I'm looking for advice from fellow reefers! I'm battling what I think is diatoms and what I think is bryopsis. My tank is 8 months old. Nitrate is 8.5 (Hanna) and phosphate is neglegable (salifort). I had a slight diatom bloom during the initial cycling but, they went away untill 2 months ago. I just changed my RO membrane & DI resin and did a 30% water change. My hope is that I'm eliminating silicates & the diatoms will die off.
In addition, it looks like i have bryopsis on a single rock (see middle rock in photo). I have a rabbit fish, Kole Tang, large urchin, & a big (CUC). They eat all other algae but won't touch this specific rock which is why I'm assuming it's bryopsis. Unfortunately, there’s a bunch of cespitularia on the other half of this rock.
Should I take the rock out with the cespitularia & break off the half with bryopsis? Should I resort to reef flux? Are the diatoms and bryopsis separate issues or is there a common root problem/fix?
What’s my best course of action?
Thanks in advance!