Is this turf algae?

[EpisodeMnH]

Turned whites all the way up for better visibility. Just now realized myself how bad it got because I never have the whites this high smh. Luckily it is primarily only on this specific rock, but there are patches on the back wall of my tank (I have an AIO so the back isn’t glass.) and other rocks, so it is definitely spreading and at risk of getting way worse. I’m currently on day 7 of Reef Flux and it really hasn’t done anything, but I no longer think this is even bryopsis. Can anyone confirm what type this is so I have a little bit better idea of what kind of treatment I need to do? I might have to try Vibrant.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

looks like regular green hair algae to me. Bottled stuff is just a temporary bandaid which might have unintended consequences to your tank. Suggest that you learn how to battle it and control it manually.

 

[EpisodeMnH]

looks like regular green hair algae to me. Bottled stuff is just a temporary bandaid which might have unintended consequences to your tank. Suggest that you learn how to battle it and control it manually.

I don’t think so. I’ve had mild green hair algae back when I first started the tank, it was soft and thin and easily brushed off using a toothbrush. This does NOT come off from brushing and even pulling it off by hand takes a good amount of force. It’s thick and coarse to the touch and almost has like a plastic feel to it.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

Yep, looks like turf algae. Hard to manually remove. Urchins will eat it.

 

[AydenLincoln]

It looks like bryopsis or turf algae which would explain why you can’t scrub it off both root down like super glue. I’d recommend finding the root cause including high nutrients and too much light and getting an urchin to clean it up.

 

[neonreef3d]

that algae suck to have,, I suggest a CUC that will chomp it down,, tuxedo urchin, turbo snails, cerith snails, manual removal is always an option,, use a toothbrush.

 

[MERKEY]

Pull the rock out and use peroxide to scrub it really really good, rinse in rodi and back into the tank...should take most of it off.

Scrape the stuff off the back wall and remove.

Get a cuc to keep it down after that.

 

[Aqua Man]

This does NOT come off from brushing and even pulling it off by hand takes a good amount of force. It’s thick and coarse to the touch and almost has like a plastic feel to it.

I’ve had this type of algae!! Almost toppled my rock scape pulling on it! My cure was adding a Pencil urchin. Mowed it down! I feel for you, it’s a tough algae.

There is a thread around here somewhere about my battle. Turf algae blues and my tank thread.

 

[GarrettT]

Looks like turf to me. Get some variegated pincushions and be sure to keep phosphate and nitrate above zero ppm. If you are dosing silicate, stop. Reefflux will do nothing to this algae. Matter of fact, I found that it makes it worse.

 

[Cyanohater]

Pull the rock out and use peroxide to scrub it really really good, rinse in rodi and back into the tank...should take most of it off.

Scrape the stuff off the back wall and remove.

Get a cuc to keep it down after that.

+1 but ensure there isn't any zoas or papys. Judging by the photo there isnt.

 

[GarrettT]

Turf algae isn’t hard to remove manually, except inside holes and cracks. I would manually remove as much as you can instead of using H2O2. I used it on mine and had some corals die. Even then, the difference it made on the algae was very minimal.

 

[Karliefish]

Any update on how you are doing with your turf algae problem?

 

[EpisodeMnH]

Any update on how you are doing with your turf algae problem?

Pleased to say, looks like I have it pretty much 100% cleared up! I ended up using the Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter Clean + Razor combo and it worked like a charm. Started noticeably working after only 24 hours or so, and I ran the dosing for 2 weeks. No casualties whatsoever other than a (Luckily cheap) Milli Acro frag that ended up melting away overnight. However, that specific frag was already not in the best shape even before treatment and had a bit of bleaching, polyp retraction, etc. so it’s hard to say whether it would have survived or not anyways even if I hadn’t run the treatment. The other Acros and most importantly all other livestock all survived, and I didn’t really notice even so much as irritation or retraction from the other corals, everything stayed pretty much normal, although it did force both of my Leathers, a Sinularia and a Toadstool, into a shed, but both finished up and came back puffier than ever. All Euphyllia are now looking gorgeous and it’s safe to say that turf growth on their skeletons was stunting polyp extension. Phosphates did bottom out a few times because the product works almost *too* well in that regard, but I had both NeoPhos and Reef Roids on hand to make sure the water never stayed nutrient depleted, which is I think where I was able to keep everything healthy. I think when people suffer losses from treatments like this, it’s not so much that the product itself directly kills anything, but that the nutrient depletion starves corals out, so you just need to stay vigilant about that aspect.

After treatment, I had a bit of what I initially thought was dinoflagellates, but I’m not a great ID on stuff like that, so I think it was actually the dying algae and other detritus accumulating and floating around, because elbow grease and manual removal has resulted in less and less of it every day. And I probably wouldn’t have had to do any manual removal if I had run filter socks instead, but what’s done is done now lol.

 

[Karliefish]

Pleased to say, looks like I have it pretty much 100% cleared up! I ended up using the Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter Clean + Razor combo and it worked like a charm. Started noticeably working after only 24 hours or so, and I ran the dosing for 2 weeks. No casualties whatsoever other than a (Luckily cheap) Milli Acro frag that ended up melting away overnight. However, that specific frag was already not in the best shape even before treatment and had a bit of bleaching, polyp retraction, etc. so it’s hard to say whether it would have survived or not anyways even if I hadn’t run the treatment. The other Acros and most importantly all other livestock all survived, and I didn’t really notice even so much as irritation or retraction from the other corals, everything stayed pretty much normal, although it did force both of my Leathers, a Sinularia and a Toadstool, into a shed, but both finished up and came back puffier than ever. All Euphyllia are now looking gorgeous and it’s safe to say that turf growth on their skeletons was stunting polyp extension. Phosphates did bottom out a few times because the product works almost *too* well in that regard, but I had both NeoPhos and Reef Roids on hand to make sure the water never stayed nutrient depleted, which is I think where I was able to keep everything healthy. I think when people suffer losses from treatments like this, it’s not so much that the product itself directly kills anything, but that the nutrient depletion starves corals out, so you just need to stay vigilant about that aspect.

After treatment, I had a bit of what I initially thought was dinoflagellates, but I’m not a great ID on stuff like that, so I think it was actually the dying algae and other detritus accumulating and floating around, because elbow grease and manual removal has resulted in less and less of it every day. And I probably wouldn’t have had to do any manual removal if I had run filter socks instead, but what’s done is done now lol.

This is one fantastic summary on your turf algae elimination experience. I can‘t thank you enough for taking the time to document it here. So much great learnings that I’m going to leverage to work on my turf algae problem - especially the part about watching for phosphates bottoming-out. Questions….how long have you been “algae free” in your tank. Also did you leave your skimmer on or off during the treatment? What are your typical phosphate and nitrate numbers?