Brown spots

[Stella1979]

Hi all,

My tank is just over 3 months old and I've been experiencing algae of course. I got the usual diatom bloom, then some tougher green algae started growing on my rocks. None of that was of a big concern to me. As we are careful with feeding and test often, I figured things would start to work themselves eventually.

I am still dealing with some easy to clean diatom and green algae, but several weeks ago these other brown spots started appearing. I had to get a stiffer brush to try and keep up with them, but it is still near impossible to remove completely. It seems like it's some kind of encrusting algae because it's not hairy at all. Once I went after one with tweezers and the whole spot kind of flaked off and stayed in one piece, revealing completely clean rock below it. It was very stiff, like I had taken a layer of rock with it. It would be quite a job to try to remove all spots this way.

So, I'm having no luck in my research into finding out what exactly it is. It really doesn't seem like diatom or dino algae. Perhaps lobophora? But it hasn't shown any sign of plating. Here's a pic. I'd love some help on this guys. Thanks! FYI - Nitrates are 0.25ppm and Phosphate is 0.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

It's probably some sort of Brown Coralline Algae. I've had it a couple of times and it behaves exactly the way you've described. Corralline comes in all sorts of colors.

 

[Stella1979]

Thanks for your response fellow Floridian. I certainly hope that it's not brown Coralline... I'd have no idea how to deal with that, or if I even could or should. I just know that I don't love the look of it.

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Thanks for your response fellow Floridian. I certainly hope that it's not brown Coralline... I'd have no idea how to deal with that, or if I even could or should. I just know that I don't love the look of it.

It will help build your reef. It's not the prettiest of coralline for sure, but it does help bond rocks together and also provides a good anchor point for corals to start encrusting on. There are a few snails and especially urchins that would eat it but for now I would just let it run its course. I had brown for about three months, then I got green corralline, and now nearly two years later from starting my tank I'm getting pink and purple corralline algae growing over the green.

 

[Stella1979]

It will help build your reef. It's not the prettiest of coralline for sure, but it does help bond rocks together and also provides a good anchor point for corals to start encrusting on. There are a few snails and especially urchins that would eat it but for now I would just let it run its course. I had brown for about three months, then I got green corralline, and now nearly two years later from starting my tank I'm getting pink and purple corralline algae growing over the green.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Patient I will be.

I'm wondering if I'm prolonging the brown stuff by scrubbing at it weekly? Perhaps I should just let it ride.