The Puffer Forum

Anyone know what happened to the Puffer Resources forum?

OK, here's my question: Since I'm new to salt/brackish tanks, what does good algae look like vs. bad algae? I have a brackish tank with some rocks (couple months old) and here's what they look like:

I had green algae to start off with then but now it's mostly brown covering the rocks. Dont think you have anything to worry about.

You have PM.

Ummm... this IS the http://www.thepufferforum.com forum.

May as well take that reference out of the auto censor...no need to prevent the name "puffer resources" from appearing here...Infact I believe this site is now referenced as an alternative.
As to the algae...nothing to "worry" about, maintain waterchanges schedule, reduce some lighting (make sure it is out of direct sunlight), feed lightly and it should slow the growth...or it could just be a phase due to the change...either way the treatment is the same.

Its hard to tell from that far away, but it could be regular old green spot algae or it could be "BGA" or blue green algae, which can be a hassle to get rid of. BGA will form in almost a sheet like tissue paper that you can easily peel off surfaces.

Either way, neither will do any harm, they just look kind of grungy. If the tank is new, just wait and see, they go through lots of algae phases.

As far as the PR website, you'd have to contact their admin team to find out what happened, we're a completely separate site and have no info on what goes on behind the scenes over there.

Whoops, spoke too soon, PR is no more, as are any links back to here
Which is unfortunate...at least the link gave those who are not familiar with TPF access to help

Boxermom wrote:Ummm... this IS the http://www.thepufferforum.com forum.

Yeah, that's not really what I typed... the forum changed it.

Perhaps I wasn't very clear about what I meant... in a SW tank, there's "good" algae/stuff that cleans the tank, etc. What does it look like? I've never had a SW tank, so I don't really know. Since my tank is BW, I'm wondering if I have regular nuisance algae, or some beneficial algae. I had tons of brown diatoms before, but then it went away (mostly), with the dark green algae growing in. Now I also have yellow, gray, brown/purple as you can see in the pics.

Should I try to limit the growth, or encourage it?

I believe you have nuisance algae. In BW..there is no Coraline algae (that I know of...but my SW experience is limited)
as Mjay stated it is likley "green spot algae or it could be "BGA" (although BGA isnt really algae-(Blue-Green Algae) (Cyanobacteria)

Algae itself is just unsightly (most feel), if you like the look of a clean tank...discourage it (other than that, it is performing the same task as multi celled plants do...consume waste- NO3)

...the color of the algae can be dependant on type, length of light exposure, and light wave length
In the same tank, but under different bulbs (65W CP's on each end ),I had an outbreak of staghorn algae...one side was dark green and ugly...the other side was bright red (very limited amount) but it was almost pretty. Coraline algae is similar...under 21000K lights it is blue or purple, under <10000K bulbs it comes in red.

Thanks Peregrine.