Turf Algae?

[jschrecongost]

Hi all,

I have had this algae in my reef for a few months now. I believe it’s mostly turf algae though some appears to be stringy like hair algae. It’s very difficult to remove from the rocks like turf algae.

I have been treating with microbacter clean daily for probably about 8 weeks now but so far no dice. I’ve used it before for simile looking algae with success.

I have good export with a good skimmer, large Refugium that grows chaeto incredibly quickly, and replace filter socks every 3 days. Also running carbon and small amounts of GFO on and off. Nutrients come out low, i.e nitrates around 1-2 and phosphates 0.03, but obviously the algae has bound some of that up.

I’m wondering where to go for treatment? My urchin eats it but so slowly he hasn’t really made a dent and other clean up crew and my one spot foxface rarely touches it. I don’t want to use chemicals like vibrant because I have had some acros stn in the past. Attached are photos of both the coarser algae and the stringier algae.

Thanks!
Josh

 

[Matt L]

How many snails and crabs do you have?

 

[jschrecongost]

I would say probably 15 hermit crabs and 20 snails. Something like 5 trochus, 5 turbo, and the rest astrea. The aquarium is roughly 75 gallons so probably could use a few more of each. Potentially considering fuzzy chitons but somewhat hard to find.