Algae ID, problem maybe?

[Azazael13]

I have this Algae that keeps showing back up on the glass and on the one piece of fake coral I have. No matter what I do it comes back.

Picture 1
Picture 2
On the Glass

Any thoughts on what I can do to get rid of this? I have had the tank running for about a year now.

Apologies that pictures are kind of big. I snapped them this morning as I was running out the door and didn't have time to resize them down.

 

[Blazer88]

The links don't work for me.

 

[Azazael13]

I just triple checked all three and they worked for me. Did you get a forbidden or not found error?

 

[returnofsid]

Pics worked for me. We need to know more about your tank. What size tank, what kind of substrate, do you test your water? If so, what do you test for? What kind of water flow do you have? Are you using Tap Water or RO/DI water.

Most likely, your problem is due to a nitrate or phosphate issue. Both of these are common when using Tap Water. Another likely problem could be too little flow. Test your water or have it tested for nitrates and phosphates. If you purchase test kits, stay away from anything except Salifert test kits. They're a lil' more expensive but MUCH more accurate.

 

[Azazael13]

I have a 55 Gal with crushed coral substrate. I use tap water now (trying to talk the wife into a RODI unit). The test kit I have is the Saltwater Liquid Master Test Kit. I just tested the water last night and all of the levels seemed normal.

For flow all I had (prior to yesterday) was a the External Canister filter return and the Skimmer (sorry can't recall the brands atm) I did just add a MaxiJet 1200 to help with the flow.

Livestock would be: 1 Clown, 1 Domino Damsel, 1 Blue Damsel, 1 Chocolate Chip Star, 3 Turbo snails, and 2 live rocks.


One thing I will say is that I may not be doing enough water changes. Until recently I was only doing them once every couple of months. The system would burn off roughly 7 gallons every couple of weeks so I figured that was good enough (I realize now that I was wrong).

If you have other questions about the setup please let me know, I would love to get rid of this algae.

 

[Azazael13]

I noticed when I got home today that there was a weird shimmering effect going on. Turns out with the new power head some of the Algae actually is just long enough to wave a little bit.

Any thoughts on what it is, and more importantly how to kill it off.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

You have pictures of a wide variety of algae. Most of which are extremely common, and you can't get rid of it as it is a part of the natural ecosystem of a tank. The first two pictures of the Tubastrea micrantha skeleton looks to have a wide variety of micro algaes that have attached to it. The third picture depicting the corner of your tank is just a common algae that is scraped off as routine maintenance for all aquarists. Nothing to really worry about. A lot of this can be alieviated with nutrients control and higher flow.

 

[Azazael13]

Thanks Travis, I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a sign I was doing something wrong. If it is healthy I will let it go (aside from the glass).