Help Identifing stuff growning in tank

[ncscuba]

Noticed this stuff in my 45G tank this morning. Any help would be appreciated.

If it helps, the water test I just did shows about 20ppm Nitrate and the slightest bit of Ammonia and 0 Nitrite. I have been using RO water since the beginning.



This is in three different spots in my tank now




Really hard to tell but the spots on the front of the rock are purplish in color



Green spot is new. The red spots are on all my rock and are hard to the touch, I am guessing coralline

 

[Sniperhank]

The red is cyanobacteria and the green is most likely algae starting to grow. These guys feed off of the nutrients in the water column, aka your nitrates. Better water quality will lead to less algae. You can also increase flow as cyano grows in low flow areas. There is a link to an article in our article section about fighting algae.

 

[ncscuba]

I have 40 some odd lbs of live rock and am running an aquaclear70 with all the media in it. If I take out the biological media from the aqua clear and do a water change would that be the best way to lower the nitrates?

 

[Sniperhank]

Water changes are your best way to remove nitrates.
Just so happens it also replenished any good stuff that would have been used up.
There is media that claims nitrate removal, but haven't seen any success from the stuff.
Things like protein skimmers will pull poop and excess food from the water column to prevent it from turning into nitrates and phosphates.
Also feeding less will assist with these levels. I only feed my reef tank every 3 days.


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[ncscuba]

Noticed this spreading more too

 

[Cichlid-dude]

That would be sponge. It is harmless filter feeder.


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