Algae identity

Brooks Allman

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My tank is only about 4 months old so maybe this is expected but I’ve not really seen this type before. To me it looks like cyano over another type of algae. Also, I’ve had a crazy explosion of pineapple sponges. I’ve had them before but never like this before. I don’t have silicates in the water and the TDS is zero.

This is my 5th tank that I’ve started and I haven’t seen this before.
Have used red slime remover before but wanted to not go that route with this tank.

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Can you let us know what your parameters are,more for nitrates and phosphates…pics are hard but I see bubbles which tend to be dinos

also the sponges are nothing to fear as they are good filter feeders and will go away in time, shows your tank is maturing
 
Sounds like you presence of silica/silicates and would be indicative of pineapple sponge and what is on your rock is lyngbya which is a type of cyanobacteria. It looks just like algae and is filamentous rather than slimy. It seems to grow very fast in warmer tanks, and spread quickly once attached and requires toothbrush scrubbing with Peroxide. Do this is a bucket of tank water and once cleaned return rock to tank.
Adding cleaners such as Chitons, pin cushion urchin, Carribean blue leg hermits, cerith snails and nerite snails will assist with control.
 
Possibly Chrysophytes aka golden algae. What type of rock did you start the tank with? It can grow like crazy on some forms of dry rock. They can live off of silicates and other things they pull out of the rock.
 

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