- Joined
- Aug 23, 2017
- Messages
- 29
- Reaction score
- 32
Hi all - I am having an issue with some brown algae in my reef. The algae kind of looks like hair algae - but not highly filamentous. It almost looks like feathers - its very dense and seems to max out at about an inch or so in length. I have tried scraping it out, pick it out, sucking it out with my water exchanger, and I can't seem to get it to go away. My tank is well established - about 7 years old. Its 250 gallons (in-wall Marine Land DD tank) with a 50 gallon sump. I am running an over sized Reef Octopus skimmer, (4) AI Hydras for lights, multiple Vortec MP40's for flow, strong return pumps. I change 10-15% of the water every week religiously using RODI and Reef Chrystals. I run carbon regularly. Everything is automated using the latest APEX controller and I also use the APEX ATK. I travel a lot for work, so this tank needs to be fool proof and for the most part it is. My tank is a mixed reef - SPS, LPS, Softies, Zoa's, Acan, etc. Fish stock is light - Yellow Tang (14+ years old), Sailfin Tang, Hippo Tang, and a mean ole cinnamon clownfish. I feed a modest amount of food 5 days a week- alternating between flake and some frozen. The tanks is not overfed. I dose regularly with BRS two part - ALK = 8, Mag = 1380, Ca = 410. Phosphate is 0 - algae is probably consuming it. I have a pretty fresh clean up crew already - snails (including a couple of turbo snails), sand sifting Seastar (over 5 years old), lots of assorted hermits, peppermint shrimp, emerald crabs. Finally I would not call this a massive outbreak - its in spots, but its hard to get rid of and I want to stop it from spreading before it gets out of hand. Any suggestions on what this is, and how to get rid of it?