Marine algae issue. Need advice.

[TankCla]

I started a battle with HA about 2-3 weeks and now I am stumbling upon new types of algae:

Algae #1 - Marine Hair Algae
Treatment: Algaefix Marine

Already starting to fall off.

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Algae #2: - Diatoms ???
Color: - dark red
Shape: - like a blanket on the sand
Spreading: - it grows in patches on the sand.
Treatment: ????

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Algae #3: - unknown
Color: - brown (I think in the picture they look green from the light)
Shape: - like a deflated baloon
Spreading: - they started to grow in the last 2 days. nothing changed in the tank to trigger the growth.
Treatment: ????

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Algae #4: - unknown
Color: - light green
Shape: - like spikes, very hard algae (makes a pop sound when I pull them from the rock.
Spreading: - Appeared where HA used to grow. I have 2 spots on the LR in the tank.
Treatment: ????

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I had a NO3 and PO3 problem due to faulty tests and bad water.
Since then, I improved water quality with a RO/DI unit. Decreased NO3 and PO3 with Nitraguard biocubes, phosguard and running active carbon.
Siphoned the sand with every WC (20% every 2 weeks). Macroalgae and mangroves in the sump. Cut the feeding in half.

Tests:
NO3 - 5ppm (salifert)
PO3 - 0~0.05 (elos)

Any piece of advice will be very much appreciated.

 

[TankCla]

no one recognizes these algae?

 

[Raybee]

Algae #2:
Red Slime / Cyanobacteria.
Too many nutrients in your water. Your goal should be to starve it.
( Drop your phosphates ).
It likes low flow, so make sure you get your water moving.


Algae #3:
Bubble algae
This will send out spores and can grow fast, so get a handle on this. Try to remove gently, so you don't send spores all over. Some emerald crabs eat them.

From Reefcleaners.org:
Get them small, cover them with a baster, scrape the baster along the rock, and when the Valonia comes off release the plunger and suck it up. Discard and repeat. If you have a lot to do, by the time you are done you will be ready to add new mixed water to complete the water change. Be aggressive with your manual removal.

Algae #4:
It looks like HA, but doesn't sound like it. Too much glare on my phone screen to be able to tell.

 

[TankCla]

My PO3 is 0.05 (Elos test) and NO3 is 5 (salifert test). I am running Phosguard and Nitraguard.
Already increased water flow - 3500ghp in 75G (WP25 at max power)

Algae #3:
Bubble algae
This will send out spores and can grow fast, so get a handle on this. Try to remove gently, so you don't send spores all over. Some emerald crabs eat them.

From Reefcleaners.org:
Get them small, cover them with a baster, scrape the baster along the rock, and when the Valonia comes off release the plunger and suck it up. Discard and repeat. If you have a lot to do, by the time you are done you will be ready to add new mixed water to complete the water change. Be aggressive with your manual removal.

I was thinking about bubble algae too, but these algae are soft. When I had BA, I was able to scrape them off with the tip of a blade.
These bubbles, as soon as you touch them, they burst.

Algae #4:
It looks like HA, but doesn't sound like it. Too much glare on my phone screen to be able to tell

It is where HA was. HA fell of the rock and these hard, pointy, light green, whiteish. This one doesn't bend with the water flow.

Strange thing, HA is dyeing, but algae #3 and #4 are growing.

 

[Raybee]

Algae #3:
There are several types of bubble algae, it's just a generic name. Several families with different characteristics.

See this page for several examples:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/hcj/feature/index.php

Do an image search of "colpomenia sinuosa" and see if it matches yours. The pic on the linked page above is not the greatest. It's brown and like a deflated balloon ( though in your pics in looks green and filled ).

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Algae #4:
Look up "green turf algae". If its harder than the HA, it's probably this.
Cladophora prolifera maybe?

 

[TankCla]

Algae#3 looks similar to this:
Colpomenia peregrina

Algae#4: I will pull out one and try to make a macro photo.

 

[crissie]

I agree with Raybee on #2 and #3

Haven't a clue for #4 though, I've never come across hard spikey algae before.

 

[accordsirh22]

i would not use algafix if i were you, i used that stuff and after a while it started to kill some of my corals. as soon as i stopped dosing it (as the instructions indicate) my corals came back. and if you have red bubble algae, good luck with that. pull the rock and toss it before it gets out of hand or spreads

 

[TankCla]

I did a short video with Algae #3

And new pics of Algae #4

Cluod it be Bryopsis:

@accordsirh22: red bubble algae, like all bubble algae are very hard and shiny. Algae#3 is not hard and shiny.

 

[Raybee]

Cluod it be Bryopsis:

Bryopsis is a type of hair algae. You describe yours as "very hard". The bryopsis I know would be considered "feathery". Not to say that there isn't a rigid type.
( The pics you posted do have a bryopsis type fern look. )


You've got #1 under control.

Sounds like #2 will be gone after it has run its course.

That leaves Algae #3 and Algae #4

Unless anyone has a better idea ( and a confirmed ID ) your choices are:
1: Wait and see if your improved water quality causes them to die out

2: Aggressively use manual methods to remove.

3: Find a CUC that will eat them ( urchin / hare )

4: Consider raising your magnesium. ( search on reef central for people using Kent M Tech )

Good luck!

 

[TankCla]

Thank you Raybee!
I cut the light to 4h/d
Algae#1 is 60% gone, and everyday I get more clumps in the filter sock.

Algae#2 is 90% gone now. Probably because of the light schedule.

Algae#3 - I used a turkey blaster to suck out as many as I could.

Algae#4 - It is still growing, and now it is bending in the flow, but not like the HA. When the flow touches hair algae, it literally moulds over the LR.
I have the impression, this algae is hollow. I got a better felling of the pop sound, yesterday, when I plugged out a few for the picture. Since it is bigger I could get a better grip on it, and when I pressed it between the fingers, it made a small pop sound. Something like the bubble wrap, but in a smaller version.

 

[accordsirh22]

red bubble algae is not hard. its almost gooey/squishy. thats part of why it is so much harder to remove. it also encrusts its holdfast along the rock and doesnt just pop off like regular valonia ssp.

 

[TankCla]

1 month update:
Cyano is gone, Algae #3 is gone, but Algae #1 is the same: Bryopsis.
After 1 week of only 4h/day light, it is still growing. I got a seahare to take care of the problem, and it is good at it.

If the seahare is eating all bryopsis, will it grow again? Do I have to make Mg treatment?