Algae ID

[butch]

Can anyone ID this algae?

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I thought it was bryopsis initially due to some palm like branches and have been treating with Tech M for the last 3 weeks but it has not made any difference. My regiment was 50 teaspoons for the first week to get the mg up to 1800, then I backed it down to 25 teaspoons a day for 2 weeks to maintain with no avail.

I just lowered the lighting period from 9 to 7 hours today to see if that helps and my lights are sitting about 6" off the water (MM LEDs 20K).

For reference:
ca - 460
alk - 8-9
PH - 8.3
nitrites/nitrates/ammonia - all 0 (using API test kit)

Next course of action is to get a reactor and some GFO to try to get this under control unless anyone thinks I should try something different.

 

[falos]

<p style="text-align:left">if its like a fern its byro if its stringy maybe hair algae can you remove it easy by hand?
if your running a uln system thats madins hair and a utter b to git rid of its just hard to tell in pic if you can remove the rock scrub it with a brush and it will be gone

 

[butch]

I can remove some of it by hand except the stuff really close to the rock. I have had all the rock out an scrubbed it clean and it has grown back again.

 

[falos]

<p style="text-align:left">wow you can try peroxide or kalk paste to kill it not sure if its ha if it came back have you checked your phos levels?

 

[butch]

The phosphates don't register on my API kit...I'm sure they exists and are leaching out of the rock. I started with dry marco rock.

I feed every other day or two with PE Mysis and have a light bioload. Only a starry blenny and a cleaner shrimp (I just got rid of a false perc).

 

[falos]

<p style="text-align:left">i wonder if the marco is leaching phos in to the tank if you can git by one of the sponsors im sure they would be glad to test for you sea would be the best bet for this i really dont like api test kits but they are good for reference seachem makes those little multi test kits that are cheep and work wish i could be more help but its a weird looking algae

 

[butch]

I appreciate the effort.

 

[jennm]

You seem to have some aiptasia going on too....

That's going to take some scrubbing to get rid of.

 

[butch]

Jenn, where do you see the aiptasia? Is it the thicker stalks?

Guess I will spend the weekend scrubbing the rock and soaking them in a peroxide bath to see if that works. I also have algae starting to grow on the sand so I'm thinking of taking all of that out and running a bare bottom for a bit. Its very frustrating to say the least.

 

[jennm]

I could be mistaken but it looks like aiptasia tentacles in the second photo, sort of top right.

 

[tbryan]

No idea dude maybe try some different snails in there see if anything will eat it.

 

[butch]

Jenn, that,s the way the algae grows as it gets larger.

Trent, I have some turbos, dwarf ceriths and some unknown snails. I might need to increase the amount of snails in the tank.

 

[jennm]

Snails aren't going to eat something that long.

You're going to have to scrub it. Take the rocks out and scrub them, give them a swirly in some saltwater (new or used after a water change). That also rinses off other detritus.

Figuring out the cause is the other part of the equation and stopping it from starting over again in the first place.

Reality is though, you'll probably have to go through the scrubbing thing 3 or 4 times before you get the upper hand.

Jenn

 

[butch]

I agree Jenn, that algae is long. I was going to scrub the rocks and soak them in peroxide, but I might try a sea hare as seen here (starts around post 73)