Algae ID

[WhitePanther93]

So I’m pretty sure my tank is going through it’s first ugly phase. It’s only been up in this incarnation for a few months.

I’m pretty sure that I’m looking at hair algae here, but I thought I’d ask just to be sure. The thing I’m really not sure of is that orangeish patch on the rock there in the center. There’s actually a few patches of it all around my tank. (You can see some on the rock in the background)There’s even some that looks like it’s grown on top of some algae.

Can anyone tell me what I’m dealing with here? I’m still very new tho reefing.

 

[Timfish]

Hair algae, aka GHA. I'd add an urchin or two, and/or hermits (I like thin strip hermits) and/or sally lightfoot crabs. All are escellent algae eater and will help control it. I would also use steel straws to scrap and remove the algea during water changes.

 

[vetteguy53081]

This looks more like calothrix which is a species of cyano often appear as a light slimy yet hairy/fuzzy nastiness that loosely attaches to your rock work looking like decaying GHA. Air bubbles are usually trapped while escaping the algae, giving it the appearance of Dinos also.
Blowing loose with a turkey baster and then siphoning is a start. You will then have to scrub rocks with a firm toothbrush preferably outside the tank and after cleaning increase skimming, water flow and add a couple of chitons and a pin cushion sea urchin

 

[WhitePanther93]

This looks more like calothrix which is a species of cyano often appear as a light slimy yet hairy/fuzzy nastiness that loosely attaches to your rock work looking like decaying GHA. Air bubbles are usually trapped while escaping the algae, giving it the appearance of Dinos also.
Blowing loose with a turkey baster and then siphoning is a start. You will then have to scrub rocks with a firm toothbrush preferably outside the tank and after cleaning increase skimming, water flow and add a couple of chitons and a pin cushion sea urchin

Chitons?

 

[Bccarty151]

If it blows off the rocks with a turkey baster the best thing you can do is look at it under a microscope it will save you potentially lots of time, effort, and frustration as there's a lot of them that look alike!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Chitons?

Type of snail

 

[WhitePanther93]

If it blows off the rocks with a turkey baster the best thing you can do is look at it under a microscope it will save you potentially lots of time, effort, and frustration as there's a lot of them that look alike!

Haven’t tested yet but:
1) What would I be looking for if I did look under a microscope?
2) if it doesn’t come loose what would I be dealing with then?

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Looks like GHA

 

[Bccarty151]

Haven’t tested yet but:
1) What would I be looking for if I did look under a microscope?
2) if it doesn’t come loose what would I be dealing with then?

I can't really see well from the pictures posted. If it blows off the rocks generally it's bacterial hence needing a microscope to ID and make a plan of attack. If it doesn't blow off the rocks it is most likely an algea of some type in which I'd Google images to find the type you have and enlist a clean up crew and water parameters to fight it.

 

[WhitePanther93]

Okay so it doesn’t blow off with a turkey baster.I now have an emerald crab in my tank. And my red tuxedo urchin has been cruising around for a week or so. I also need to cut down on feeding. Hopefully it goes away relatively quickly.

 

[jt8791]

I've got a red tuxedo urchin and hard to say how much hair algae it eats, have been reading that pincushion urchins eat more of it. My first tank had a hair algae problem and that's what my lfs suggested as a solution. Standard pincushion gets too big for my tank so I'm thinking of keeping an eye out for a purple short spine pincushion urchin. Have seen them at my lfs before but it's been a long time. Turning whites down did help slow it down as well as outcompeting it with a refugium.

 

[WhitePanther93]

I've got a red tuxedo urchin and hard to say how much hair algae it eats, have been reading that pincushion urchins eat more of it. My first tank had a hair algae problem and that's what my lfs suggested as a solution. Standard pincushion gets too big for my tank so I'm thinking of keeping an eye out for a purple short spine pincushion urchin. Have seen them at my lfs before but it's been a long time. Turning whites down did help slow it down as well as outcompeting it with a refugium.

At this point I’m more worried about getting my nitrates down. I need a more powerful return pump to get water flowing into my filter sock to get proper use out of it. My nitrates a couple of weeks ago were 40ish. They are now down to 25.1.