red cyano on one rock

I have a 4 inch by 5 inch rock with a couple of different mushrooms on it, and have noticed the evil red stuff growing on it. It is nowhere else in the tank. Can I take it out and give it a good scrubbing in some SW? Or is there something better? Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

Does it look like cyano, or red hair algae? I think I have the same stuff as you on one of my rocks. Its weird because it only grows on that one.

 

You should be able to just siphon it. Cyano should come off easily. If you eliminate detritus and run enough GFO keep PO4 really, really, low, it shouldn't come back. Usually cyano means you have very low nitrate and not quire low enough PO4. Can also mean detritus though. Occasionally there are other factors, but not often.

 

there is very little flow in that area, so it might be detritus. I started using ecobak pellets around the 3rd week of my setup, and didnt have any bioload, but the point is, I have zero nitrates, and very little phosphates 0.1 - 0.3 at the most.

giving the close proximity of the mushrooms, I will try to siphon it first, but I might have to end up scrubbing it.

 

Detritus can do it. If it is cyano though, it should come off very easily with say a siphon with an airline tube, for example. PO4 of .1-.3 is not low though, that's 10 times higher than it should be. Most test kits though are not accurate at all, so who knows what it really is though.

If you want to know you would need something like the Hach PO-19 or Hanna checker Ultra Low Range Phosphorus (not phosphate, the phosphate is low range, not ultra-low range).


Hanna checker (good)
PHOSPHORUS TESTER

Hach (better)
Hach - Phosphorus, Orthophosphate (reactive) Test Kit, Model PO-19, Color Disc, 100 tests