Brown Coralline

jlmawp · 03/05/2018, 08:33 PM

After having the tank up for over 2 years now, and not having introduced anything to my tank in 3 months, I suddenly have a patch of brown coralline algae on my rock, amongst a bunch of red, pink, and purple.

I've never seen it before, and thought it was interesting, so thought I'd share.

And no, it's not cyano. It's coralline.

Bent · 03/05/2018, 08:48 PM

Is that not a colony of sponges? Have you felt it? Is it hard like coraline or is it mushy?

jlmawp · 03/05/2018, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bent

Is that not a colony of sponges? Have you felt it? Is it hard like coraline or is it mushy?

Yep, hard like coralline and grows in a radius like it too. Definitely encrusting. I actually took the rock out the other day to clean some bubble algae off of it and did the ol' scratch test.

Bent · 03/05/2018, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlmawp

Yep, hard like coralline and grows in a radius like it too. Definitely encrusting. I actually took the rock out the other day to clean some bubble algae off of it and did the ol' scratch test.

Very cool!

reefinmike · 03/05/2018, 09:13 PM

I have had similar stuff many times. it grows in an encrusting/plating fashion similar to coralline. It is pretty tough algae but is not calcareous like coralline. try giving it a good scrape with your fingernail and see if you can scrape a little off. Or dry off a spot and see if vinegar bubbles up on it.

AlSimmons · 03/06/2018, 11:29 AM

What your seeing on that rock might be Lobophora as opposed to Coralline algae.

jlmawp · 03/06/2018, 12:58 PM

Interesting, just Googled it. Definitely possible. Most of the pics I see show it fanning/plating off of the surface, much like a monti would grow. Mine isn't doing that....yet, but I'll keep an eye out. It's only in one spot of the tank so far, and seems to be very slow-growing.

JZinCO · 03/06/2018, 01:34 PM

Lobophora is a good guess. I have some too. I have heard it described as a nuisance but mine has never been an issue. And some have found it to be really pretty when it plates like a monti or layered coraline.

Sorcha2 · 03/06/2018, 05:55 PM

That's really cool.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

03/05/2018, 08:33 PM	#1
jlmawp Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 595	Brown Coralline After having the tank up for over 2 years now, and not having introduced anything to my tank in 3 months, I suddenly have a patch of brown coralline algae on my rock, amongst a bunch of red, pink, and purple. I've never seen it before, and thought it was interesting, so thought I'd share. And no, it's not cyano. It's coralline.

03/05/2018, 08:48 PM	#2
Bent I got nothin' Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: The anals Posts: 6,420	Is that not a colony of sponges? Have you felt it? Is it hard like coraline or is it mushy? __________________ Quitters never lose. [QUOTE=CStrickland]Who gets mad at a starfish?[/QUOTE] Current Tank Info: 75g DT, 30G refugium, 10g chaeto tank, 50g stock tank basement sump

03/05/2018, 09:13 PM	#5
reefinmike Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: ohio Posts: 846	I have had similar stuff many times. it grows in an encrusting/plating fashion similar to coralline. It is pretty tough algae but is not calcareous like coralline. try giving it a good scrape with your fingernail and see if you can scrape a little off. Or dry off a spot and see if vinegar bubbles up on it. __________________ 90g reef lit by 2 kessil 360's and 4 T5's. 55g sump/fuge, eshopps s-200 skimmer and slowly working on getting every apex gadget

03/06/2018, 11:29 AM	#6
AlSimmons Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: California Posts: 2,482	What your seeing on that rock might be Lobophora as opposed to Coralline algae.

03/06/2018, 12:58 PM	#7
jlmawp Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 595	Interesting, just Googled it. Definitely possible. Most of the pics I see show it fanning/plating off of the surface, much like a monti would grow. Mine isn't doing that....yet, but I'll keep an eye out. It's only in one spot of the tank so far, and seems to be very slow-growing.

03/06/2018, 01:34 PM	#8
JZinCO Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: northern CO Posts: 502	Lobophora is a good guess. I have some too. I have heard it described as a nuisance but mine has never been an issue. And some have found it to be really pretty when it plates like a monti or layered coraline.

03/06/2018, 05:55 PM	#9
Sorcha2 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2017 Posts: 69	That's really cool. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk