Diatoms?

spazthecat · #1 02/12/2005, 10:19 PM

Hi,

About 6 months ago I noticed a patch of mud-brown algae on one the rocks in my tank. Now that entire rock is covered. It is fairly hard, I can get it off with my fingernail if I scrape hard enough. I'm a little worried about. I've seen a couple of other patches of the same stuff pop up in other areas of the tank and on the glass and it grows over top of whatever is in its path. Any ideas on what this stuff is?

I have a 75gallon reef tank. I use R/O DI water for top offs and changes. My tank chemistries (nitrate, ammonia, PH, alk, Ca) are all normal. I don't really have any other algae issues other some some bubble algae that came in on a rock from my LFS. Lighting consists of 1 96W PC actinic and 2, 175W 10k MH.

Thanks,

Andy

Gools · #2 02/12/2005, 10:23 PM

you say you can't really scratch it off with your fingernail, then my guess would be that it is a coraline algae. I also have the brown coraline in my tank. In my opinion nothing to worry about.

spazthecat · #3 02/13/2005, 07:07 PM

Well, its difficult to scratch off with my fingernail. Not as difficult as the purple coralline growth I have and it is smoother to the touch and a bit slimy feeling. I was cleaning up the tank today and I was able to peel a section of it off because it had grown in layers and was forming little "shelves".

I have a picture here

The color isn't quite right. It doesn't have the reddish hue that you see in the picture. It really is more brown.

Thanks,
Andy

Gools · #4 02/13/2005, 07:31 PM

Oh yah that's coraline. My opinion anyways.

kenny77 · #5 02/13/2005, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gools
Oh yah that's coraline. My opinion anyways.

i think the same. coraline can be found in many color IME

Yodeling · #6 02/13/2005, 07:40 PM

I've had the same stuff on my rocks. Not sure what it is exactly but you really want to take care of it before it spreads too much. Like you said, fortunately it does not spread too quick. What worked for me was to scold it with boiling RO water. You can use a syringe to do this. You will notice it turning green mediately, then it will slowly disapear within next couple of days. Repeat this process until all of it is gone.

bleedinorange · #7 02/13/2005, 07:41 PM

I think coraline, good stuff don't worry. When It looks like mine then worry

Yodeling · #8 02/13/2005, 07:47 PM

If your goal is to give your rock that nice s**t brown color than yes, it's good. Otherwise get rid of it.

Yodeling · #9 02/13/2005, 07:51 PM

Here's picture of mine when I was starting to get worried, just for comparison. You can see how it is starting to grow on top of coraline. It will eventualy cover everything.

spazthecat · #10 02/14/2005, 05:19 PM

Yeah, that's the stuff. Just plain ugly in a reef tank. Thanks, I'll try the scalding. Maybe a silly question, but did you do that while it was in the tank? As luck would have it, that stuff is on the largest rock in my tank. Which, of course, is the rock on the very bottom of the pile. I'm not looking forward to dismantling everything to get at it........

Yodeling · #11 02/14/2005, 06:06 PM

Yes I did this underwater. Just draw boiling water into a syringe, and spray the area under water. Make sure no corals and invertabrates are around. Worked great for me. If you have the same stuff as me, you should see it turn green as your scold it. That means you killed it.

spazthecat · #12 02/14/2005, 07:41 PM

OK. I'll give it another try tomorrow. I tried it this evening and I didn't notice any change in color.

I'm thinking I'll cut back on the photoperiod with the halides also. The growth of this stuff seemed to speed up when I went to 11 hours.

Andy

less · #13 02/14/2005, 07:53 PM

i think this is the same turns from brown to yellow at different times, seems after a water change it turns yellow

sm01 · #14 03/18/2005, 11:07 PM

Hey -- Could you guys please take a look at my thread? I am having my own issues with brown sh*t growing on my rocks, and I would love to hear your opinion. Here is a link to the thread:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=551201

Thanks in advance!

NaH2Ofreak · #15 03/18/2005, 11:23 PM

Just out of curosity, are you folks that are getting this brown algae also using Oceanic brand salt???

Dennis

AugustWest · #16 03/18/2005, 11:23 PM

So what is this stuff? I have it too, mainly grows on the back wall of my tank, on the overflows, and grows right over the coralline. I rip it off with my hands every time I do a water change, seems to keep it in check.
Same stuff as in Yodeling's pic. Thought I was the only poor Bastard that had this stuff.

reefdood · #17 03/18/2005, 11:47 PM

I have a small rock growing that stuff (I think). I thought it was a light loving sponge bacause it has the "cracks" and random holes like some sponges. I'll just yank it out I guess cause it's on a golfball sized rock, no big loss.

spazthecat · #18 03/19/2005, 08:57 AM

I had been using Kent's salt but I was having a lot of trouble with algae in general. I recently switch over to Bio-sea Marine Mix and things in my tank improved overall. Algae receeded (except for this brown crap and some buble algae). All my soft corals are reproducing like mad. Great stuff.

spazthecat · #19 03/19/2005, 08:59 AM

I never have figured out what it is exactly. But Yodeling's suggestion for scalding works great. One thing different that I noticed is that only a small portion of mine turned green but die off was still good. I much larger patch that what was discolored.