Brown algae on rocks, need ID

[kartrsu]

I’ve been battling this brown stuff on my rocks. CUC won’t touch it. I’ve included a microscope photo to help with ID. It doesn’t look like diatoms or dinos to me but will defer to the experts.

Tank is new 65G, almost 3 months up and running. Nutrients are 5 nitrate, .05 phos, no ammonia or nitrite, 35 ppt, 480 ca, 8dkh, 1350 mg, 78.5F. Lights are on 10 hrs with 2 hr ramp, with peak for 4 hrs and intermittent clouds afterwards. Intensity at 40%.

Silicates from ICP were .1ppm last measured, probably down since then. RODI at 0 TDS and using Reef Crystals as salt

Brown stuff on rocks.

Magnification at 400x. No movement at all. Grows in these clumps, and easily removed with toothbrush, minus the amount I push into the tiny holes in the rocks.

I thought it was diatoms so started yeast dosing but now im not sure it’s diatoms. Some help would appreciated!!!

 

[Doctorgori]

hello! I dunno, but what caught my attention was the tank age. Heck 3 months old, I’d bet in the next 3 months could switch to something else. Not a blow off, but hey why not lay low, let it ride for a few weeks and do nothing drastic. Maybe change up the water changes or try a different snail mix, or dare I say a small urchin.

 

[kartrsu]

hello! I dunno, but what caught my attention was the tank age. Heck 3 months old, I’d bet in the next 3 months could switch to something else. Not a blow off, but hey why not lay low, let it ride for a few weeks and do nothing drastic. Maybe change up the water changes or try a different snail mix, or dare I say a small urchin.

Honestly, I'm okay with laying low as long as it does not become a nuisance. So far my corals seem to be doing just fine, but I got some prized LPS I want to put in the tank soon, and just don't want this algae to be a problem.

Upon further research, it looks to be chrysophytes. Some people have mentioned CUC casualties. Seems manual removal is the way to go along with blackouts, or dosing fluconazole. I just want my rocks to turn green, then purple! Why so hard?! Kidding (kinda).

 

[Doctorgori]

Apologies if my saying this is getting old but even a few pieces of more biodiverse rock helps. Weird to say it but The more algae types the better at first anyway...

 

[kartrsu]

Apologies if my saying this is getting old but even a few pieces of more biodiverse rock helps. Weird to say it but The more algae types the better at first anyway...

I hear you and I know. I have introduced fragments of live rock from a more mature system, but it’s not enough to seed the tank in mass. I did get some wild sand a month or so ago, but that will need to stay in quarantine to rid of pests/ parasites. That solved all my algae issues, but I suspect it also introduced bad strains of bacteria. I guess I’ll have to wait this one out. As much as I’d like to ride it out naturally, been battling it for a good while.

 

[Doctorgori]

I’ve had decent luck with microbacter clean. From what I can tell it’s a lil different from Vibrant.

Yeah wait it out....unscientific but maybe let your side glass go a few days check and see if it’s that same stuff as on the rocks or if it’s diatoms or the bright green dusty algae or whatever, also see if anything’s eating on it. Maybe tanks too young?
You wanna be where unscathed glass should be crawling with some kinda white pod. You should start seeing green algae on the glass as opposed to olive, et