What type of algae is this?

[kurfer]

There is a deep purple hair algae that seems to infest areas of my tank, I noticed it's mostly under my rock or maybe (no way to really tell) in areas of low flow? The camera does make it look a little lighter than it really is. This issue came about about 3 days after introducing a Kalk stirrer to my ATO.

About 2 months ago (tank was new in December) I had a green hair algae problem, as you can see my rocks still have traces of the green algae (i'm sure that's not green corraline). I run a BRS GFO and Carbon reactor.

It's a 75G tank, not sure if I have flow problems. I have a hydor korellia 1050 about 2 inches from surface on left and a hydor korellia 1400 about 2 inches from surface on top. The 1400 is aimed slightly at rear glass while the 1050 is aimed slightly at front glass. Slightly angled up, anything less creates pileups in the sand bed.

Params:

Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Calcium: 440
Alk: 7.3
PH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79.3
Phosphates: 0
No ammonia

Using a reef octopus skimmer (150)

Here are pics:

http://i.imgur.com/ooOXR69.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yBCokHd.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KVwmKjh.jpg

[dragonsoul]

it looks like red slim and to get rid of use chem-clean..... shut off skimmers and take off carbon filter if any.......and use that chem-clean it should clear it up in a few days....hope that helps

[kurfer]

Hoping that's the issue! Thanks, it's been running since December and not a single trace of Coraline yet :(

I'm a patient man but this is borderline frustrating!

[geemanaz]

"Cyano" as it is commonly referred to is one or more species of cyanobatceria. It occurs commonly in almost every reef tank at some point, and is caused or encouraged by a number of reasons including:

Available nutrients - Especially phosphates and iron in this case.
Low flow/Dead Zone - Cyano prefers growing in low flow areas.
Warmer Water - Cyano tends to grow faster in warmer water than in cooler water
Low Alkalinity- While not a cause, higher alkalinity tends to discourage cyano growth.
Possible "contaminated" water source like tap water, that has nutrients fueling the outbreak
Manual Removal: Wipe glass with mag float, light toothbrush hardier corals and the rocks. Cyano on the sand can sometimes be pulled off as a mat and discarded. You should use a net or a siphon to remove the cyano dislodged by the toothbrush. Don't be discouraged if it comes right back, cyano grows fast and is extremely efficient at consuming nutrients.On the bright side, it should die off once nutrients are managed.

Increase water changes to 30% a week with a high quality water source, such as distilled or RO/DI water. Be aggressive about removing any rotting organics in your tank that may be contributing to its growth.

Starving it out : Use a phosban reactor, or granulated ferric oxide to remove excess phosphates in the system. Check to make sure you are not feeding any foods that are particularly phosphate rich. Almost all foods when converted by animals will add to the tank's phosphates levels, but prepared foods like seasoned nori, liquified foods, gels and low quality fish meals tend to be higher in phosphates than other foods. Such feedings should be suspended or stopped if possible until the outbreak is under control.
post made by reefcleaners.org

[gone fishin]

Before using chemicals I would try other means. Judging by the pictures I would guess those are low flow areas. Maybe try adjusting the PH's and look into how much your feeding. just my 2 cents.

[Reef Bass]

cyano +1. Good synopsis geemanaz. In my case, vacuuming the sandbed more regularly helped to eliminate it.

No coraline huh? Hard to tell, but that flakey stuff in the back of pics 1 and 2 on the vertical glass looks a lot like it.

[kurfer]

cyano +1. Good synopsis geemanaz. In my case, vacuuming the sandbed more regularly helped to eliminate it.

No coraline huh? Hard to tell, but that flakey stuff in the back of pics 1 and 2 on the vertical glass looks a lot like it.

Yup, it was at one time. The tank setup has been up since only December but the tank itself was used (cleaned out) some of the old crusted algae remained on the corner overflow plastic (what you're seeing in the picture). The entire side and rear glass is fairly clean (just few dusting of bad algae that my turbo's clean up throughout the weeks).