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what is this stuff?!


funkehouse

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Hello, I bought a small magnifying glass and i never looked THAT close before, but now i can see it on the top of almost every surface of live rock in my tank is a light coating of whatever this is? is it algae? its almost clear, its very thin. Im pretty new and i have never (about 3 months in) really had any major algae breakout, and i dont want to start now, is this something to worry about, or is this pretty normal stuff when you look really close? All of my levels seem very stable, nothing out of whack that i can see, i just tested everything to be sure. i do notice it a bit on my sand also, not a lot and not everywhere, but just patches here and there... So hard to photgraph without a tripod, any movement at all and you cant even see it. Hopefully someone knows what this is ! thanks in advance !

i put some arrows so you know what im talking about, this is very magnified, that piece of rock is only about a half an inch, so you can see how tiny these little strands are...

arrowalgae.jpg

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Weird, I've never seen red arrows like that coming from live rock. I'd probably recommend an Arrow Crab to help get rid of those.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry!

 

At first, they looked like hydroids to me; but yeah, I think its a type of hair algae. It's hard to tell for sure from the photo, but that's my best guess. Given similar conditions, I would anticipate that it will continue to spread, but not change much in appearance. Start testing nitrate and phosphate levels. Also, you might want to add some more herbivores to your cleanup crew.

And since Arrow Crabs are carnivores, that probably wouldn't help. ;)

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Captain Hook

When you blast it with a turkey baster what does it do? spiniod worms hide like feather dusters.....algae just stays there

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Weird, I've never seen red arrows like that coming from live rock. I'd probably recommend an Arrow Crab to help get rid of those.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry!

 

At first, they looked like hydroids to me; but yeah, I think its a type of hair algae. It's hard to tell for sure from the photo, but that's my best guess. Given similar conditions, I would anticipate that it will continue to spread, but not change much in appearance. Start testing nitrate and phosphate levels. Also, you might want to add some more herbivores to your cleanup crew.

And since Arrow Crabs are carnivores, that probably wouldn't help. ;)

haha ! funny guy ! lol, what kind of herbivores would recommend adding in CUC? its a 17 gallon. thanks !

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haha ! funny guy ! lol, what kind of herbivores would recommend adding in CUC? its a 17 gallon. thanks !
Depending on the size of your tank, you might consider critters like: a Trochus Snail, Two Spot Bimaculatus Blenny, Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab, Blue Tuxedo Urchin... I'd probably start with a couple Trochus Snails and see how it goes.
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altolamprologus

Looks like bacteria to me (yes, you can see bacteria colonies when they get dense enough). Culd be the start of some type of hair algae too. Do you have access to a microscope?

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