Beaux Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Hope everyone had a festive holiday! I' m having a new issue with my 20l nano. I have small oval purplish dots on the glass. They appeared overnight. I went to check my tank this morning, and noticed the dots. My parameters are not to off, but I am thinking that might be the cause from something eating my 2 anomone crabs. I thought it might be just another molt only, but this time there are body parts scattered and not the whole shell like they normally do. Neither is in their normal spots and I have yet to locate them. My Sal is 1.03, nitrate is 5ppm (maybe from the crabs being eaten?) Ph is 8.4. I had a full test done last Wednesday and all my numbers were good. With all this I am unsure what steps to take to get this back under control. I googled the "Purple algae " and can not get a reliable answer. Any suggestions? Nothing else has changed, nothing new added or removed, except the crabs. My lighting is on a timer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 It looks like coralline algae to me, but that type of calcification doesn't appear over night. Spots that size would have grown over a week or more. Do you have any other predators in the aquarium? When was the last time you saw the anemone crabs? 1.030 sg is high, but I don't believe it's lethal. Aquariums with corals are normally kept in 1.023-1.026. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaux Posted December 26, 2017 Author Share Posted December 26, 2017 Update. My crabs are ok, I found them. Also this stuff is only on the glass and not my live rock that I can see. It' literally all over all sides. No concentrated areas. As you can see from the photos the green algae spots came up overnight as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaux Posted December 26, 2017 Author Share Posted December 26, 2017 Thanks Sascha. I am one of the fiddlers lol always messing with my tank. I am hoping for advice before doing anything. I can do maybe 2 , 2 1/2 gallon top off now and that should help lower the salinity . I just do not want to do anything to make the issue worse. I am watching my snails, but refernce from googling said snails won't touch it. Ironically all the algea bloom was overnight. Also just discovered one of my wave makers is fritzing. I can not change the flow now. Its full blast current or nothing at all. Trying to fix that now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted December 26, 2017 Share Posted December 26, 2017 Coralline algae is just something that grows in a healthy tank. A lot of people try to encourage it's growth by buying badger milk products marketed for the purpose. You can't eliminate it altogether, but you can limit growth if you wanted to. It's photosynthetic and uses Ca/Alk/Mg to encrust, so limiting these resources will limit the growth. If you have a glass aquarium then you can remove it with a razor blade. Off of the top of my head, the only things that will eat it are urchins and parrot fish. I'm not sure what they do in acrylic aquariums. If your aquarium were empty, then you can fill it with tap water, add two cups of vinegar, some circulation pumps, and it will peel off in a day or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaux Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Great information. Thank you so much for the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Thanks Sascha. I am one of the fiddlers lol always messing with my tank. I am hoping for advice before doing anything. I can do maybe 2 , 2 1/2 gallon top off now and that should help lower the salinity . I just do not want to do anything to make the issue worse. I am watching my snails, but refernce from googling said snails won't touch it. Ironically all the algea bloom was overnight. Also just discovered one of my wave makers is fritzing. I can not change the flow now. Its full blast current or nothing at all. Trying to fix that now.Beaux, its a normal part of any reef tank. There is nothing wrong. You need to clean your glass is all. That's coralline algae. It can/will grow on your glass and rocks. Just get a good scraper or strong magnet scraper and clean your glass. Its a normal part of saltwater tank maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaux Posted December 27, 2017 Author Share Posted December 27, 2017 Thanks TY, it is a relief. I have just never see purple algae before. The green and brown, but not purple. Learned something new today lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 15 hours ago, Beaux said: Thanks TY, it is a relief. I have just never see purple algae before. The green and brown, but not purple. Learned something new today lol. We also see shades of red and orange in the hobby, but purple is the most common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beaux Posted December 28, 2017 Author Share Posted December 28, 2017 Thanks to everyone for their posts and support on this topic. I am happy to announce that the cause of the problem has been discovered. It seems the hubby likes to turn on the tank lights at 5:30 am while he enjoys his morning coffee. Therefore giving my tank over exposure to 12 + hours of full lighting. He thought the purple was pretty.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 That's hilarious. At least you have a hobby your significant other enjoys too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 21 minutes ago, FarmerTy said: That's hilarious. At least you have a hobby your significant other enjoys too. So true! The most I get out of my wife is polite silence. I think I'm finally wearing her down though. Last week we were watching TV and she says, "Look a Powder Blue Tang!" I was like Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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