Green algae over rocks

[Andrew Stevens]

Hello there,

I have a green algae growing over my rocks. There are some longer strands, no color yet. Is this hair algae? If so, what do you advise? I have 2 clownfish in the tank and zoanthids, gonipora, mushrooms and flogspawn coral.

The tank is 5 months old, lights on for 2 months. I can post more photos and water parameters if that helps.

Thanks in advance!!!

Andrew

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If you just turned your lights on, then it’s the beginning of life growing on the rocks. They can’t stay white forever.

 

[Andrew Stevens]

Thanks, that makes me feel better. Having life in a glass box, a little stressful sometimes to keep them happy.

 

[ggNoRe]

Might want to add some snails to get ahead of it. How many gallons, nitrates, and phosphates would help. But definitely nothing to be alarmed about just part of the process.

 

[Andrew Stevens]

I have some CUC, but will have more in a few weeks.
130 gallon Waterbox 5526, nitrates 2, unfortunately don’t have a phosphate checker at this time.

The testers I don’t have - magnesium, calcium and phosphate.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello there,

I have a green algae growing over my rocks. There are some longer strands, no color yet. Is this hair algae? If so, what do you advise? I have 2 clownfish in the tank and zoanthids, gonipora, mushrooms and flogspawn coral.

The tank is 5 months old, lights on for 2 months. I can post more photos and water parameters if that helps.

Thanks in advance!!!

Andrew

Its film algae and often caused by white light intensity and inorganics.
You can simply add some snails to clean it up such as:
Astrea
cerith
nerite
Turbo grazer
chiton

 

[ggNoRe]

I have some CUC, but will have more in a few weeks.
130 gallon Waterbox 5526, nitrates 2, unfortunately don’t have a phosphate checker at this time.

The testers I don’t have - magnesium, calcium and phosphate.

That's totally fine. I wouldn't even worry about parameters very much at this point. 130 is big enough where I would get several astreas, trochus, or top crown snails.

 

[Andrew Stevens]

Perfect, I have a replenish package coming from Dr Reef in a few weeks. I can grab some extra CUC through him or locally in the meantime if you think it’s needed.

 

[CWalters]

That's totally fine. I wouldn't even worry about parameters very much at this point. 130 is big enough where I would get several astreas, trochus, or top crown snails.

I wouldn’t say “not to worry about parameters at this point” he has coral in there..

 

[Andrew Stevens]

True. And also fish. But that’s why I want to make sure everything is happy and healthy. I do have some film algae growing on my aquarium glass as well, nothing crazy but combined with the green rock algae I just wanted to get an educated perspective of what’s happening.

 

[ggNoRe]

I wouldn’t say “not to worry about parameters at this point” he has coral in there..

To each there own. I'm only going off my personal experience. I feel like I was trying to chase numbers more than needed early on in my system and it became counter intuitive. Going forward I wouldn't concern myself until about 6 months in and things stabilized. But that's a very detailed and nuanced conversation.

The 2 nitrates told me everything is in safe condition as long as salinity and temp are good and stable.