Help - what is this?

[Scrodes]

Hi guys, just need some help - I'm hoping this will be easy for you.



I have a FOWLR tank - 125 Gal plus sump.


I have what I thought was a red/brown algae. I asked at the local fish store and I was told that they thought it was probably red cyanobacteria. I proceeded to treat the tank as directed with Chemiclean. I ran the recommended dosage through in two separate treatments.

About the same time (a fraction of a month later) I upgraded my tank lighting to LED (AI Primes in place of florescent tubes).


I have since noticed that I have this red growth on my live rock. It has the appearance of red blood cells, almost like the bubbles of a BTA.



I took a photo (attached) to the LFS and a different employee told me it looks like coralline algae. After doing some searching around the internets (yes, I know) I remain unconvinced.






In short, does anyone know what this is?

(the white pieces are my substrate that the goby has thrown around.

 

[A1t2o]

Looks like a red macro algae that is growing from the rock. Looks nice. If you want to get rid of it I might recommend a dark out period. Just cover the tank so it gets 0 light for 3-5 days (no too tight to restrict air exchange) and all algae should die off. That's cool stuff though, so you may want to save some and put it in the sump with a light. It will feed off the nutrients, then you can harvest and toss some for nutrient export. Or you could sell it to reefers.

 

[Scrodes]

Cool thank you. I'm new to the hobby and I originally thought aptasia was cool...... lol little did I know.

I wanted to make sure this wasn't something similar that I was letting get out of control.

 

[A1t2o]

If you let it, it will take over your display tank. So don't just let it go either. I would recommend trying to contain it, or eradicate it completely. You could also let it grow and remove portions manually to keep it in check, but it will probably be on every rock if you do that. Maybe a fish will eat it, do a search on red macro algae and find out which one it is then see what fish will eat it.

 

[jeperry3]

I started having some algae problems after going with AI 26HDs. It was relatively minor, but annoying. After acclimation I backed off on the Red and Green channels and have found this has help, including with a similar algae to yours.

 

[Scrodes]

Beauty, thanks - that's about what I figured, I just wasn't sure if I wanted to mess around with the colour levels, I'm way too new for that.

 

[Sk8r]

Do not let rooted macro grow in your tank. It can become wall to wall, if your tank is not large enough to house a fish that eats it.

 

[Scrodes]

I have green macro of several types in the sump, this red stuff is in the DT, and so far it grows solely on the live rock. Do you have a specific fish in mind Sk8r? My longnose butterfly seems picky and although it pokes around it seems to only be eating the regular green algae

 

[Scrodes]

I picked up a Naso.

They actually had some of the same red macro growing on the return pipe in one of the tanks, one of the employees grabbed some and put it in some of the tanks with different Tangs in them in order to see which tangs had a pallet for it.