What is it eating??

ReefRacer · Nov 1, 2023

I setup a second reef tank about a year ago and then decided after about 5 months that I wanted it to be a frag tank. So I took out all the sand and rock and put in some acrylic frag rags. I was only using ceramic bio-spheres as filtration in the tank and just kept that in place for the frag tank. There are no fish, I was feeding Reef-roids once a week but I stopped due to algae. I think the algae is regular green hair algae, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it's feeding on. There's a small CUC and I don't know if they are actually eating it. I do 40% water changes each week and syphon out some of the algae and it just grows back. The tank does not get direct sunlight and I tried to go no lights for 5 days and no effect. I have also tried Reef RX and it had no effect.

Any ideas from the R2R Gurus??

Tank: Nuvo 14 Peninsula
Red Sea PO4 test kit : 0
Water: RO/DI
Salt: AquaForest Reef Salt (1.026)
Temp: 78
Fish: 0
Light: Radion XR15 G6 Blue
Circulation: MP10

bensoo00 · Nov 3, 2023

I can't see the color that well or maybe I'm kinda blind but if it is green hair algae then you could introduce some Foxface rabbitfish or trochus snails or a stronger CUC/algae-eating fish that would probably make quick work of it. If your PO4 is at 0 then I am unsure what the issue could be, but since the algae is probably sucking all the nutrients, perhaps keeping your lights low and then gradually turning them up while getting rid of all the algae diligently will result in a reduction in algae, as the corals will be able to benefit from the nutrients being reintroduced after the algae that is sucking it all up is lessening in population. It also could be some evil mystery algae I am unaware of though, so hopefully if someone else who knows exactly what it is sees this, they will be able to give a solution catered to that. Good luck!

ReefRacer · Nov 3, 2023

bensoo00 said:
I can't see the color that well or maybe I'm kinda blind but if it is green hair algae then you could introduce some Foxface rabbitfish or trochus snails or a stronger CUC/algae-eating fish that would probably make quick work of it. If your PO4 is at 0 then I am unsure what the issue could be, but since the algae is probably sucking all the nutrients, perhaps keeping your lights low and then gradually turning them up while getting rid of all the algae diligently will result in a reduction in algae, as the corals will be able to benefit from the nutrients being reintroduced after the algae that is sucking it all up is lessening in population. It also could be some evil mystery algae I am unaware of though, so hopefully if someone else who knows exactly what it is sees this, they will be able to give a solution catered to that. Good luck!

Thanks so much for the input. I originally thought it was bryopsis so I tried Flux Rx and that didn't do anything. Next guess was GHA and unfortunately I think the tank is a bit small for a Foxface. Was talking to a friend at my LFS and he said it looks like in could be dino. So I am trying Red Sea NOPOX and going black for 2 day increments. Fingers crossed!!

kevgib67 · Nov 3, 2023

The color makes me think of chrysophytes.

ReefRacer · Nov 3, 2023

kevgib67 said:
The color makes me think of chrysophytes.

To be honest I had to Google that one. Interesting though that it seems to enjoy nutrient deficient tanks. With no rock or sand or fish, I think this qualifies. Will have to research more. Thanks for the input

kevgib67.

kevgib67 · Nov 3, 2023

ReefRacer said:
To be honest I had to Google that one. Interesting though that it seems to enjoy nutrient deficient tanks. With no rock or sand or fish, I think this qualifies. Will have to research more. Thanks for the input

kevgib67.

Good luck, this is a tough one and requires patience. I received a bunch of corals from a local reefer he took his tank down because of this algae, I saw what it looked like in person. That reefer did not have patience and wanted an overnight fix, a little OCD. I dipped the corals and plopped them in and no problems. That was about 7 months ago, I run nutrients on the higher end. Good luck. Search this thread.