Macroalgae growing on coral

[cplawrence]

My tank has been going for nearly a year now. It is a 29 gal with a bit over 40# of live rock and 130W PC lighting. The tank houses 2 ocellaris clowns, a peppermint shrimp, skunk cleaner shrimp, blue leg hermits and an assortment of snails. The water parameters have steadily been:
Nitrate: negligible (zero for all practical purposes)
Phosphate: negligible (again, as close to zero as I can see on the test kit)

I haven't had significant issues with algae growth until relatively recently (just a bit of growth on the walls which has been easily controlled). I picked up a candy cane coral a couple of months ago and it has been healthy (from a relative newbie perspective). However, it had some sort of macroalgae on it that initially was missed. It is green and grows in sort of a Y shape. It had gotten to the point where it was engulfing some of the smaller heads of the coral. I started pulling it off manually, but it has gotten to the point that I need to do so every week.

I am currently running without a skimmer, but that was a purchase I was planning on finally making next month. I had also been planning on installing a sump, but for both financial and time reasons, that may have to wait until about the end of the year. Assuming I keep limiting it manually, are these upgrades likely to help? Is there something else I should be doing?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

 

[ntswift]

Sounds like its just macro to me and none of that stuff will really help it stop growing. Emerald crabs will eat it along with some angels I've heard. If you could post a pic that would give us a little bit better understanding what you're working with. Other than what I've stated above I dont know of anyother way (other than manual removal) to get rid of it without affecting your corals too.

 

[melosu58]

You might not want to get the angel IME as mine nipped on corals and I had to get rid of the angels. It`s always a crap shoot with angels and corals. Manual removal will be your best and cheapest route

 

[cplawrence]

You might not want to get the angel IME as mine nipped on corals and I had to get rid of the angels. It`s always a crap shoot with angels and corals. Manual removal will be your best and cheapest route

Would you also recommend against the emerald crab idea that was mentioned?

 

[roka64]

It is green and grows in sort of a Y shape

That is the same stuff I have that seems to be wiping out my hair algae, it's hard to say without a pic but it might be Codium edule or Codium arabicum.

I started pulling it off manually, but it has gotten to the point that I need to do so every week.

This might be a type of algae that can spread quickly when it is "burst".
Can you get a pic and post it in the ID section?

 

[cplawrence]

Alright--I wanted to let this go for a couple of weeks to try and get some decent pictures of the algae. Here they are: