Am I dealing with coralline algae?

[febrocky]

I’ve had a salt water aquarium for a year and 5 months, I’ve never had green algae grow on my glass, and rarely any purple. It’s mostly on my sand bed and on the live rock(the purple). For awhile I’ve been trying to get rid of it by siphoning it out or just scraping it off but then I came across something saying that it’s good algae? I’ll post a few pictures because I’m confused about it. Bad or good, I can’t seem to get rid of it. I change 25% of my water every week and I have a 15 gallon tank. Is it coralline algae? Any help or thoughts would be appreciated because I plan on adding coral soon! Thanks! (Don’t mind the fake plants, my clowns like to sleep in them lol)

 

[Brookster123]

I see some patchy coraline but the heavy, concentrated stuff is cyanobacteria. Not good.

 

[febrocky]

I see some patchy coraline but the heavy, concentrated stuff is cyanobacteria. Not good.

Okay, thanks! I’ll do my best to clear it up soon

 

[Brookster123]

It comes off easy with a toothbrush and light suction for removal. Added flow and lower nitrates to remedy.

 

[febrocky]

It comes off easy with a toothbrush and light suction for removal. Added flow and lower nitrates to remedy.

Sounds good, I plan on doing a water change tomorrow with self-mixed RODI water rather than the ocean water from the pet store. I’m hoping more frequent self-mixed water changes and moving my wave pump lower in my tank will help. I have a column tank and the pump is more towards the top above the live rock, not the best idea. Anyways, thanks!

 

[Brookster123]

Yah.. that ocean water... I've heard it can come loaded with excess nutrients. I've been using distilled water. 2 TDs.

 

[Hondatek]

Mixing your own saltwater with RODI is going to be the best bet for any salt tank. If the cyano does get out of hand it can be a real pain to get rid of. A trick I have used before is erythromycin. It is a fish medicine for bacterial infections ,but cyano being a bacteria it will kill it as well and not affect the beneficial bacteria in your tank . It will come back if you do not get your nitrates down though.

 

[febrocky]

Mixing your own saltwater with RODI is going to be the best bet for any salt tank. If the cyano does get out of hand it can be a real pain to get rid of. A trick I have used before is erythromycin. It is a fish medicine for bacterial infections ,but cyano being a bacteria it will kill it as well and not affect the beneficial bacteria in your tank . It will come back if you do not get your nitrates down though.

Good to know, thanks! I’m going to see if doing water changes with RODI mixed water helps clear it up a little first (tomorrow I’m doing my first change that isn’t pre bought sea water). It’s only on my LR and a little bit is on the sand but I’ll definitely look into that product considering the cyano is also on a fake plant that my clownfish like to sleep in. I don’t want to remove it because they’ve loved sleeping in plants since they were young. I’ll eventually remove it once I get something else that they’d host instead. Fake plants ruin the reef look that I’m going for but the fish have claimed the plant lol. Going to look into getting some coral for them after a few weeks of water changes with RODI water and fritz aquatics reef pro mix salt to balance everything out and hopefully get rid of the cyano

 

[54seaweed]

actually it looks like red slim IMO cayno is more on the brownish orange side