What’s this red stuff??

Lavey29 · Aug 30, 2022

jjjones said:
I do try to clean the stuff up in there to keep it lookin nice… you can’t see it but I do have some hair algae on the glass and my power head. I also have some slime algae hidden in the rocks

Something is off in your environment and it is not maturing at a normal level. It's all about lighting, flow and parameters so let's start with lighting and flow specs?

Nano sapiens · Aug 30, 2022

WheatToast said:
Some other benign encrusting algae (ex. Peyssonnelia and Hildenbrandia) are often misidentified as "red coralline" and may be what OP is seeing...

If it feels greasy to the touch and doesn't scrape off easily then it's likely one of these two. It can grow in new tanks or old ones and is usually submissive to true coralline algae and corals steamroll right over it. I had it come in on a frag plug and I think it's a rather colorful and interesting organism.

I agree with the comments that this aquarium does not look like one that's 6-8 months old (many of these young dry rock started reef aquaria either look sterile like this or have major pest algae issues). Seeding with some live reef (ocean or mature reef aquarium) material should get the ball rolling if other parameters are acceptable (not 'Bacteria in a bottle' which is a single or just a few out of the many hundreds of bacteria/archaea species associated with a reef).

Lavey29 · Aug 30, 2022

Nano sapiens said:
If it feels greasy to the touch and doesn't scrape off easily then it's likely one of these two. It can grow in new tanks or old ones and is usually submissive to true coralline algae and corals steamroll right over it. I had it come in on a frag plug and I think it's a rather colorful and interesting organism.

I agree with the comments that this aquarium does not look like one that's 6-8 months old (many of these young dry rock started reef aquaria either look sterile like this or have major pest algae issues). Seeding with some live reef (ocean or mature reef aquarium) material should get the ball rolling if other parameters are acceptable (not 'Bacteria in a bottle' which is a single or just a few out of the many hundreds of bacteria/archaea species associated with a reef).

Yes if you get some live ocean rock you could Jumpstart your tanks biodiversity and microfauna.

reefsaver · Aug 30, 2022

jjjones said:
Even tho it has copepods and amphipods???

Over the first year, your reef will mature, the smaller the tank the longer it takes, if you don't add wild corals or live rock in particular, the process takes even longer. Established mature aquariums can house livestock that are hard to keep, a good example is a Dragonets, or even Anemones, Dragonets need a steady and never ending supply of copepods with self sustaining populations. Unless you sell your Kidney and buy captive bred one that's been raised on Frozen food all it's life.

jjjones · Aug 30, 2022

Dorsetsteve said:
At per post 18, there should be a whole raft of algaes etc over that rock work. At this stage you shouldn’t really be able to see the raw rock, particularly on any light facing piece. How are you maintaining your levels? Does the tank receive much light?

Well now it does receive light every day from about 8 am-8:30 pm
About 2-3 months ago it wasn’t getting this much light

Dorsetsteve · Aug 30, 2022

jjjones said:
Well now it does receive light every day from about 8 am-8:30 pm
About 2-3 months ago it wasn’t getting this much light

What kind of light, not brand, I mean like power.
I’d add a piece of mature rock and have done with it personally.

kevgib67 · Aug 30, 2022

In the full tank pic, the zoas on the plug in the sand are really really reaching for light. I would suspect your lighting may not be sufficient.

jjjones · Aug 31, 2022

Dorsetsteve said:
What kind of light, not brand, I mean like power.
I’d add a piece of mature rock and have done with it personally.

This is the light I used and here’s a pic of the placement of it. (I used my hand for reference)

Dorsetsteve · Sep 4, 2022

Ok this is starting to make sense.

Couple of questions. Is the light on that black drip tray the syringe is holding up?

Aside from the Zoa, have you added any other life? Clean up crew for example?

Do you add any nutrients and do you have any testable levels of Nitrate and Phosphate?

jjjones · Sep 5, 2022

Dorsetsteve said:
Ok this is starting to make sense.

Couple of questions. Is the light on that black drip tray the syringe is holding up?

Aside from the Zoa, have you added any other life? Clean up crew for example?

Do you add any nutrients and do you have any testable levels of Nitrate and Phosphate?

That white light on the tray is not what I use, it’s actually a coral light that I use. I do have a clean up crew: nassarious snails, astrea snails, and a nerite snail. And I tested last night and I did have a bit of phosphates in there so I decided to cut back on feedings and I did a water change last night