Coraline, cyno, of what is this LIME GREEN stuff?

[inetmug]

Hi All,

You can see the "lime green" on the top of of the rocks. I also have some deeper greens that look like coraline, but this lime stuff has me thinking this can not be good. If the pictures do not work I will take some smaller ones tommorrow. I need help here for sure.

I have had my white 10K lights out last week waiting for a replacement so only the actinic blues were on. The green definately grew that week but it was there about 2 weeks ago. For instance, many of the little shells and rocks on the bottom were purple'ish are now green'ish. So the purple has faded a bit. I have the whites back on as of Monday as I got them locally.

Nothing seems to be eating it. As you can see it is not hariy. The guy in the fish store told me to check if it was slimey, and if it rubs off on my finger. When I rub on the rock I get a bit of slippery feel but not what I can slimey, and it does not remove, it is almost like it is hard'ish. I can dig my nail in it and it does not come off. I would say it feels about the same as the purple. Given that he suggested it may be the beginning of coraline. I do have some green on the glass that I need to scrub a bit with the magnet (2-3 times before it all releases) so I am not thinking it is slimey green alge, which I understand is not too pretty. The stuff on the glass has a darker green tint. It is hard to see if the snails are actually eating it or not on the glass. But the stuff is starting to go down into the sand in a few spots. Am I now am thinking the purple is fading, and getting white around the edges.

The skimmer seems to be skimming away, phosphates are very low, calcium and PH a little low and I adjust daily, nitrates a little high at 20.

Three emerald crabs, 20-30 turbos, and blue legs and scarlets. The three chromas appear normal.

56 gallon, canister, AquaC Remora PS, plenty of current, live sand bed, Fugi live rock. It seemed like this tank was taking off and purple was jumping everywhere and then bang, this green stuff started. It is nice looking in doses but seems too crazy to be good and it looks like it is taking over. I get my water from a 4 filter RO/ion system that gets tested.

I am going to cut back the lights to 5 hours/day and see what that does.

There was a thread back in '04 but the pics are gone so I can not see what it looked like:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f33/lime-green-algae-26855.html

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

My coralline comes in green to start with. Pretty sure that's what you're seeing if you can't get it off easy. I wouldn't change your lighting period because of it.

Regarding your purple coralline fading to white, what exactly are your calcium and alkalinity numbers?

 

[inetmug]

More on the lime green stuff

My coralline comes in green to start with. Pretty sure that's what you're seeing if you can't get it off easy. I wouldn't change your lighting period because of it.

Regarding your purple coralline fading to white, what exactly are your calcium and alkalinity numbers?

I am using the two part Ocean's Blend stuff for PH/Alkalinity and Calcium. When I test the PH seems to be between 8 and 8.2, and calcium about 350. I have been trying to get it up to 8.3/8.4 and 450 consitently but have been having trouble.

Someone on that old thread mentioned that if it looks "bubbly" (with very small bubbles) that it may be cyno bacteria? On the big main rock (top right), it does look like it might be like that a bit, or it could be just the rock texture. On other areas it looks smoother like the purple areas. So the guess the big question is what does a cyno look like and how does it feel to the touch?

I should also mention that I have the actenic on for 9 hours, and whites on for 8 hours, with the blue about a half hour on each side of the white. No led moon lights unless we want it for viewing pleasure.

I also have a serpent start and sea cucumber in there.

One other thing is the tank has no sump. I often have the protein slick so I added another pump to break that up. I did get the pre-filter for the remora hoping that would skim but it does not work well at all.

I did see some post that talk about the darker coralines needing less light so that is why I was thinking about changing it.

 

[inetmug]

Lime green stuff? If coraline ok, if not...

Guys, I posted in the general thread as well. I would really like to ID this stuff to make sure it is not cyno.

 

[Fluff]

I'm pretty sure it's not cyano. Can it be brushed off or is it encrusted on the rock? I think it is coralline algae.

 

[melosu58]

Both threads merged together.

 

[inetmug]

More on the lime green stuff

I'm pretty sure it's not cyano. Can it be brushed off or is it encrusted on the rock? I think it is coralline algae.

It is hard. I have a hard time digging a finger nail into it. And it is moving down into the sand in the glass front like the purple coraline does.

What does cyno feel/look like? Any pictures anywhere? I am still new on this stuff but I get the feeling that cyno is bad bad stuff.

I would agree that it is coraline, and I love the color - to a degree. I think is is cool stuff, but not at the expense of any and all other colors. The green was starting a "bit" on top of a rock prior to my white lights dying out. I just never expected it to take over like this. As stated in the original post, the rocks/shell on the bottom were purple, as the shells on the crabs and such, but now that has all turned green.

Perhaps I have a real anomaly here and can grow lime green coraline for fun and profit?

thanks for the help

 

[inetmug]

There is one thing that I just realized that has changed - my salt provider. I used to use instant ocean in bulk, but on my last order I started using the H2Ocean brand magnesium pro plus mix. That would have been around the time the change started occuring.

Salt Mix > Saltwater Aquarium Supplies

the reason I went with this is the way it was boasted about in reviews regarding the CA and such. But oddly I have not as of yet reached 430-450 (only takes seven drops total to turn color). My PH as been rising slowly and seems to be holding better. I switched off the standard PH buffer powder (forget the name but popular) as I was getting bouncing all the time since the alkalinity was probably low.

 

[Ziggy953]

Like Kurt said, my coraline comes in bright green like that before turning purple. Cyano usually shows up on the sand and in areas of low flow with lots of detritus. If you can't scratch it with your finger nail then it is not cyano. Cyano will float away with just a little bit of water movement.

 

[inetmug]

Ok folks, based on everything I have heard here and elsewhere, I would say we understand that it is not a bad thing other than maybe too much lime .

thanks so much for the info.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Regarding your calcium levels... my guess is that your purples are turning white due to your calcium level. In my opinion, you need Ca levels of at least 380 to get the coralline going good.

Depending on your alkalinity level, you may want to dose with just the Ca part for a while until your Ca levels rise - or use TurboCalcium. Try not to elevate your Calcium more than 20ppm per day. But without knowing your alkalinity level, we can't really give specific advice. (Alkalinity is different than pH.)

 

[inetmug]

Thanks Kurt, that makes good sense. Should I be testing amonioa as well?

This is like a full blown pool kit. I have been buying these tests seperately as I have been going along. Is there a "mother of all test kits" ROFLMAO

 

[DJLiquid]

That my friend is coraline algae. Mine (wish I took a picture) did the same before it turned into a pale purple. Looking good!!!