Algae growing nuts, help ID???

[sporazoa]

I bought the corals, some rock, & one fish off of someone & it had a bit of algae, but this quickly sprouted into this uncontrolled growth & it is just non stop now.

I have been in & out of the hobby for years, but I never ever had algae problems until now. It feels funny to have experience & to be at a loss since I never experienced this before. I have always had snails (astreas & Mexican Turbos) & tangs clean off algae on the rocks in the past & never a problem. Now I can clearly see what everyone else is talking about & how this can escalate into a problem.

None of my current snails put a dent on this stuff, until I just bought two Top Crown snails. They actually cleaned two rocks for me & today I bought a few more. If it were bryopsis, they wouldn't have eaten it?

There are 3x types of algae that I can see.
1) Feather like.
2) Long hair strands
3) Film like, that covers glass & rocks & has air bubbles coming out of it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k-MBIB7z4Y&feature=youtu.be
Check out the video the hair algae.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Without pictures these are simply best guess from description

bryopsis algae
GHA
possibly Cyano

Really need pictures for positive ID

You will find your answer of proper tank husbandry in this link, please read it and if you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask. But you will find your answers here, it's a sticky at the top of the New to the Hobby forum called Setting Up.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031074

 

[sporazoa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k-M...ature=youtu.be
I put a video link on my first post that shows my tank with the hair algae & here it is again.

Thanks.

 

[Bent]

Video not found brah.

Edit: never mind I'm an idiot.

What are your parameters?

 

[DavidinGA]

Definitely looks like Bryopsis...

 

[sporazoa]

I have been in the hobby in & out for a while now & resolved never to test for nitrates, nitrites & phosphates really. I just let the tank tell me what they are by the excess growth & I know they must be high.

The only thing that I end up doing differently is more water changes when those levels are high, which is what I am doing now anyway. Never changed this much water in my life, yet despite this it just keeps on growing.

My other params are:
Salinity 1.025
Alk = 10 (a little high)
Calc = 470
MG = 1800 (Tech M), just in case it is Bryopsis, but it is not killing anything yet & it has been over a week. There are only a few string/feather like macros that have become white, but 99% are still intact.


Really, you think it is Bryopsis? I have 2x Top Crown Snails that cleaned a rock squeeky clean of this stuff, but after a few days it is slowly starting to grow back on those same rocks. I just bought more of these snails.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Bryopsis looks like fern

 

[Bent]

I don't think it's bryopsis, but I could be wrong. I think it's simple hair algae. Maybe leeching out of frag plugs or something that you recently added. That's why I asked for params.

 

[sporazoa]

I saw one batch that looks like ferns growing straight up & actually those are the ones that are turning brown & are dying. So maybe I have both GHA & Bryopsis.

I took a tooth brush to the rocks today & I could not believe how much I accomplished. I never imagined they could be cleaned this way.

I will take a new video & post later on today.


These rocks are REAL REEF ROCKS, could this be the reason for the outbreak?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

I saw one batch that looks like ferns growing straight up & actually those are the ones that are turning brown & are dying. So maybe I have both GHA & Bryopsis.

I took a tooth brush to the rocks today & I could not believe how much I accomplished. I never imagined they could be cleaned this way.

I will take a new video & post later on today.


These rocks are REAL REEF ROCKS, could this be the reason for the outbreak?

If you read my first post I id'd 3 different types of algae.

 

[sporazoa]

Thank you Dkuhlmann, I actually did see that. There is no Cyano in there though, as I have had that in past reef tanks & it always appeared reddish.

I did see a batch or two of the fern type, but they were tall & slender & the picture you showed looked wider & bigger. Also that is the only algae that turned white/pale with Tech M dosing, so maybe part of the algae were in fact bryopsis.

I will come back to show how Tech M & scrubbing with a toothbrush worked. I cannot believe how well it worked. The "magic" did not happen until I took a toothbrush to all the rocks & then siphoned all the water into a filter sock & took everything out. I then filtered socked the water in reverse back into the tank.

The water looked very cloudy afterwards & in 2-3 days the skimmer took out the cloudiness.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Cyano can also be green and it appears like you have it IMO

I look forward to seeing the results from the Tech M. How high did you dose it and for how long?