What kind of Algae?

QuothTheRaven · Mar 25, 2023

Hey there, I'm still fairly new to saltwater. Can anyone tell me what this dark purple/violet at the top of my sand is? There has been very purple algae on decorative shells and on my live rock as well, and I understand it to be Coraline algae, but this seems a bit brighter and I'm not sure if it's the same.

mjw011689 · Mar 25, 2023

Looks like cyano to me. It can come in a few shades of red. Generally caused by excess nutrients, I’d look at phosphates and nitrates as a starter.
What kind of water are you using, and what kind of flow do you have?

QuothTheRaven · Mar 25, 2023

mjw011689 said:
Looks like cyano to me. It can come in a few shades of red. Generally caused by excess nutrients, I’d look at phosphates and nitrates as a starter.
What kind of water are you using, and what kind of flow do you have?

I use spring water and mix it myself with RPM reef pro salt, and I have an all in one tank with 2 pumps one in the back that came with the tank, and I added another to the front to help push water, it points toward the intake. At the time I bought the second pump I'd just put like another $600 into the tank and got a pump rather than one of the fan ones due to the cost. I assumed the important thing is that it's moving the water. Should I buy one of the fan ones for the flow?

Edit: also what is the best method for getting rid of cyano?

mjw011689 · Mar 25, 2023

As far as the flow, the goal is to eliminate dead spaces. Cyano TYPICALLY won’t spread in steady flow areas. It can if water parameters are that far off but not usually.

I’m not familiar with what’s in spring water, but I’m assuming it’s not zero on TDS like normal rodi would be. I’d start by checking phosphate and nitrate. If those are high, that’s gonna gauge it, especially if you have your lights on for too long.

there is treatments that can be used like chemiclean, but i prefer that as a last resort. Try to take care of it naturally by maintaining water quality before going nuclear. For what it’s worth, chemiclean absolutely works, but it can be harsh on long term health of corals/inverts