Green algae on sand and rock?…

ekandler · Jul 6, 2021

I have a mature (3 year old) reef and about a week ago this green algae started forming on my sand and small bits on my rock. Not sure what it is or how to get rid of it. My nutrients are pretty consistent around 5-10ppm nitrate and 0.05ppm phosphate. I have pretty decent flow, enough that any more will irritate my euphyllia on lower parts of my rock. I have various snails, hermit crabs, and tangs which aren’t interested. Im not sure what it is and I’m afraid to use vibrant because I’ve heard it kills chaeto and I have a large piece of healthy chaeto I don’t want to lose. It’s formed behind or underneath coral so I can’t just remove it mechanically, or at least easily. Any advice?

KrisReef · Jul 6, 2021

Well that kind of looks like slime algae. If it is, Chemiclean will remove it but some people think using Chemiclean is worse than Vibrant for overall tank well being. I'm thinking @brandon429 will ask you how you clean your sand bed and have you tried his rip-clean method for removing these kinds of invasions?

I like your red Goniopora!

ekandler · Jul 6, 2021

KrisReef said:
Well that kind of looks like slime algae. If it is, Chemiclean will remove it but some people think using Chemiclean is worse than Vibrant for overall tank well being. I'm thinking @brandon429 will ask you how you clean your sand bed and have you tried his rip-clean method for removing these kinds of invasions?

I like your red Goniopora!

I haven’t heard chemiclean is worse than vibrant, which is ironic because I’ve used chemiclean before ha didn’t have any issues with it the first time so maybe I’ll try that again. I’m actually looking into sand bed cleaning options now, so funny you should ask. I have a hard time vacuuming my sand because of my coral placement on the edges of rocks or in the sand itself. I have a couple nassarius snails and getting more this week, and I have 1 sand sifting starfish. I’d love to kee my sand cleaner, but not sure how. I’ve tried a sand sifting goby in the past but that resulted in him dropping sand on my coral and I had a few corals die, so I got rid of him.

And Thanks! That goni is really awesome.