Algae of some sort?

[Ben Broyles]

Hey all. I'm new to MAAST and very new to reefkeeping. I have a friend that got me set up and we are having a problem identifying this algae. A little background on the tank.... its a 90G setup, bout 4 months old, had 2 things die in there so I expect a bit of algae. I have several corals and fish living happy but this stuff seems to have rooted itself and is popping up in other parts of the tank. I also have a 30 biocube that is about 6-7 months old and it was looking GREAT but then this stuff popping up and smothered my rocks and corals. Any input would be appreciated. I can provide any other info and more pics if needed. Thanks all

[CoryDude]

Is it kind of coarse (like a brillo pad) and deeply rooted in the rocks? How easy is it to remove from the rocks?

Just wondering because I'm battling the same problem. I think it could be cladophoropsis and it's a major p.i.t.a.

Here's a good guide on macro algaes that could help you id the algae:
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6...-129969-3.html

[Bill S]

As Cory says, how hard is it to remove? Could also be bryopsis, another major pain...

Cory, I thought you got your bryopsis under control?

[Ben Broyles]

A friend and I might have ruled out bryopsis. From the pics I've seen of bryopsis mine doesnt have leafy extensions from the stalk. Its just a straight strand. Cory, it's actually not "rough". Its fairly smooth and slippery (like that means anything). Unlike the hair algae I had, I can actually pinch one strand of it and it's almost crunchy. I mean, not like a burnt french fry but it definitely has some substance to it. I think it is fairly rooted because I have tried to pull it off the rocks and it tends to break off more than just let go. As you can see from the pics it's darker at the bottom but near the tips it's almost transparent. This pic is a small example of it. In my 30G it had completely taken over the the strands were at least 6-7 inches long. It looks like it was smothering my xenia, capnella and mushrooms. I wish I had taken a picture of that tank before I cleaned it out this weekend. It had been in my 30 for a couple months. I even took the rocks out and gave them a nice, close haircut hoping that it might die off....not real sure why it would. It just grew back until it got out of control. I'm wondering if it moved from my 30 to my 90 when I took a Colt leather out. It was growing at the base of the colt and I didnt want it to overtake it so I picked off what I could and put it in my 90. A couple weeks later, it's growing from random places in the rocks and sprouting in the sandbed. I did some housekeeping last night with a water change and sucked most of it out of the sandbed. I'm sure I could pull a good bit of it out of the rocks but trying to keep it all together and not have it float around my tank is next to impossible. I'm always afraid that a strand will catch a piece of rock and root itself there. Last thing I want is for it to spread even more. I'll take more pics of it tonight in different spots and post them. I did look through all the pics on the site you sent and there is nothing on there that looks quite like mine. I would have to say the closest thing to it by looks is Chaetomorpha aerea, possibly Cladophora prolifera (except not as dark). From what I've read on a couple different types of algae, some people say lettuce nudis will eat it up (like they did my hair algae) but they dont seem to be phasing it and at my last count I had 17 of them in there after a spawn. One guy likes to hang from the tips of it and dangle there but I'm not sure he is having Thanksgiving dinner.

[Ben Broyles]

Here is a picture of my 30 before it got REALLY bad. You can see in the middle how it's growing up the colt. It was only a couple inches tall but it ended up completely covering that middle rock on the bottom and it was smothering the small xenia rock at the bottom. The top right ended up covered in it as well. Between this and a MASSIVE case of cyanobacteria turning the entire front and left sides of my sandbed maroon.....I took everything out except the sand, snails, 1 goby and 2 shrimp.

[CoryDude]

Bill, yeah I got the bryopsis under control on the old tank. But, my new 120 had an issue with nutrients and something got into the tank and went sexual. Little patches of something new started sprouting up all over the tank. As best as I can tell it's cladophoropsis, boodlea, or that species of cheato that Ben mentioned.

Ben, please let us know if you have any luck getting rid of this. I've scrubed rocks, got nitrates down to less than .2 ppm, reduced the halides duration from 7hr to 5.5, and added a tang. I've had limited success so far. Right now, I'm raising the magnesium levels to see if it will respond like some types of bryopsis.

[Mike]

Any luck finding something that eats it? A sea hare might...

[Ben Broyles]

I will definitely keep this going until I find something that fixes it. I do have a sailfin that wont touch it, a starry-eyed blenny that claims it isnt his cup of tea, havent tried a sea hare, did raise my magnesium lvls to 1600 and left it there for 2 weeks with no dice either.

[Ben Broyles]

Of course it's only been a couple of days but I am going to try to cut back on my lighting some. I have them running for almost 12 hours a day so I'm going back to about 9 hours and gonna watch it for for a while. Also, I did notice my starry-eyed blenny eating it! Maybe cause he's too shy to come out at feeding time and doesnt ever get any flake but he was definitely tearing it up the other day. We'll see if it looks any better in a week or 2.

[justahobby]

Did you use Kent Tech-M? From what I've read, no other magnesium will work....probably unintentional overdose or some other contaminate found in the Kent stuff.

I've learned turbo will eat a variety of algae if you consistently move them on to the spot YOU want them to eat.

Seahares might be a good choice, but make sure you read up on them first. They can be messy if they die.

How big is your tank? Tangs eat a lot of veggie matter which contains a lot of phosphate. So water changes will be important. Also, make sure you use good RODI water. If you get it from an LFS, test it. Some of the stores seem to go too long between filter changes.

And welcome to MAAST!