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What is this green growing everywhere?


Matrioshka18

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Hello!

 

I have been seeing green strings growing in various parts of the tank. Especially on top of all the snails. It looks like some green thing sticks of grass. 

Some corals are also getting this growth. Could someone help me identify what this is and how to kill it?

 

Both snails in the picture are covered with this stuff. 

The zooanthid is getting this growth all over. 

 

The tank is 13.5 gallons, I water change once a week. Gravity at 1.024, temp 79. Nitrate 0, nitrite 0, ammonia 0. 

 

Thanks for any input. 

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Hmmmm. Looks like "turf algae", a rather broad classification of somewhat troublesome algae (no idea of the Latin name, nor could I care less). My Scarlet and Blue Hermit's munch on it but don't really "control" it. My Tail-spot Blenny doesn't seem very interested, nor do my Trochus, Cerith's. or Dwarf Cerith's. The way to tell if it's "turf" is to pull a clump out of the water. If it maintains it's shape, it probably is. If it turns to slime, it's GHA. Could be Bryopsis, but it doesn't look right to me (too green), although I'm certainly not algal expert. Ur nutrients seem a bit low to support your zoas. Of course, the algae may be up-taking them before they are detectable to your test kit.

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11 minutes ago, Oldsalt01 said:

Hmmmm. Looks like "turf algae", a rather broad classification of somewhat troublesome algae (no idea of the Latin name, nor could I care less). My Scarlet and Blue Hermit's munch on it but don't really "control" it. My Tail-spot Blenny doesn't seem very interested, nor do my Trochus, Cerith's. or Dwarf Cerith's. The way to tell if it's "turf" is to pull a clump out of the water. If it maintains it's shape, it probably is. If it turns to slime, it's GHA. Could be Bryopsis, but it doesn't look right to me (too green), although I'm certainly not algal expert. Ur nutrients seem a bit low to support your zoas. Of course, the algae may be up-taking them before they are detectable to your test kit.

I pulled some out and it does maintain its shape. I guess it is turf. I will keep pulling it out till it is gone. It was a bit hard, felt like strong weeds that don't want to be pulled out. 

 

I am new to this hobby and I have been using instant ocean since it was on sale. I did read that this salt does not contain trace elements that zooanthid need. Should I change salt, and if so, to what salt? 

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13 minutes ago, Matrioshka18 said:

I pulled some out and it does maintain its shape. I guess it is turf. I will keep pulling it out till it is gone. It was a bit hard, felt like strong weeds that don't want to be pulled out. 

 

I am new to this hobby and I have been using instant ocean since it was on sale. I did read that this salt does not contain trace elements that zooanthid need. Should I change salt, and if so, to what salt? 

Maybe someone here can answer this question better than I, but I've always heard that you shouldn't switch salts because it would cause too much stress to your tank. However, I've read a lot of personal experiences from people on this site that they've switched cold turkey and had no negative side effects. 

Me being new to the hobby as well, I had the same question as you and that was, "Which salt should I use"? Obviously I got a lot of different answers, but I found a common theme between them and it was Red Sea Coral Pro (RSCP) Salt which I started in my 16 gallon last week (new tank) and I'm thinking of using in my 28g soon. If you want, you're welcome to follow me in my noob journey with my photo journal :)

Maybe you can learn from my mistakes when I make them lol. 

Here <---

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20 minutes ago, Fury Reef said:

Maybe someone here can answer this question better than I, but I've always heard that you shouldn't switch salts because it would cause too much stress to your tank. However, I've read a lot of personal experiences from people on this site that they've switched cold turkey and had no negative side effects. 

Me being new to the hobby as well, I had the same question as you and that was, "Which salt should I use"? Obviously I got a lot of different answers, but I found a common theme between them and it was Red Sea Coral Pro (RSCP) Salt which I started in my 16 gallon last week (new tank) and I'm thinking of using in my 28g soon. If you want, you're welcome to follow me in my noob journey with my photo journal :)

Maybe you can learn from my mistakes when I make them lol. 

Here <---

Thanks for your response to my salt question. I too have been looking at RSCP. I will for sure follow your journey! 

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I can't recommend which salt to switch to, as I don't bother mixing my own ($3.50/week is cheap enough for me right now), but I will say when you do switch over, mix the IO salt you have left over, with whatever salt you choose, over a couple or three water changes, to avoid chemistry shock to the system. OR, you could add trace elements yourself.

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Just now, Oldsalt01 said:

I can't recommend which salt to switch to, as I don't bother mixing my own ($3.50/week is cheap enough for me right now), but I will say when you do switch over, mix the IO salt you have left over, with whatever salt you choose, over a couple or three water changes, to avoid chemistry shock to the system. OR, you could add trace elements yourself.

I have read this too. The example I saw was for the first change do 1/3 new salt and 2/3 old salt ;). The next change reverse those. Then the third change 100% new salt. However you do it, I'm sure you'll be fine. 

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For zoas, I wouldn't worry about salt mix, any mix should be fine as long as the basics are OK in your tank. The presence of nuisance algae indicates your tank still needs to mature and balance, which is normal. Changing your salt mix won't help with that. 

 

Nitrates and phosphates at zero probably indicates that the algae is consuming all the nutrients. How old is the tank? 

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3 hours ago, teenyreef said:

For zoas, I wouldn't worry about salt mix, any mix should be fine as long as the basics are OK in your tank. The presence of nuisance algae indicates your tank still needs to mature and balance, which is normal. Changing your salt mix won't help with that. 

 

Nitrates and phosphates at zero probably indicates that the algae is consuming all the nutrients. How old is the tank? 

The tank is 5 months old. I haven't tested phosphates or any other trace element since I change 2 gallons of the 15 gallons every week. I have been doing this routine for a while now. 

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Every tank I've ever had got algae problems off and on through the first year, and some in the second year when things got out of balance. If it was my tank, I'd try spot control, pull it off or scrub it off where you can, or spot treat with a drop of hydrogen peroxide with the rock out of the tank. I dilute peroxide by 50%, and leave it on for about 30 seconds before rinsing in old tank water. 

 

Have your nitrates always been zero? I assume the algae has started to appear recently, right? Even if you don't want to invest in a test kit, you might want to have your water tested for phosphates at the lfs just to see what the levels are. If they are high, or at zero, that may help explain the problem.

 

I've seen algae like that before from time to time. I'm pretty sure none of the usual algae eaters were interested in it until the tank conditions changed and the algae structure was weakened.

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Edit: I just realized I didn't explain about the peroxide: zoas and many other softies will tolerate 30-60 seconds at 50%. But unless there's algae directly on the coral, just put the peroxide on the algae. And don't use peroxide on any sps, it will kill sps corals right away. In general, the only coral I spot treat with peroxide is zoas.

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1 hour ago, teenyreef said:

Every tank I've ever had got algae problems off and on through the first year, and some in the second year when things got out of balance. If it was my tank, I'd try spot control, pull it off or scrub it off where you can, or spot treat with a drop of hydrogen peroxide with the rock out of the tank. I dilute peroxide by 50%, and leave it on for about 30 seconds before rinsing in old tank water. 

 

Have your nitrates always been zero? I assume the algae has started to appear recently, right? Even if you don't want to invest in a test kit, you might want to have your water tested for phosphates at the lfs just to see what the levels are. If they are high, or at zero, that may help explain the problem.

 

I've seen algae like that before from time to time. I'm pretty sure none of the usual algae eaters were interested in it until the tank conditions changed and the algae structure was weakened.

Yes, the aglae has started to appear recently. I pulled most of it off today. I also think that my phosphates are high, I will go to my lfs to get it tested. 

 

Where do you get aquarium safe peroxide?

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If you're doing 10-15% waterchange, switching salt is safe. Done it numerous times.

 

You're more likely to see drastic effects when you do a large waterchange with a new salt.

 

Not sure what type of algae that is. 

 

3% hydrogen peroxide is safe

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4 hours ago, Matrioshka18 said:

Yes, the aglae has started to appear recently. I pulled most of it off today. I also think that my phosphates are high, I will go to my lfs to get it tested. 

 

Where do you get aquarium safe peroxide?

Peroxide is always peroxide. Mainly it’s sold at the pharmacy, but can be found in other places aswell. If you do get a higher concentration than 3% you need to dilute it.

 

Generally it’ll be sold as Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) as Peroxide is just class.

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Don't forget that "13.5 gallons" is quoted by the manufacturer of a BARE tank with no ornaments, rock, sand, etc., occupying any volume. For instance, I've calculated my 14g Biocube to actually hold around 10.5 gallons of water when taking into consideration the amount of water the rock and sand displace (I actually filled the tank by hand when I first got it, with sand and rock in place, to get a fairly accurate idea of total TRUE volume). So, a 20% water change would involve about 2 gallons per week, which is what I generally do. Of more import to this is calculating dosing levels for ANY chemical added to the tank. Just something I learned over many, many years of both SW and FW tanks.

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7 hours ago, Oldsalt01 said:

Don't forget that "13.5 gallons" is quoted by the manufacturer of a BARE tank with no ornaments, rock, sand, etc., occupying any volume. For instance, I've calculated my 14g Biocube to actually hold around 10.5 gallons of water when taking into consideration the amount of water the rock and sand displace (I actually filled the tank by hand when I first got it, with sand and rock in place, to get a fairly accurate idea of total TRUE volume). So, a 20% water change would involve about 2 gallons per week, which is what I generally do. Of more import to this is calculating dosing levels for ANY chemical added to the tank. Just something I learned over many, many years of both SW and FW tanks.

I never took that into consideration thanks for the info. 

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It looks similar to the aggressive turf algae I have in my 5.5, I would definitely carefully spot treat out of tank like @teenyreef suggested.  Get it under control before it gets out of control! ;) As far as salts, I used Instant Ocean for years with softies and used it once I started getting into LPS as well, no problems.  When I switched, it was to AquaForest Sea Salt blend which is similar (as opposed to their Reef or Probiotic blends).  If you're not growing loads of stony corals you will probably be ok with IO.  RSCP mixes with some pretty high numbers sometimes and a few users on here have switched to regular blue bucket Red Sea salt because of issues it was causing over the last few months.

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On 2/7/2018 at 2:31 AM, Lula_Mae said:

It looks similar to the aggressive turf algae I have in my 5.5, I would definitely carefully spot treat out of tank like @teenyreef suggested.  Get it under control before it gets out of control! ;) As far as salts, I used Instant Ocean for years with softies and used it once I started getting into LPS as well, no problems.  When I switched, it was to AquaForest Sea Salt blend which is similar (as opposed to their Reef or Probiotic blends).  If you're not growing loads of stony corals you will probably be ok with IO.  RSCP mixes with some pretty high numbers sometimes and a few users on here have switched to regular blue bucket Red Sea salt because of issues it was causing over the last few months.

I got it under control, I manually pulled a lot from where it was growing. Thanks for the salt advice. I will look further into getting new salt. So many options out there. With IO, I noticed ph is very low, almost 7. I might need to use buffer.

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