Algae ?

[Hailey.13]

Hi there I can really use advise about my rock. It was going a nice purple and I thought everything was going good. Now I think I might have been wrong this stuff looks real thick on the rock and just does not look right to me. Do you think I need to take this rock out of the tank and clean it off? Thank you for any advice, I am including a picture. http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/152463rock.jpg

[sruiz]

coraline algea.

[bertoni]

Does it blow off with a turkey baster? If so, it might be red slime, but it does look like coralline or perhaps a sponge to me. What's the consistency?

[Hailey.13]

good question up untill now I have not touched it..but it is slimy and comes right off...

[bertoni]

That's cyanobacteria. I'd just use a turkey baster to clean the rock and remove as much cyanobacteria as is easy to get. Taking the live rock out of the tank can cause problems by killing organisms. If the tank has only been set up a couple of months or less, this type of bloom is normal.

[harryk]

its cyano. try and manually remove as much as you can.

[SimilanRocks]

I had the same cyano problem before. High flow will eliminate them. What's your flow rate? I would add mroe powerheads and flow.

The real problem is the water parameters, high nitrate/phosphate/silicate.