Thick Brown Algae??

ammerbo

New member
I have a 20g reef tank I setup 4 months ago. about a month ago this brown algae started showing up. It got thick quickly and isn't going away. (see attachment pic)

1. What is this?
2. Can\Should\How I clean\scrub it off?
3. How do I get rid of it?
4. Whats causing it?5.

It's only growing on the rocks where the light shines and not on the sand.
I will say that my protein skimmer has been putting out alot of waste but I'm not sure where its coming from..

Setup
0 nitrates\nitrite\Ammonia
.25 PO4
8.1ish PH
10.9 KH
450 cal
Using RO/DI 5 stage water only
Red Sea testing
red sea coral pro salt
Prime HD lights 12 hours a day
protein skimmer
240 powerhead
3 LPS
5 SPS
5 snalls
2 hermits
1 shrimp
0 fish
I DOS cal,buffer for LPS Growth.
I have a AWC setup which moves 5 gallons of RO water over a period of 7 to 10 days. thats 25% with a 3 to 4 days rest period.
 

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I agree get parameters in check asap.it's always a downer dealing with certain algae but you'll get a handle on it,good luck!
 
can the algae easily be blown away? (via turkey baster,etc..) aka probably heavy diatoms?
Or is it more "hair like",etc...?

Your nutrients are not an issue but some claim that the algae is consuming them too quickly to be measured.. I've never found that to be true..
 
mcgvyr is very very helpful his advice has greatly helped me in the past, listen to him. Could this algae be from his lighting schedule, too much light?
 
can the algae easily be blown away? (via turkey baster,etc..) aka probably heavy diatoms?
Or is it more "hair like",etc...?

Your nutrients are not an issue but some claim that the algae is consuming them too quickly to be measured.. I've never found that to be true..

Na the algae does not come off easily. Today I said screw it and took one of the rocks out, got a heavy brush and brushed it off. It took a fare bit of pressure to get that stuff off.
 
I've had Diatoms before. they always came in dots and spread from there. Always starting light and getting darker but dying off after a few days.

Few thoughts:
1. You guy think that maybe this is just dead algae?
2. It only grew thick on the two highest rocks closest to the lights but has not gotten on the lower rocks and is not on the sand (like the Diatoms i had before). So im thinking this is like one of those "needs major lights" version.
 
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