HELP! What is this bright green stuff?

Jmdumbeck · Aug 17, 2009

Today I was only at work for maybe 6 hours, and when I came home, there was this bright green (tennis ball color and brightness) stuff on my rocks. I've noticed a few patches, but when I turned off the actinics I could see a little bit more in some other places. It also gathered on the glass in a fine dusting too. What the heck is this, and what should I do? I'm freaking out at this point, even though my fish are acting completely fine.

Reef Pets · Aug 17, 2009

Of course its algae of some sort, I cant tell what kind from the photos. Could be hair or slime algae.. Either way, I am sure its nothing to freak out about. Do you have snails and or crabs in your tank? If not I would highly recommend a clean up crew.

Phatboy · Aug 17, 2009

definitly time to think about a CUC if you dont have one.

Jmdumbeck · Aug 17, 2009

I do have one little red-legged hermit crab. How many is suitable? And I'm just scared of having some sort of bright green outbreak. Thanks!

Stray32 · Aug 17, 2009

I'd get 6-8 more hermits and a bundle of margarita and turbo snails. They should take care of the algae in no time.

Reef Pets · Aug 17, 2009

What size is your tank? Snails, I like using one Astrea Snail per 2 gallons of water.. So, if you have a 50 gallon tank then I would add 25 snails. This is just a general rule..

Jmdumbeck · Aug 17, 2009

It's a 26G. Not big at all.

beaslbob · Aug 18, 2009

Kill the lights for a few days and add macro algae to the system.

my .02

Viva'sReef · Aug 18, 2009

How about some background info on your tank. How long has the tank been setup, what inhabitants are in the tank, and tank parameters? It looks like the live rock is pretty new in your pic

Jmdumbeck · Aug 18, 2009

It's 3 months old. The live rock has been in my tank 2 months. I have 2 Ocellaris clownfish that have been there for a few weeks, as well as a little hermit. The parameters are all perfect, and I've never had any algae growth before. Just yesterday I got a small star polyp frag for the tank, but the green was there before it. It reminds me of my purple coralline algae, same texture, and doesn't really want to come off. It's sort of hard.

Phatboy · Aug 19, 2009

It could be another type of coraline. Coraline comes in all sorts of different colors, but I dont wanna garantee anything without seeing it first hand.

Jmdumbeck · Aug 21, 2009

Someone else told me the same thing. It's certainly just as frequent as the purple. It's not hairy or anything, and not taking the form of anything. Just bright green spots.