Noob algae ID help- THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

[ktomminello]

Throw your thoughts on what these are at me, please- I think I'm losing my mind!! Thank you for any and all input!!

 

[mr_X]

A bunch of rocks, and a puffer. What are you looking at?

 

[Convict2161]

Mr. X I thought you knew your stuff?!? You didn't see the power head? Last pic there is a puffer but CLEARLY also a power head


seriously now... To the OP, what exactly are you seeing? I don't see anything wrong.

 

[Freak1456]

Could be a red tide cyano outbreak. The water seems to have a pinkish tinge to it or thats just the camera. That maybe what there talking about.

 

[Convict2161]

I thought it was the camera. Guess ill wait to see what the OP says.

 

[ktomminello]

It didn't show up as well as I wanted it to, it does on my phone and my mac. I know that there is cyano in there, I have some hair algae too, but the base rock was bone dry, it first crusted white and developed pink and red spots, now it's turning purple green and black, the rock next to it got the same white crust and got that turquoise looking stuff on it (2nd pic). In the 3rd pic you can't see it, but it has a red hard growth coming from what used to be a hole. In the last picture the piece of live rock to the left is deep purple and emerald green and it is spreading to the dead live rock (lol) next to it.

I also have this stuff growing out of the rock in the middle

 

[mr_X]

I don't see a whole lot of anything. I would just go easy on the feedings, and keep up your water changes. How often are you feeding?

 

[ktomminello]

I water change 10% per day and a 30% change once a week. I hand feed my puffer every couple of days, though I try introducing cleaners often and he shreds them.. I know I'm not over feeding only because when I first got him as a freshwater I did overfeed, treating him like the rest of my freshies, there were 2 in the beginning (supposed to be my hubbies) but when one died I decided to take over, did the research (that's why I joined AA) and started the process of changing him over. I think my tank is just now becoming fully mature. In the last picture that green stuff is growing out of the rock and it looks like a web, kind of looks like chaeto but I'm having a hard time believing it, and the other stuff I swore was coralline (hard, won't chip off, started white and when I started using purple tech began changing to pink and vivid purple) but I had a friend of mine tell me it was just more cyano, so now I'm all twitterpated and second guessing whether my tank is ok

 

[obscurereef]

Don't get too worried about the algae. Algae isn't going to kill your puffer, but why so many water changes? 10% a day along with the 30% is a lot. Is your tank cycled and if so for how long?

 

[ktomminello]

Yes, I had it stabilized and cycled for a few weeks before I introduced my puffer. It's been stable for 10 months, I check 3X a day with an API reef master test and as far as water changes are concerned I was told that I could either do what I'm doing now or do a 75% change per week because I turned the green spotted puffer salt 'too soon'. Please tell me I'm wrong, I would love to not have to constantly change water, oh, I only use purified ocean water for my changes as well so I am 100% sure that I don't screw up mixing.

 

[obscurereef]

Wow 75% a week is way too much. I don't know about converting the puffer to saltwater so maybe it's necessary. You can make your own saltwater. It's easier and cheaper in the long run. For it being 10 months old it looks pretty new. Where is your nitrate at? And checking 3x a day is crazy! What happens that you feel the need to test that often? Does ammonia or nitrate or nitrate go up and down throughout the day?

 

[ktomminello]

No ups and downs, I'm just horribly ocd about my tanks, I have 10 of them and check every one of them 3X a day, my nitrates is .5

 

[obscurereef]

Wow! That's a lot of work. You'll run out of the test kit quickly. How'd you conclude the nitrate is .5 is API test kits go from 5 ppm to 0?

 

[obscurereef]

Also, I just noticed you said you use the API reef master kit. I've used the nitrate on that kit and on the standard API saltwater kit. At least for me, the API reef nitrate always tested for 0 even if the API standard nitrate had completely different results. I have heard that this happens to other people. Everything besides the API reef master nitrate seems to be fairly accurate.

 

[ktomminello]

I'm on an Android and I meant to hit the space bar but I hit the . Instead and it auto spaced... It's between 4 and 5 now, just tested again, lol

 

[Zactheninja]

That sounds like alot of extra work.

I test once a week if that.

And you would probably do better with the 30%
At the end of the week.
That much change could probably have adverse affects.

 

[obscurereef]

I would agree with zac, but you've been doing such large water changes for so long. If you stop doing daily water changes maybe the system can't handle the bioload. Try doing every other water changes and see how that goes. Then do less water changes daily. Take it slowly. Don't want to suddenly change something because that can lead in disaster. And you really don't have to test that often. If you want, just do it once a day or once every other day. I usually test when I see a problem, to know the source of the problem because my parameters are for the most part stable. If your tank is 10 months old it should be stable and testing that often is a waste IMO.

 

[ktomminello]

It figures- I've gotta grab more ferts for my planted tank and betta conditioner, I'll pick up a separate trate tester and trate pillow filter.

 

[ktomminello]

I would agree with zac, but you've been doing such large water changes for so long. If you stop doing daily water changes maybe the system can't handle the bioload. Try doing every other water changes and see how that goes. Then do less water changes daily. Take it slowly. Don't want to suddenly change something because that can lead in disaster. And you really don't have to test that often. If you want, just do it once a day or once every other day. I usually test when I see a problem, to know the source of the problem because my parameters are for the most part stable. If your tank is 10 months old it should be stable and testing that often is a waste IMO.

I only test my freshies when I notice changes, but my ocd has me using pool strips to test for chlorine, ph and alkalinity 2X a day minimum, and my betta are in show off bowls so I'm changing them constantly, and got used to just constantly changing water. You don't even know how happy your opinions have made me!! I'm gonna take your advice on slowing the water changes- as far as a bioload goes I only have my one 4 inch green spotted puffer and added 2 dwarf blue hermits for the hair algae that started showing up.

 

[mr_X]

No water change, if done properly, will have adverse effects on your tank. Water changes will not flush the bacteria out of a tank, rendering it needing to be re cycled. That said, it's hard to get the temp and ph of your water change exactly like the tank water, so I would agree that 20-30% would be about all I would do. I also agree that you shouldn't be testing every day, unless you are testing out some new dosing regimen or new calcium reactor or something.
It's very easy to wind up with a nuisance algae bloom. These are closed systems, and even though people think they have huge tanks, even in a few hundred gallons of water, problems can arise with just a little bit of excess.