to clean or not to clean

[melissfish]

i regularly clean the sides and front of my tank , but have just let the algae grow on the back, i thought this was beneficial, but now its getting red spots and looking ugly. Shall i leave it there or wipe it off. (P.S. I only have one herbivorous fish, a baby blue tang 1 inch long.)

 

[darb2]

That is what I do. But the red spots may be cyano. I would siphon them out.

 

[gear-head]

Are you sure the red spots are not coraline algae?

 

[lando]

I clean the sides and front of my tank. I let the back go. It is getting covered in purple coraline algea.

 

[Anemoneman]

Just keep an eye on the side(s) you don't clean. If it is growing cyano it means there is low flow across the back of the tank. Low flow also encourages dinoflagelates (snot algae) which should not be allowed to grow.

 

[melissfish]

what is cyano and how do you control it. i have scraped this off the back and siphoned it but it was quite hard to remove, it was growing at a really quick rate. could it be from using reef supplements, by the directions of course.

 

[Sparky]

My purple coraline algae starts out red and then turns to purple. If it hard calcerous stuff on the glass, it is probably not cyno bacteria. I never clean the back of my glass. Just the fron and the sides. My rocks were covered in spots of red and then it turned (most of it) to purple. I also have red coraline too.

Mike

 

[8965]

i too have algae growing on the back of my tank. right now i wipe most of it off. does it make a difference if i keep in on our not?

 

[BillyZ]

cyano bacteria will be a thin, slimy sheet. It's usually red or green. syphon it off with airline tubbing (or any kind of tubing) and adjust your PHs to direct more water movement in those areas.