Purple coralline algae growing on my sand

simplystephanie

simplystephanie

Reefing newb
I have beautiful purple coralline algae growth on my live rocks :) but it's starting to spread onto my sand :( I really wanted to keep my sand white... should I syphon the algae off of the sand or just leave it? What do you recommend? :sfish:
 
I don't have a picture of it right now, but Ill post one in a couple of hours... my husband called and told me about it.. I asked him if it was like a dirty brown or brownish/red color but he said it's the same vibrant purple as the algae on the rock.
 
have him touch it and see if it is slimy or hard, if it is slimy it could be cyano that comes in all different colors.
 
Hola Everyone... so I took a piece of the mystery purple film to the lfs where I buy everything saltwater.. and it was coralline algae!

the associate said when there is an abundance of coralline in a tank it will begin to extend to the sand touching the rock.. especially with tanks that don't have much movement, fish (who keep everything stirred up) she said it's not as uncommon as people think because most just assume it's cyano.
 
simplystephanie said:
Hola Everyone... so I took a piece of the mystery purple film to the lfs where I buy everything saltwater.. and it was coralline algae!

the associate said when there is an abundance of coralline in a tank it will begin to extend to the sand touching the rock.. especially with tanks that don't have much movement, fish (who keep everything stirred up) she said it's not as uncommon as people think because most just assume it's cyano.
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crazy. how much coraline do you have in your tank? can you get some pics?
 
here's the clearest picture I could get with my phone.. I didn't think it was a lot considering the tank has not been up for long

the coralline was on the sand just below this rock.
 

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No worries, I have coralline on my sandbed too....
I have a small spot, under my HUGE frogspawn in the corner of the tank that gets MIINIMAL flow. The bigger grains of sand have purple coralline (which is growing on the bed - even over some discarded crab shells)......

You can slightly stir up the sand in that area if it bothers you....
 
Wanna hear something weird...I'm growing coralline on a strand of cheato in my fuge...now that's weird, so I can believe you have it on your sand.
 
Hi all, With coraline spreading nicely in my tank, controled by shadeing area's i want left alone, or green coraline only, I was amazed to see purple and pink appearing on my sand, in area's of plentiful light. [ I'm on L.E.D's by the way ]. I've left it, because it looks nice, but iff it starts to congeal in lumps, then I will sift it out as I would mulm ! I hope this helps you decide. Regards.
 
I like the look of coraline and want to add it to the tank we're starting up. Can i just go to the fish store and ask them to scrape some coraline off their tank for me to take home...?
 
Bifferwine said:
I also think it's cyanobacteria (red slime algae).
Click to expand...

Its cyano! Coralline does not grow on sand. Your nitrates and phosphatesmake it grow. Cyano also comes in green. Lowering the "trates" will be a big challenge and there different ways ot approach it. In the mean time try a dose of Red-Slime remover.
 

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