Identifying a type of Algae

[Justanotherfishguy]

Hey fellow nano reefers.  This might not make sense but who knows. I have this algae that is  fuzzy like a carpet on the live rock. That quickly turns to this long stringy algae that always has little air bubbles on the top. I’ve tried to get rid of it but every morning it’s back. So I was wondering if y’all know what it is and a way to help get rid of it. I have a 20 gallon tank I have two Banded Trochus snail a astrea snail a nerite Snail A tail spot blenny and 6 dwarf hermit crab. Two red two blue and two yellow to help with algae on the rocks. if that helps.   Thanks in advance!!

[sadie]

wow, that stuff is weird.  What have you done to get rid of it?  What are your parameters and how old is your tank?

 

You want to find the REASON you have so much algae and not just get rid of it.

 

 But if it's driving you crazy, I got rid of mine by taking my rock out and using a toothbrush dipped in peroxide to scrub it off.  Then I did a fresh water rinse. But if you don't find out why you are getting it, it will just come right back.

[A.m.P]

Looks like it might be chrysophytes, the stringyness is odd though could be co-blooming with dino's?

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/chrysophytes-help-me-cure-it.263759/

[mcarroll]

Kinda looks like new tank uglies under A LOT of light.

 

How old is this tank?

 

When did the algae start?

 

How long has the cleanup crew been in there?  Do they seem to make any progress? 

 

Are you manually cleaning any space for the snails to start with?

 

What are you doing to filter the tank or control nutrients?

 

Hopefully the answer is just the live rock and a protein skimmer....if there are extras beyond that, list em out!  😉 

 

[Justanotherfishguy]

Yea I use the current orbit marine ic led light I believe it’s called  with everything at 80 but the whites at 70  I don’t know if that is to much light or not 

 

So I set it up mid May with dry rock and live sand  with doctor Tim one and only with the ammonia  and put my first fish around June 14ish  with the parameters reading what they should be  so I would say about  4 to 5 month old     Nothing has died in my tank either 

 

 Algae started around the beginning of July got bad then cleared up as I was adding the clean up crew  but recently it has gotten kinda crazy 

 

So I added two snails and two crabs at first  around July when I put my first fish then kept adding as algae has gotten worse  but I kinda feel like I have a lot because i also have a fighting conch two of the big  Nassarius and two small ones I have a bubble bee snail  and a Cerith snail  that usually stay on the sand   

 

As far as how good they do. Where they’ve been they do a decent job it just grow to quick for them. Tail spot blenny always has a fat belly 

 

I only clean the rock during water changes with a turkey baster  and the siphon besides the other day when it was long as hell 

 

I have the rock the sand and the intank caddy shack thing with innovaton marine purity pack 

 

@mcarroll

That kinda what it looks like  thanks 

 

@Amphrites

[Justanotherfishguy]

 

 

 

 

Tanks about 4 months old  

 I blast it with a turkey baster when I do water changes and suck it up with the siphon I use 

Recently during the week I just suck it up with the siphon and dump it out   I haven’t checked the water in about a week but last time it was 

 

Ph around 8 and 8.2  

Ammonia was 0 

Nitrite was 0 

And Nitrate was between 10 and 20 

 

I use api saltwater master kit  so I don’t get exact number  

 

@sadie

[Ratvan]

are you able to remove the rock to scrub the algae off? I'd beef up your CuC as well once you have manually removed

[Justanotherfishguy]

And this is what my tank looks like 

[Justanotherfishguy]

I can move the top ones the bottom one I think will mess with the sand to much there not sitting on the sand 

@Ratvan

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, Justanotherfishguy said:

I can move the top ones the bottom one I think will mess with the sand to much there not sitting on the sand 

@Ratvan

Might have to pinch that off with your nails in that case

[sadie]

LOVE the rock work!!  I'm not familiar with lighting at all, but have you tried less light? 

[Justanotherfishguy]

2 minutes ago, sadie said:

LOVE the rock work!!  I'm not familiar with lighting at all, but have you tried less light? 

Thanks!! I wasn’t to sure if it was to much or not.  Yea I turned it down from the preset that it had but I’m going to turn it down more I think 

[Ratvan]

Just now, Justanotherfishguy said:

Thanks!! I wasn’t to sure if it was to much or not.  Yea I turned it down from the preset that it had but I’m going to turn it down more I think 

Do you have any corals or macroalgae in your tank? I'd be tempted to leave them off if not

[A.m.P]

Nice scape, I don't think it's an issue of too much light, what are your nitrates and phosphates at? I had a crazy bloom of chrysophytes myself and the good news is that they don't tend to kill corals or your snails unlike Dino's, but they do tend to crop up in tanks with low nutrients. They can be tricky to shake because manual removal agitates the silicates on your rockwork and actually provides them with a foodsource as they can actively eat away at softened rocks and use silicates much like diatoms. I had the most luck just keeping up with manual removal, making sure my nutrients weren't zero, and I eventually trialed peroxide dosing (while it killed them very quickly and kept them gone I think it may have set my tank's aging-process back a few months so last resort there I think).

 

To level with you, in retrospect, I miss them and wish I'd just let them stay, they're far more attractive than diatoms, green or otherwise, hair algae, etc. and far less of a maintenance PITA than coralline. Probably an unpopular opinion, but as long as they're staying low and not transitioning to plague-algae stages, I'd count my blessings.

[Justanotherfishguy]

5 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Might have to pinch that off with your nails in that case

That’s going to be fun 

[Ratvan]

Just now, Justanotherfishguy said:

That’s going to be fun 

Yeah snails tend to ignore anything too long. Needs to be "Nubbins"

[Justanotherfishguy]

2 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

Nice scape, I don't think it's an issue of too much light, what are your nitrates and phosphates at? I had a crazy bloom of chrysophytes myself and the good news is that they don't tend to kill corals or your snails unlike Dino's, but they do tend to crop up in tanks with low nutrients. They can be tricky to shake because manual removal agitates the silicates on your rockwork and actually provides them with a foodsource as they can actually actively eat away at softened rocks and use silicates much like diatoms. I had the most luck just keeping up with manual removal, making sure my nutrients weren't zero, and I eventually trialed peroxide dosing (while it killed them very quickly and kept them gone I think it may have set my tank's aging-process back a few months so last resort there I think).

Thanks!!! So last time I checked my nitrate was around 10 and 20 I use the api kit so I don’t get a spot on number  

I’ve actually never checked phosphate  only for ph ammonia nitrites and nitrates 

[Justanotherfishguy]

8 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Do you have any corals or macroalgae in your tank? I'd be tempted to leave them off if not

No corals yet soon tho and no macroalgae 

[A.m.P]

You might find it's near zero, nitrates look good though 10-20 is a pretty solid place to be, now the brown stringy stuff on the golden algae, if your phos is 0, might be the start of Dino's. I'd grab a test kit or get your water checked at an LFS which uses a decent kit and make sure you're not at risk as the buggers can transition and move fast with high nitrates and low phosphates. 

Worth noting chrysophytes are rare in a tank with nitrates from my understanding, which granted doesn't mean much at all lol I think even the most experienced (ie. definitely not me) have to take shots-in-the-dark from time to time.

[Justanotherfishguy]

11 minutes ago, Amphrites said:

You might find it's near zero, nitrates look good though 10-20 is a pretty solid place to be, now the brown stringy stuff on the golden algae, if your phos is 0, might be the start of Dino's. I'd grab a test kit or get your water checked at an LFS which uses a decent kit and make sure you're not at risk as the buggers can transition and move fast with high nitrates and low phosphates.

Okay ill grab a kit.  so would there be any other thing besides what I test now and the phosphates that I should be testing   

[Ratvan]

Just now, Justanotherfishguy said:

Okay ill grab a kit.  so would there be any other thing besides what I test now and the phosphates that I should be testing   

Try a Salifert Phosphate kit, you can buy them singly (unlike the API Master Kit) pretty reliable

[Justanotherfishguy]

Thank you for the help everyone greatly appreciated 

[Ratvan]

You can add other tests later if and when you get corals and want to start dosing

[mcarroll]

Wondering how your phosphate test turned out?

[Justanotherfishguy]

@mcarroll I actually haven’t been able to check yet everywhere I go doesn’t have the test kit  in stock so I just ordered online but it won’t be here till Wednesday or friday of next week  because they don’t have in stock online either as soon as it comes in I’ll let you know.  I was using nature’s ocean water and switch to instant ocean salt mix. I didn’t have a r/o system that’s why I was using that  but so far It seems like the algae is going away slowly don’t know if that had anything to do with it.