New growth

[l'eau IQ]

Just upgraded lights about one month ago and have noticed a lot of green growth in the tank. I've since cut back on the duration of the lights but was wondering what type of plant/algae this might be. Is it something I should remove? It seems to be growing at a fairly rapid rate.

Sal = 1.024, pH = 8.4, Ammonia = 0, Nitrites & Nitrates = 0

 

[FishFrik]

Yay! I have that too but it's too small for me to take a decent picture of it. I don't know what it is or if it is harmful so I hope someone ID it for us soon

 

[l'eau IQ]

Hmmm.... Apparently stumped some people with this one. Anyone have any suggested websites I can check out to try to ID this myself? This thing has doubled in size since posting this which leads me to believe it may not be beneficial. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Stumped me. It looks like some species of sponge to me. Or is it a plant? Is it thin (like leaves) or thicker in diameter?

 

[l'eau IQ]

It's definitely more three dimensional than a leaf. It's more cylindrical so the width you see at the base is more or less it's diameter. It looks to have the consistency of jelly but I haven't squeezed or touched it for fear of spreading it if it's bad. It's really not porous like the sponges I'm familiar with.

 

[roka64]

It looks like a bleached form of algae. I have some in my tank that is brown. Something like this, Rhodophyta. They have the same leafy look. But, I could be totally off.

 

[FishFrik]

I really doubt that it's algae. Mine hasn't grew that much. I think it does retract when I touch it.

 

[roka64]

Possibly a branching coral?

 

[Fluff]

It looks like a bleached form of algae. I have some in my tank that is brown. Something like this, Rhodophyta. They have the same leafy look. But, I could be totally off.

This would be my guess as well. Though, not really bleached, just a brown type of algae. Probably one of the rhodophyta's. Do a google search for brown/red macros or have a look at wetwebmedia, I'm sure you'll find tons of stuff there.

 

[roka64]

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/protista/rhodophyta.html

This says:
"Some rhodophytes have very little phycoerythrin, and may appear green or bluish from the chlorophyll and other pigments present in them."

 

[l'eau IQ]

Thanks for the input. I figured it was some kind of algae. Since I added my new lights I've had some serious algae blooms that I'm trying to control. Thanks everyone.

 

[roka64]

That one might be a good algae!

 

[Ziggy953]

I have that growing on a few of my rocks. My damsels seem to love it. They let it grow for a couple of days and then they eat it. I thought it may be some type of kelp but that link of the "red algae" you provided looks exactly like what I have. Cool.