Algae turning into a hard white substance?

AzReefn · Nov 16, 2017

So I've had algae growing on my rocks for a bit (apparently new tank uglies) and it is starting to go away but, it seems as though some of the algae is turning into a hard white substance. It can't be removed and isn't having any affect on my water params. It looks pretty cool under my moonlights too ;Happy
I have searched different forums and posts that are similar but haven't found any newer than 2012 so I'm hoping to get some fresh ideas. Below are some pics. Does anyone know why this is happening or what it is?

~Jason

nautical_nathaniel · Nov 16, 2017

Could be dying coralline algae, I have some green coralline that comes and goes and it turns white when my urchin messes with a patch.

AzReefn · Nov 16, 2017

nautical_nathaniel said:
Could be dying coralline algae, I have some green coralline that comes and goes and it turns white when my urchin messes with a patch.

As far as I know there hasn't been any coralline yet so that leads me to believe it's not dead/dying coralline, I could be wrong though. I did get a lot of green algae on my rocks (not hair algae) and a few folks here thought it may be the beginning of coralline but it hasn't turned into coralline yet. A bunch of the algae is starting to go away now as I've adjusted my whites time and don't broadcast feed anymore. This stuff is just weird though. It's very hard, probably harder than the rock and it glows big time under moonlighting. I kinda like it but would just like to know what it is or if it's a stage in a process.

nautical_nathaniel · Nov 16, 2017

AzReefn said:
As far as I know there hasn't been any coralline yet so that leads me to believe it's not dead/dying coralline, I could be wrong though. I did get a lot of green algae on my rocks (not hair algae) and a few folks here thought it may be the beginning of coralline but it hasn't turned into coralline yet. A bunch of the algae is starting to go away now as I've adjusted my whites time and don't broadcast feed anymore. This stuff is just weird though. It's very hard, probably harder than the rock and it glows big time under moonlighting. I kinda like it but would just like to know what it is or if it's a stage in a process.

Unless it starts growing on corals or clogs equipment, I wouldn't worry about it. It sounds a lot like coralline algae to me which is a welcomed addition to any reef IMO.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 16, 2017

I'd agree. Kinda looks like the precursor stage of corraline.

Yuki Rihwa · Nov 16, 2017

I'm not expert about these aglae but my coraline start out with lavender color look on tank walls, on powerhead, some on clams shell, some on intake/return pipes LOL nothing on rocks, there some green color algae stay flat and wrap around the rock but can not remove by anything so I'm not sure it's coraline or something else but it's look pretty cool though.

nautical_nathaniel · Nov 16, 2017

Yuki Rihwa said:
I'm not expert about these aglae but my coraline start out with lavender color look on tank walls, on powerhead, some on clams shell, some on intake/return pipes LOL nothing on rocks, there some green color algae stay flat and wrap around the rock but can not remove by anything so I'm not sure it's coraline or something else but it's look pretty cool though.

Coralline comes in many different colors. In my tank alone I have pink, purple, red, tan, brown, green, and a olive green. They come in on different frag plugs I get and colonize throughout the tank