Is this Cyno?

[FrEsHaZzBuRu]

I took the best picture I could of it - sorry for the clowns, but they love attention and wanted to pose . Right now, it is isolated on this piece of LR only. (In pic, biggest portion is indicated with arrow)

I tried comparing it to other's pictures, but it's hard to tell from their, and many of the ones I seen have reddish tints to it.

If an ID can be made, can advice be given to rid of this as well? Thank you.

[cloak]

I don't think so. It kinda resembles lobophora though.

[thebkramer]

WELCOME TO RC & THE ADDICTION!!

Hmmmm.... can't really tell from pic..
how long has your tank been up and running? when did you finish cycle? add fish? can we have more info about your tank? size, water params, lighting, etc ? please? lol

my clowns LOVE to be in the way all the time too

but back to ?.. does it feel slimy or rub off easily?? if so.. possibly cyano.. could be a part of the "new tank syndrome" you will see some different algae blooms over the course of the next few months..
it actually looks like a sponge in the pic.. thats why I ask for the texture of it?

[FrEsHaZzBuRu]

Originally Posted by cloak

I don't think so. It kinda resembles lobophora though.

Thank you, I'll research more about it to determine whether this is what's growing or not.

Originally Posted by thebkramer

Hmmmm.... can't really tell from pic..
how long has your tank been up and running? when did you finish cycle? add fish? can we have more info about your tank? size, water params, lighting, etc ? please? lol

Tank is about a month and half old after cycling (about 2 months old total). Clowns have been in for a little over a week.

My thread for my build is linked. I'll include a snippet here...

Current parameters as of a few minutes ago before feeding are:
(API test kit)
Ammonia closer to the color for 0 than 0.25ppm
Nitrite is 0ppm
Nitrate is between the color of 0ppm and 5ppm

I don't have Phosphate or Calcium testing kits yet.

Tank details:
29 Gallon standard all glass
pH: 8.2-8.4
SG: 1.025
LR: 30lbs
Substrate: 20 lbs LS on top of 10 lbs BS

Current equipment:
Stock hood w/ one built-in T8 24" 18W Florescent bulb (for now)
100W heater
Digital Thermometer
425gph hydor PH
HOB power filter w/ Chemi-Pure Elite
Kent Hi-S RO/DI

Just ordered a dim-able LED system with 24 x 3w LED bulbs (in route now).

I'm picking up a HOB skimmer as we speak. Not sure of the brand, but my friend had a brand new one and offered it to me for free last night - so it'll keep me more afloat until I decide what type of refugium I want to go for.

Originally Posted by thebkramer

but back to ?.. does it feel slimy or rub off easily?? if so.. possibly cyano.. could be a part of the "new tank syndrome" you will see some different algae blooms over the course of the next few months..
it actually looks like a sponge in the pic.. thats why I ask for the texture of it?

I took more pictures - it rubs off easily, it does feel slightly slimy, and in the tank on the rock it looks sort of hairy.

In the pic where i put a sample on a styrofoam cup (to see better against a white background), it appears to have green tint. Is it really just hair algae I"m dealing with?

[philosophile]

Yeah it looks like hair algae.

Like I wrote in your other thread, you're going to go through cycles of this stuff.... But with HA, you might want to try to jump on top of that right now.... Freshen up your chemi-pure (it has GFO in it, and it might be used up)

Do some water changes, beef up your CUC a little, make sure you're not overfeeding.

[cloak]

I'm not sure what it is, but I've never seen brown hair algae before. Dinoflagellates maybe, (there kind of hairy) but not the hair algae that seems to plague many of us. (green) Diatoms perhaps? I'm just going by the color.

[FrEsHaZzBuRu]

Originally Posted by philosophile

Yeah it looks like hair algae.

Like I wrote in your other thread, you're going to go through cycles of this stuff.... But with HA, you might want to try to jump on top of that right now.... Freshen up your chemi-pure (it has GFO in it, and it might be used up)

Do some water changes, beef up your CUC a little, make sure you're not overfeeding.

Is this common for chemi-pure to go bad so fast? I just added it last week which replaced the regular cartridge.

And yeah, I've been meaning to beef up my crew, any suggestions for the new additions?

Originally Posted by cloak

I'm not sure what it is, but I've never seen brown hair algae before. Dinoflagellates maybe, (there kind of hairy) but not the hair algae that seems to plague many of us. (green) Diatoms perhaps? I'm just going by the color.

I definitely have a diatom problem (that's clearing up - was all over all the rocks.. but now it's only isolated to that piece which is the last piece I added recently), but I was referring to the gray stuff growing on top of/next to the brown diatoms.

[cloak]

The grey stuff huh? There was a thread the other day where somebody was having some problems with this unknown algae. Chrysophytes was the answer. (sort off) Look into it.

[FrEsHaZzBuRu]

So I went to get my water tested at my LFS, they confirmed all my basic parameters were at 0. They then checked my phosphates and not surprisingly, they were at 1.0ppm which would most likely be the culprit to the bloom.

They think it is most likely just normal hair algae and may just be the lighting (or lack there of) in my tank which makes it look gray. Cyan growth would be red in color, which he is positive it is not. He recommended I keep up the water changes and try some phosphate-E for the meantime to see if it helps at all.

[thebkramer]

personally.. I would not add anything to your tank... not really necessary when you can "fix" it naturally
are you using RO/DI water or tap?? sorry if you stated this already..
like I said before... its all part of the "newbie tank syndrome" and "should" pass on its own..
keep an eye on it.. but I wouldn't mess with it too much.. manually remove what you can and wait the rest out.. it def should pass.....
of course.. continue reg water changes.. maybe try adding some macro...

[FrEsHaZzBuRu]

Originally Posted by thebkramer

personally.. I would not add anything to your tank... not really necessary when you can "fix" it naturally
are you using RO/DI water or tap?? sorry if you stated this already..
like I said before... its all part of the "newbie tank syndrome" and "should" pass on its own..
keep an eye on it.. but I wouldn't mess with it too much.. manually remove what you can and wait the rest out.. it def should pass.....
of course.. continue reg water changes.. maybe try adding some macro...

Originally I used tap water when I was anxious to get everything started. A week later when I woke up to diatoms everywhere, I did some research and realized an RO/DI unit was a must. Every water change from the original fill has been using a 4-stage RO/DI unit (Kent Hi-S).

By waiting it out, does the phosphates reduce? The only chemical I plan to use is a phosphate reducer. Not going to mess with and "algae killers" or anything of that nature.

BTW, some people recommend using magnesium rather than pH buffers - what's the consensus here about that? I'm currently using Kent's reef buffer.

[Ponytrix]

Originally Posted by FrEsHaZzBuRu

And yeah, I've been meaning to beef up my crew, any suggestions for the new additions?

Fighting conchs for the sand bed and a few Mexican turbos for the rock & glass. Maybe some blue legged crabs. Those are a good base.

[PurpleMonkey]

+ 1 for fighting conch

also loving the ring cowries I put in... they do a great job of keeping the algae in check

[ReeferBill]

If it blows off with a blast from a turkey bastor it is red cyanobacteria!!!!