% of the total water volume.

Monthly water changes will result in chemistry swings. The more frequent the water changes, the smaller the chemistry swings.

Smaller swings = greater stability. And stability is our friend in this hobby.

So you would need to do a weekly water change of 3.2 gallons per week. I'd round up to 4 gallons.