More strange stuff...hard algae?

[iwishtofish]

Does anyone know what this is? Does coralline come in brown?

- Thanks -

[KDodds]

Sure does, and tan and purple and pink and silver and green, lol. Looks like coralline to me.

[iwishtofish]

Thanks, KDodds. Could be a prettier color, eh?

[KDodds]

ROFL! Yeah, sure could. Hopefully it doesn't outcompete your other corallines. Right now I'm dealing with green. Ugh.

[m2434]

I just posted this answer in another thread, I guess I'll post it twice in a row

"Encrusting algaes come in many colors. Getting an exact ID is very difficult."

[AtlReef]

Looks like a diatom issue, Just clean it up and direct some more flow to that area and it shouldnt return.

[ludnix]

Originally posted by AtlReef
Looks like a diatom issue, Just clean it up and direct some more flow to that area and it shouldnt return.

I am extremely doubtful that's a diatom issue. All cases of diatoms I've seen are much lighter in color and not encrusting or hard.

[fambrough]

I have had this, still do a little bit. It looks quite nice to me. It's easy to flake off, if you don't like it.

What's in a name? We aquarists so often use scientific names with great inexactitude. The point being, if it were coralline, would you leave it alone? Or if I told you it was something else, would you remove it?

I believe this is not a rhodophyte (red algae, e.g. coralline), but a phaeophyte, a plating brown algae (Phaeophyta). Not sure of the genus. It looks similar to Lobophora, but I think it's something else. It can over-grow coralline algae, but I do not consider it a nusiance.

Besides the color difference from most corallines, I do not think this coral--unlike the corallines--is reef building.

You might get better answers in the marco algae forum.

Best of luck.

[JayB1224]

Looks like brown coralline to me. I have some in my 10g nano and i love the way it looks. I love the plated edges of it.

[m2434]

From what I understand the term corraline algae typically has been used to describe red algae of the family Corallinaceae. However, many people use it more generically, to describe desirable calcerous reef-building algae. For the most part these reef-building algae are red (including purple, pink etc...) or green. However there are some calcerous brown algae such as Dictyotales. So there can be calcerous brown algae, whether or not they are desirable, I guess is a personal opinion

[m2434]

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[DT's_Reef]

I had something that looked identical to what you have, and it eventually grew in abundance and then suddenly died off. It was a macro algae that was a pain. It would start off looking like brown corraline, then would mature and actually lift off the rock in a plate form. I hated the stuff. It did not feel like corraline, but wasn't slimy either.