Algae in pristine water?

[haleyf1024]

I have been battling what I believe to be turf algea for about a year now. It doesn't look like hair algea too me, but I can get a pic tomorrow if ya'll wanted to see it. Now, onto my dilemma- It is growig like wildfire. It's encroaching on my zoas and clam/oyster. I manually remove it, but it usually comes right back. Water params are-
Salinity: 1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 0
Nitrites: 0
Phosphates: 0
KH: 6-7 (low, anybody have a remedy? My Red Sea buffer doesn't seem to help much)
PH: 8 (again, slightly low but always has been, since setup about 3 yrs ago)
Ca: 460
Mg:1300
So, I am at a loss as to what is feeding this algae. Are my levels low/undetectable since hypothetically the TA is using phos/nitrates to grow? My chaeto isn't doing great and my zoas and finger leather aren't growing nearly as fast as they were before the takeover. The tank is 110 gallons. The tangs seem to nip at is passively, but don't do much to help. I did just get a big white hermit crab (don't know what he is yet) that seems to love it, and a purple tuxedo urchin that eats (and wears) it. But even with them, the turf algea is holding strong. I also run chemipure and purigen if that is of any help.

 

[saltyphish]

First we need to id what exactly you have to help. Please post a pic of it. Also some algaes thrive in low nutrients and just feed off of the lights. However, usually the reason a person is testing low nutrients is because the algae is absorbing it from the water column. Basically a algae turf scrubber running naturally.

 

[brandon429]

Haley this was made for your issue

The algae you describe are what parrotfish and hawksbill turtles eat and several strains including bryopsis are low nutrient, holdfast based invaders

The most important part of the thread is the test rock setup, it models what it takes to win for your particulars

http://reef2reef.com/threads/5-new-...be-cured-using-a-rasp-and-a-test-rock.257862/