What is this stuff?

qterry22

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I recently just started winning a battle with hair algae. I had a phosphate issue from feeding frozen food. After losing my first and only coral I added a phosphate reactor. Now the hair algae is in recession but I have this new stuff growing on things.

Its brown stringy stuff that can be removed off of rocks, glass, PH's, and whatever else it attaches to with a squirt from the turkey baster. It quickly re-attaches somewhere else. To help remove the stuff I wrapped some netting around egg crate and put in a high flow area in my tank. Its been working pretty well as I blow the stuff off my structures and into the water column.

However I know that this is just a band-aid fix and I need to eliminate the source. But I don't know what it is. Before adding my contraption it would be on the sand, glass, PH's, rocks, and corals. Now its mostly on my rock, corals, contraption used to catch it, egg crate I am using as a frag rack, and my glass. However it is not on my sand anymore. Most of it collects on the contraption and I remove it daily.

Water Params are


81 degrees
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
0 phosphate (I presume this is being consumed by the stuff)
65 gallon dt, 20 gallon sump, 4 gallon hob refugium,

Tank is 9 months old. I run a UV, phosphate reactor with GFO, and will be adding some carbon in the form of chemi-pure elite tomorrow. I am also aggressively skimming.

Thanks for any help and advice in advance.
 

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Squishie89

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My first thought was cyano with your description of it being easily blown off of things. But cyano does not like high flow. What kind of flow do you have and what size tank?
 
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qterry22

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:( I was hoping it wasnt but I think your correct. I found a snail dead this morning. I read that this can happen if they consume the dino.
 

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