What algae is this?

[allof fish]

why bright white rocks look horrible

I agree. My old tank I started with dry Marco rock and it looked awful. I’ll never set up another tank with that again

 

[DmitryB]

I agree. My old tank I started with dry Marco rock and it looked awful. I’ll never set up another tank with that again

Mine is a mix of live Florida rock + Australia branch + dry Pukani from Marco + Marco shelves.

 

[mmorrison55]

I agree. My old tank I started with dry Marco rock and it looked awful. I’ll never set up another tank with that again

I think if there was some way for them to stay white, that would be cool. But that’s a pipe dream, and as soon as algae starts to accumulate, the white underneath looks horrible, so agree that I wouldn’t do that again. If I were starting brand new, I’d apply the purple type dye or get the pre dyed rock.

 

[DmitryB]

So earlier this week I rolled up my sleeves and went harvesting hair algae. After two hours in the tank I got a fair amount removed. Today I went back in. Something interesting about the algae though: it was much more brittle and easier to pull off rocks. Last time it was a struggle to get anything. Now even shorter algae was much easier to remove. I wonder what changed in the chemistry of the algae to change it. Or maybe what happened to the chemistry of the tank to change the algae. The only differences between first removal and now is I added a huge CUC crew. And because my Nitrates bottomed out, I dosed some Nitrates and it went up. Any thoughts on this?

 

[dvgyfresh]

I think lower phosphate concentrations tend to make algae weaker, and stronger if higher concentrations. You removed a bunch of algae = less phosphate = less phosphate for algae. I like to dose LaCl before removing algae for the same reasoning

 

[DmitryB]

Ok so - the hair algae is - surprisingly! - under control. I've picked off a bunch, then used a toothbrush to scrape off a bunch, and it's about 90% better than it was. So I'm feeling good about that! (I also started dosing for Nitrates, which bottomed out. Not sure if that has anything to do with the improvement.)

HOWEVER, today I was cleaning my powerhead and perhaps because the flow was disturbed - this thing in the phot came floating. Is this bubble algae?!?! Where the heck did this come from????