Green grass growing....

[gefilte]

So, it appears that I am growing some lawn on my rocks. My tank is monitored and serviced by my local LFS. When I (actually my wife) asked him about it this week, he said it was green coraline algae and its supposed to be there. My tank has been up for about 4-5 years and this doesn't seem right to me. I have much beautiful pink/purple coraline algae, but had not heard of this green stuff. The green seems to be overgrowing the pink/purple as well. He showed my wife that it was growing on the rocks and could not just pull off. I know, I know. You can't tell without pictures. I didn't get a chance to take any and just thought about posting this while I was at work. Any thoughts on this?

 

[melosu58]

Hair algea

 

[gefilte]

So is it good or bad?

 

[melosu58]

It will take over your tank and make it look bad. You did click on the words Hair algea right? Here is another link.

Salty Zoo -Hair Algae FAQ

 

[gefilte]

It doesn't look like hair. But, i thought it was bad. So why is he telling me that it is good??? I'll try to post pictures later but it looks like short bushy grass.

 

[roka64]

It could be some other kind of micro algae, a pic would help. If they are monitoring your tank, are they checking for phosphates?

 

[gefilte]

Levels are as follows:
Nitrate 15
pH 8.1
Alk 290
Phosphate 0.25
Calcium 420

And here is what it looks like.....





Thoughts?

 

[melosu58]

I still say it`s hair algea. It will get longer as time progresses. Any amount of phosphates is a fuel source. The way I got rid of mine was to rubberband a toothbrush on the end of my siphon hose and scrub the algea off the rock and siphon it off during a PWC. After doing this a few times and working on those phosphates you`ll start to see a difference. JMO

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Time to get a new place to service your aquarium it they think that's coralline algae! Holy smoke!

0.25ppm phosphates are huge. Think that's your main problem. But if you have a contract with them, you're probably at their mercy unless you buy out the remainder of your contract.