Coraline Algea--Friend or Foe?

[mr_X]

hello all.
i have red coralline algae growing on the glass of my fuge, after introducing a piece of live rock. the funny thing is, i introduced the live rock just hours before i saw the algae growth. at this rate, no one will be able to get down my street by the end of the week!
the wife tells me i need better light on the fuge.
i read that any light will do, so i have a full spectrum, 100 watt plant grow bulb on it.
my questions are:
1. should i worry about the red coralline?
2. do i need better lighting for the refugium?

 

[waymack97]

sure that ain't red slime? if it is a small powerhead might help.
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[waymack97]

bump
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[mr_X]

my camera is less than perfect, but they are flat coatings of red on the glass. kinda reminds me of the red/purplish on my rock.

 

[waymack97]

coraline algae = friend
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[shavo]

hey I purchased the same rock as he did and my tank is now getting covered in red algea also. I don't know if i call it slime algea, the rock is over 5-10 years old and was covered in regular algea about 4 inches long. under this was this red stuff. it can be scrapped off but i saw it releasing into my water floating off the rock and now it is on the walls of my tank,

is this stuff bad?

 

[mr_X]

lol maybe ..maybe not.
8O

 

[Anonymous]

From the pics and the description, betting on that being red slime or cyano. Coraline takes a lot longer to form. Try removing some of it, if it is stuck hard on the glass and needs to be scraped off with a credit card then it is coraline- which is good. If it is softer, then its bad and likely cyanobacteria. Increasing your flow will fix it with time.

 

[mr_X]

easy to remove= slime
super fast growing=slime
that live rock was cheap, but brought with it alot of junk.

 

[Anonymous]

Red slime isn't something you can prevent be avoiding certain rock, so you didn't make any kind of mistake there, it will show up in any salt tank if conditions are to it's liking.

And a refugium is a better place for it than the display tank! 8O

Slime algae likes low flow, which is probably why it likes your refugium. As mentioned, if you put a small powerhead in there it should help.

If it were me, I would go the route of siphoning it all out when you do a water change, that way at least you are exporting some nutrients. Beefing up on skimming and keeping your water as clean as possible always helps too.

 

[Anonymous]

Lessen your lighting too. Cyano feeds on lighting and overfeeding your tank.

 

[SnowManSnow]

i dont think thats coraline Looks like a new tank.. keep up with the RODI changes and it will cycle through in a few weeks.

b

 

[cyro]

cyanos? common in refugiums!

 

[mr_X]

the reason why the slime algae was in the fuge, was the fuge is where i put alot of this rock i got at a discount.
it was infested with hair algae, red slime, and bristle worms.
it's ok now though..i vaccumed out all the red nasties, and thinned out the bristle worm population as well.
we're cool now. 8)

 

[mr_X]

the better light question....would someone with experience answer that one for me please?
what sort of light shoudl i have over the fuge?
i read that it doesn't much matter. input?

 

[Anonymous]

You can use whatever light you want over a refugium as long as it supports the macro algae growth so you can harvest it and export nutrients. You could turn down the lighting and it would cut back on the slime algae, but you want to keep that caulerpa growing so you can harvest it and export nutrients (nutrients that the cyano may be feeding upon). Don't forget to prune your caulerpa back occasionally and toss some away. It grows better that way.

You probably have cyano because there isn't much flow in there (not saying that is necessarily a bad thing) and the cheapo rock you got might have had a build up of crud in it if it was in a old tank for a good while. The caulerpa is growing nicely I see and when that happens you get dead spots, cynao loves dead spots. Do you have any in your main tank? If not, I really don't think this is something to worry about as long as it stays at this level. Keep up with good tank husbandry practices, water changes, careful not to over feed, skim well. Honestly, I think it is a rare refugium that you couldn't find a little spot of cynao if you looked hard enough.

The only issue I have with the 100w grow bulb is that you could probably find something that uses less electricity, like a compact flourescent, it would cost you less to run and put off less heat. I don't know if yellower bulbs promote cyano, but I think your water quality and flow is the biggie.

I would let the bristle worms establish whatever population they will in your refugium. A fuge is the right place for things like that. They will eat leftover fish food that ends up there, and if you have a whole mess of them they can even keep the sand turned up a bit, stirring up dead spots (and maybe breaking up that slime algae!) Just don't syick your bare hands in there, use a tool or gloves when you have to move things.

 

[mr_X]

thanks. i have those "curly Q" looking energy saver bulbs.
ill give one of those a try.