need ID: new tank getting some new algae

mizimmer90

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Hello everyone! I'm about 2 month in to my first reef tank and am starting to get a few different kinds of algae that came attached to either a snail or some corals.

Before I freak out I wanted to check with others to see if I've identified these right and what I can do to stop them from becoming a major headache later.

Current Water params:
Temp : inkbird set between 77 - 78 °F
pH : 8.3
Ammonia : 0 ppm
Nitrites : 0 - 0.1 ppm
Nitrates : 3 ppm
Phosphates : 0.03 ppm
Alkalinity: 9.8 dKH
Calcium : 430 ppm
Magnesium : 1370 ppm

Current CUC:
1 turban snail
1 turbo snail
3 cerith snails
1 scarlet hermit
3 red scarf hermits
1 blue dwarf hermit
1 emerald crab

For maintenance, I do weekly 15-20% water changes

First, I think I have bryopsis on my turban snail:
20221112_145837.jpg


Next I have some type of hair algae growing out of my acan frag and monti:


20221112_145744.jpg


Last I have some kind of long strand growing off a favie:
20221112_150023.jpg


My issue with these is that I'm having a hard time grabbing them without smacking the corals. I've tried with some tweezers but the tweezers don't seem to grab them (if anyone has a recommendation for some good tweezers please let me know!).

Aside from trying to manually remove, I was wondering if there's anyone else I could add to my CUC. I have a small 20 gal tank, so I don't think I could get an urchin or tang, but I was thinking of getting either a Hector goby or court jester goby (aside from the CUC aspect I like the look of these fish anyways).

What eats hair algae and/or bryopsis?
 
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mizimmer90

mizimmer90

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Update:

I built up my courage and thought a tank filled with algae is worse for the corals than a little scrub from a brush. First I took out the snail and scrubbed his shell like there's no tomorrow!
20221112_160333.jpg


I also popped out my acan (accidentally) and scrubbed it too! I think it already looks happier. Given that, I just scrubbed my monti in the tank.

20221112_160359.jpg

20221112_160422.jpg


Overall I think things look better!

Maybe I was freaking out prematurely lol. Good to know corals can handle some scrubbing!

Either way I'm still interested in IDing the algae for if/when it comes back.
 

High pressure shells: Do you look for signs of stress in the invertebrates in your reef tank?

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