Weird algae

[boxxmann]

I don't know what type of algae is growing in my tank. I'll post a pic soon. I can't figure out what is causing it to grow. My ph is 8.1, my Ca is 440, Alk is 8.2dkh, and Mg is 1370. I've taken my tank water and ro water for testing and neither have any PO4 in them. I have led lights on my tank, so they are good. It's like it just started out of nowhere. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

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[Sniperhank]

Well we will want to know the nitrate and phosphate levels, as they are what fuel algae growth. The stronger the lighting will help this growth, and LEDs can easily fuel that forward.
Ro water usually isn't at 0 tds and as someone who uses ro water, you'll have algae growth no matter what you do from that alone.


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[boxxmann]

So, what water do I use? I've been using RO/DI water for years with no issues. My tank water and ROR/DI water has zero PO4 in them. I can't upload a pic while I am at work, I have to resize it. It looks very very fine, almost clear like.

 

[boxxmann]

I also have a TDS meter on my RO/DI unit and it reads zero on the exit of my RO membrane and the DI canister. I calibrate it every other month, so I am pretty sure that isn't the issue.

 

[Sniperhank]

Oh, I thought I read you were only using distilled rather than ro/di.
How often and what are you feeding? If you feed daily, how are you pulling those nutrients out of the water column? If it goes in, it has to come out or it'll be algae.

 

[boxxmann]

I feed a small amount of New Life Spectrum food and Reef Chili every 3 days. I am running a protein skimmer, which is skimming wet, and a carbon/GFO reactor. I only have two fish in the tank. Other than that, only water changes of 10% every other week (due to current work schedule).

 

[boxxmann]

This is a pic of the algae.

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[Reefing Madness]

Looks like a fungus growing, not algae.
Bryopsis is the only clean water algae that I know of, and your shot isn't Bryopsis.

 

[boxxmann]

I've never heard of a saltwater fungus before.

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[Sniperhank]

Fungus or possibly even bacteria growing.


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[boxxmann]

So, what can I do to rid my tank of this problem and to prevent it from happening again?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Brush it off the coral, suck it out.

 

[boxxmann]

I've tried removing it with a syphon....no luck. It is only on a few rocks and my powerheads. I've cleaned them and it keeps coming back, no worse though.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Hmm, weird, usually the stuff doesn't come back in the same spots after cleaning it up.

 

[54seaweed]

I'm having a hard time blowing up the pict so I'm going to just ask my Question ,

does it look like white hairs and are there like tub looking bases

look at the rocks does it look like this
I had this real bad thought I would never get rid of it (spinoid worms)
both my rocks and sand were infested

if it is the same this is what I had to do

I replaced all my sand bed but I don't know if you have it in your sand or not
as for the rocks I'm still fighting it I used 4 zip lock ties to secure 2 wooden meat skewers together , I scrape these pests off than I siphon out the debris than I come back with turkey baster to blow the rest off , I've been doing sections daily for almost 2 months ,
I hope this aint what you have because it's one big pain in the * I finally have mine about 75% contained , tried tooth brush on rocks but it was useless the little point on skewer works best

 

[boxxmann]

No, thankfully, it doesn't look like that. No offense. It's almost like it won't come off of the rock.

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