rockstarta78 April 21, 2016 Share April 21, 2016 Sorry for the newbie question. Can someone please tell me what type of algae is this? This is almost like hair algae and blowing with the WaveMaker. Thank you for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madub03 April 25, 2016 Share April 25, 2016 Is this a brand new tank? It looks like you are just having a diatom bloom from the picture above. If it's waving with the wave maker, it's probably hair algae. I would check your phosphate levels especially if that is new dry rock as it can leak phosphates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM April 25, 2016 Share April 25, 2016 Is this a brand new tank? It looks like you are just having a diatom bloom from the picture above. If it's waving with the wave maker, it's probably hair algae. I would check your phosphate levels especially if that is new dry rock as it can leak phosphates. He's probably right. Stuff will grow and fade on brand new rock. Lots of various things at various times. It's part of the waiting process for a new tank and a frustrating one if it's your only/first tank. I'd recommend not doing anything different to deal with it for a good long time, like months, but learning to use the test kits well is a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarta78 April 25, 2016 Author Share April 25, 2016 This is a new tank. It finished cycling in late January. For now I turned the lights off. I think it could be biatom. But does diatom has strings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM April 25, 2016 Share April 25, 2016 I have cyano in my tank that is more orange than red that looks a little like your picture. At least I think it's cyano. No idea what it is for sure, but it doesn't seem to be hurting stuff. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Maybe put some blue leg hermits and astrea snails on the rocks and see if anything eats it. If they all die, then maybe it is dinoflagellates, but I hope not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarta78 April 25, 2016 Author Share April 25, 2016 I have both the blue legged hermit and astrea and they are not dead yet. Can't really tell if they are eating this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM April 25, 2016 Share April 25, 2016 Hmm, if it has been running since January I guess I'd expect more junk growing on the rocks and the rocks to be a little more coralline covered and darker. I figured it was only a couple of weeks old from the pic. Does it blow off with a turkey baster? What are you running for filtration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarta78 April 27, 2016 Author Share April 27, 2016 It doesn't blow off with turkey baster. I'm running Chemi Pure blue, Roaphos, and sponge filter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve175 April 28, 2016 Share April 28, 2016 Benign. Does not look like hair algae to me. Leave it, let your tank mature, and have a beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarta78 April 28, 2016 Author Share April 28, 2016 The beer part sounds good. You'd think it'll be somewhat stable after 4 months. I also added TSBE pods recently. These algae showed up a week or so later. Wonder if these 2 events are even relayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind April 28, 2016 Share April 28, 2016 I doubt addition of the pods are related to the algae showing up. These simple algae are just a natural part of the tank cycle and most tanks never loss them. Once the tank is cycled a clean up crew will help to keep things clean and larger forms of algae will out compete the diatoms for space and nutrients. Unfortunately, you may find yourself cleaning them off of the glass a couple times a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John-Solo April 28, 2016 Share April 28, 2016 I had some algae like that after my tank had been running for about 3 months. even though I was using RODI water I started putting the recommended amount of Prime in when I was doing my water changes and it cleared up in about 3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarta78 April 29, 2016 Author Share April 29, 2016 I had some algae like that after my tank had been running for about 3 months. even though I was using RODI water I started putting the recommended amount of Prime in when I was doing my water changes and it cleared up in about 3 weeks.You think I should start putting Prime? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind April 29, 2016 Share April 29, 2016 Prime will not do anything to stop the algae. You might not like the look of it but it is natural and a part of the bio-system. There are currently or should be things in your system that will feed on that algae as part of the food chain. Welcome it and don't fight it. There will be many worse algae and other things to stress about later on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarta78 April 29, 2016 Author Share April 29, 2016 I guess I'll just let it run is course. I still can't figure out what type of algae this is. It's brownish with hair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami April 29, 2016 Share April 29, 2016 It's hard to tell from your pictures if it's an algae even. It just looks like a brown film to me. It could be a film algae or it could be protein deposits from some sort of bacteria. It might even be the beginnings of dinos. Not sure. Do you have a more recent close-up picture with decent resolution? Stuff like this is normally outcompeted by other stuff in a tank as it matures, so patience and good husbandry go a long way to finding your personal peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarta78 April 29, 2016 Author Share April 29, 2016 I tried to take a video. Please let me know if you can view it or gives you a better understanding. This thing has hair and the sway with the powerheads. https://vimeo.com/164738762 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstarta78 April 29, 2016 Author Share April 29, 2016 Crap. The video didn't work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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