Green film algae on glass

[vlangel]

Hi everyone,
I should know what this green film algae on the glass of my display is but I can't remember. It is easily removed but returns in about 3 days. The tank has no other nuisance algae and my soft Coral have never looked nicer.

Is that green film algae beneficial in feeding the filter feeding coral or the pod population? I am thinking that I remember back in the day that may have been the case.

 

[saltyfins]

Hi everyone,
I should know what this green film algae on the glass of my display is but I can't remember. It is easily removed but returns in about 3 days. The tank has no other nuisance algae and my soft Coral have never looked nicer.

Is that green film algae beneficial in feeding the filter feeding coral or the pod population? I am thinking that I remember back in the day that may have been the case.

it's normal, we all seem to get that......part of the "fun"

 

[ScubaFish802]

They do eat the algae, and from my understanding the film algae is very beneficial. @AlgaeBarn has this write up that mentions pods eat the film directly (among other things) - https://help.algaebarn.com/portal/en/kb/articles/what-do-copepods-feed-on

 

[Rick's Reviews]

Normal, the 'viewing' window is for our pleasure

 

[old salt reefer]

Is that green film algae beneficial in feeding the filter feeding coral or the pod population? I am thinking that I remember back in the day that may have been the case.

I have often wondered this.

 

[All_talk]

If you have enough snails you never (well almost never) have to clean the glass.

 

[EricR]

If you have enough snails you never (well almost never) have to clean the glass.

...guess I don't have enough snails then,,, DOH!

I'm lazy so scrape glass at water change (every 2 weeks) or when people happen to be over.

To the OP, mine's a mess by two weeks without touching it and yes I think it's normal and beneficial.

 

[vlangel]

Thanks everyone. I do not mind cleaning my viewing glass every 3 days, I just wanted to make sure that this condition was normal for a mature reef. I only ever had this happen one other time and it was so long ago that I could not remember if it was when that reef was doing well or not.
Thank you @ScubaFish802 for the Algaebarn article on pods. That was helpful.