red corraline

i have a nice coverage of red corraline (red algae that is hard on rocks)....this is good algae, correct??? i think it looks good on my live rock but don't care for the look of it in my shallow sand bed. I was hoping for suggestions on a cuc that takes care of it in sand....i'm interested in a sand sifting star but keep hearing about stars dyiing, are they hard to care for??? also i have a yellow tang, my second fish, will he feed on the red corraline and allow me to feed him less seaweed or should i continue to feed the seaweed everyday? oh yeah and being a newbie, 2months in sw, i think my first cycle is complete or nearly complete....no phosphates and less than 5ppm in nitrates, thanks all

 

Coralline is "good" but it subjective when it comes to our tanks. When it gets all over the place and damages the powerheads, it is bad. That said, coralline algae does not grow in the sand bed, so you may want to make sure you are not looking at cyano in the sand. I also have red coralline on my rock, along with pink, purple and green, but none on the sand. Stars can be difficult to keep, your tank should be well established and stable. They are very temperamental to water quality swings. You should also run a controller for pH, calcium reactor, ATO, etc. to keep the elemental parameters stable. BTW, blue linckias are one of the hardest to keep.
As far as the tang eating the coralline, I would doubt it. There aren't many animals outside of urchins that eat the stuff.

 

Hi are you shore its hard corraline and not cyano? I didnt think you got coraline on sand beds but i no you get cyano there.
I think sand sifting stars are bad as they have a very complex diet & over time (like a year) they slowly starve to death.
But to be honest you shouldnt add ANY live stock till your tank has fully finished its cycle & matured which from reading what you have said its not yet done.A 2 month old tank with 2 fish could lead to problems like cyano do to the system not being mature enough to cope with the bio load. I added 2 clowns & 2 snails to my 3 months old tanks (Not all at once, i left a few weeks in between each thing) and hit bad cyano due to my tank not being mature & stable. I was by my LFS that it take 6 weeks to mature then start to add live stock but this was wrong advice. I was told on here 3 month you consider adding one hardy fish then slowly like once a month add a new fish. By 6 moths its fairly stable but will take upto a year before fully matured.My tank is 7 months old & i over stock in month 3 & suffered so i stopped stocking till month 6 then added 1 new fish im now at month 7 & all params are stable all at 0 & i now plan to stock slowly.
Anyway back to your algea do you have any pics of it?
Thanks K

 

heres a couple pics, not real great but my blackberry is the only camera i got...its a hard algae on my rocks and kinda sparse on the sand....if it is cyano, whats the cure???

 

Hard to tell from the pic, but it is possible to get coraline on your sand, as in crushed coral or coarse grain sand.

 

it appeared after i began feeding my yellow tang seaweed, possibly overfed him at first

 

Thsoe are diatoms on your sandbed it seems.

 

Cement Skis, Thats hard to belive.. Maybe on a very old tank, with high cal..
Hard Coraline Loves Cal.....

His tank is only 2 months old and having problems with coraline. Going thru a cycle..
Has to be cyano, on the sand, etc.. Most of the time you go thru this stage while doing a cycle..Plus brown, green, etc.. Even at 2 months..
Your Tang will not eat cyano, or corraline ..
Use your clip to hang some seaweel type stuff on, what you been feeding him..
You not overfeeding are you..? I think most of us do.. Do you use pellets with garlic for your Tang..? It'll help build him up..

You can add a fish a week or two, when the cycle is over..
Remember... GO SLOW..
I waited about 3 months befor adding fish.. No tank cycles the same..

Good Luck, Larry

 

i feed him seaweed on a clip and yes i started off waaaaaay overfeeding...got it under control now knowing what he consumes in a day and i'm done adding fish for about another month or so, but planned on picking up 1-2 turbo snails, maybe a hermit crab this weekend.....goin light on the cuc until there's sufficient food....probably cyano, but it don't come off the rock

 

You can use a turkey baster on the rocks.. but not to strong..
Don't use your daylite lights as much, use the blue ones.. Run some carbon may help remove nitrates.. from over feeding.. And I overfeed all the time..LOL

Your nitrates can still be alot higher then 5 ppm..

Remember your nitrates can read 0, and still be way high... Thats what your alage is living on.. And you'll get a wrong reading.. I think it took me 3 weeks to get mine under control.. It's best to learn early on, we all do.. Not when your tank is full of LR, fish, Corals, etc..
IMHO, Stay away from the starfish, and get some Sandshifting snails..
Reason is SS Starfish needs a BIG tank.. But there's Pros and Cons to this..
But being NEW.. Go with SandShifting Snails..

Good Luck, Larry

Get a good clean-up crew.. And if you don't have a Turbo Snail, get one..
They are something I think everyone needs.. The VERY first thing I put in my tank, and he's still getting around..