Any Clue to what this is?

[primetyme941]

Noticed these red spots pop up on my rock a little over a week ago. It slowly has increased in number and spread to back wall of tank. They are stationary and are not flat, almost like bumps. I noticed it shortly after feeding with zooplankton (don't know if that has anything to do with it). Any ideas?

 

[mneddy]

Looks like cyano is starting to grow

 

[primetyme941]

That's what I thought at first but I didn't think cyano like liked high flow and that one rock is right underneath a powerhead.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I'm pretty sure that's not cyano... It's coralline algae! Many people would kill to have it growing that can't get it to grow. It's a natural part of a tank maturing. No worries unless you don't like it. It will completely cover your rocks and have a beautiful purple color when matured. In the meantime you will get a beautiful color show while it grows on the rocks. Red, lime green, yellow and finally purple. I love the stuff.

To test if it is actually coralline or not see how it feels. If it's hard to scrape off its coralline, if not it's something else. Cyano is usually a red snot looking stuff that more often than not starts on the sand bed and spreads rather quickly.

 

[primetyme941]

Ok, coralline I don't mind. It threw me off a little with it growing on top of the existing coralline on my back wall that you can see in the second picture. Thought of coralline also, but the growth pattern didn't seem to fit although it didn't come off when I lightly rubbed it with a wire brush so maybe it is.

 

[ca1ore]

Can you describe the growth a bit more; or provide a close up. Hard to tell from the photos, but it almost looks tufty? Definitely not cyano, but doesn't really look like coraline to me either. Maybe red tuft algae or some kind of formiferan?

 

[primetyme941]

Can you describe the growth a bit more; or provide a close up. Hard to tell from the photos, but it almost looks tufty? Definitely not cyano, but doesn't really look like coraline to me either. Maybe red tuft algae or some kind of formiferan?

From what I can see there aren't tufts or protrusions, just bumps. I checked out images of Foraminifera and they do look similar minus the appendages. What is the significance of those btw...good, bad?

Below is the best closeup I could get

 

[Ohioreef1700]

I have the same stuff it's coraline algae it adds some really good color to the tank most reefers would die to have it growing.