Green algae on all rocks

[Hitchhik3r]

I always thought green on rocks is a completely normal part of your dry rocks maturing and becoming "live" and eventually it gets taken over by coralline. All my rocks are green and I am now seeing the purple splotches showing up all over .

 

[Garf]

I always thought green on rocks is a completely normal part of your dry rocks maturing and becoming "live" and eventually it gets taken over by coralline. All my rocks are green and I am now seeing the purple splotches showing up all over .

Yep

 

[LPS Bum]

Hey reefers!

90 day old tank here. Need help sorting out how to get rid of green algae, especially all over my rock. Sand is clear.

it’s 143 gallon. Here is my chemistry:

• Salinity 34.9
• pH 8.05
• Alk 8.07
• CA 450
• Mag 1430
• No3 16
• PO4 .37 - have been battling this for a while. GFO hasn’t don’t much. Now using phosphat-e. Have used dr Tim’s waste-away too with much success.

I dose 60 mL phyto (algaebarn oceanmagick) daily and algaebarn copepods twice a month. That really helped with dinos and diatoms.

thank you

Cut back (or eliminate) the phyto.

You can try reducing your photoperiod or your light intensity (especially the white channel). I think the 10-11 hours a day that many people use is too long.
But go slowly so that your corals can adapt to the lighting changes.

 

[92Miata]

Algae isn't a real concern for me here - what concerns me is that this tank is 90 days old and I don't see a spec of coralline, sponge, or any of the other normal surface succession organisms that should be there. This looks like a 30 day old tank to me. You've added a lot of stony corals, so these things have been introduced. They should be reproducing, and they're not. And as long as they aren't reproducing, you're going to have algae.

Nothing you do chemically to eliminate algae right now is going to be good for the tank overall - as it's going to be hostile to the things you want to grow - because they have similar requirements.


What do you have for flow? How long have the lights been on? (If you waited 60 days to turn on your lights, its a 30 day old tank). Can you list out everything you're adding to the tank?

 

[Jared Bryant]

Algae isn't a real concern for me here - what concerns me is that this tank is 90 days old and I don't see a spec of coralline, sponge, or any of the other normal surface succession organisms that should be there. This looks like a 30 day old tank to me. You've added a lot of stony corals, so these things have been introduced. They should be reproducing, and they're not. And as long as they aren't reproducing, you're going to have algae.

Nothing you do chemically to eliminate algae right now is going to be good for the tank overall - as it's going to be hostile to the things you want to grow - because they have similar requirements.


What do you have for flow? How long have the lights been on? (If you waited 60 days to turn on your lights, its a 30 day old tank). Can you list out everything you're adding to the tank?

Excellent post. The greatest product you can use is your own patience and elbow grease.

 

[danberger]

Algae isn't a real concern for me here - what concerns me is that this tank is 90 days old and I don't see a spec of coralline, sponge, or any of the other normal surface succession organisms that should be there. This looks like a 30 day old tank to me. You've added a lot of stony corals, so these things have been introduced. They should be reproducing, and they're not. And as long as they aren't reproducing, you're going to have algae.

Nothing you do chemically to eliminate algae right now is going to be good for the tank overall - as it's going to be hostile to the things you want to grow - because they have similar requirements.


What do you have for flow? How long have the lights been on? (If you waited 60 days to turn on your lights, its a 30 day old tank). Can you list out everything you're adding to the tank?

Thank you for your feedback but you are wrong.

First of all, I don’t want coralline algae because I think it’s ugly.

Second, while you may analyze the look of the tank based on a picture, according AquaBiomics, my diversity was in the 42% percentile, my balance was that of a “mature reef tank” and my community composition was “very similar to a typical reef tank.”

 

[92Miata]

Thank you for your feedback but you are wrong.

First of all, I don’t want coralline algae because I think it’s ugly.

Second, while you may analyze the look of the tank based on a picture, according AquaBiomics, my diversity was in the 42% percentile, my balance was that of a “mature reef tank” and my community composition was “very similar to a typical reef tank.”

Then you're going to have algae until your rock surface is covered in coral. You will not have uncolonized surface areas in a highly lit reef tank. There's too much energy available for stuff to not grow there.

Second, while you may analyze the look of the tank based on a picture, according AquaBiomics, my diversity was in the 42% percentile, my balance was that of a “mature reef tank” and my community composition was “very similar to a typical reef tank.”

And? I like what AquaBiomics is trying to do - but at this point, they don't have nearly enough data or evidence to say anything useful. And they have a major selection bias issue because the majority of their samples are from tanks like yours.

If their results say that's a mature reef tank, then their results are obviously, categorically and incredibly wrong.


"Mature Reef Tank" has nothing to do with biodiversity - it has to do with surface coverage and biomass.

You've been in the hobby 90 days. You should be learning, not arguing.