Algae ID & Solution

[Colacoke]

Hello, first of all would like to wish my fellow reefer happy CNY!

 

Started this hobby around 3-4 months back and I’ve been through alot of ups and downs, however the motivation I get from seeing corals and fishes thrive always outweigh the cons!

 

I enjoy learning how to troubleshoot issues by reading articles and forums, which explains why I rarely post anything to ask for solution.

 

However recently I experience a hiccup in my journey.

 

 

As observed, there seem to be some kind of algae(?) growth on my corals and its affecting their colouration and cause my acan to be all shriveled up. It is also growing on the back of my snails. It is semi green/brownish and very hairy however I do not know the exact ID. Hope someone here can help

 

My sandbed is experiencing lots of brownish algae outbreak, and sometimes my glass too. This i troubleshoot by stirring the sand and a magnet scraper but it still comes back after a day or two

 

My nitrate lvls are 20ppm and phosphates are at 0.5ppm. could this be the cause?

 

 

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[soggycookies]

First of all, Happy CNY to you too!

 

In my experience, it’s not uncommon for hair algae and other nuisance algae to grow even in the most pristine tanks, and many factors influence the rate of growth of all kinds of algae in your tank(e.g. higher calcium and magnesium tends to give you lots of coralline algae much faster)

 

Your nitrates and phosphates might be even higher which could be contributing to the rate of the nuisance algae growth, but IMO aren’t at alarming levels at all. In fact they are probably locking in excess nutrients in your tank when they take them in to fuel their growth.

 

Some things to take into account:

(For phosphates): do you have phosphate removal media(like GFO)?

 

Does your system include a refugium with a decent amount of macroalgae?

 

Do you have a clean-up crew and algae-pruning crew(tangs, algae blennies, snails, crabs etc.)?

 

Based on the photos you shared, it looks like filamentous Brown algae of some kind. The green on the rocks could be turf algae, which isn’t as bad as green hair algae. Your tank could go through various different phases of algae blooms as it matures and finds its equilibrium, but IMO it’s always a great idea to have a good clean-up grew and “lawnmowers” in your reef , As algae will still find a way to grow in even very low nutrient tanks, just at a much reduced rate.

 

Cheers, and I hope you find a way to solve(or at least mitigate) your algae issue!

 

 

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