Help with ID

[Kyle Rinker]

Please take a look at the below images. One is a close up of a piece of Tonga branch and otherthe image is a zoomed out picture of the same rock. This stuff has been slowly spreading its way across my tank over the last few months. The tank is less than a year old and is a 125 gallon display with 38 gallon sump. The tank is lightly stocked--2 clowns, 1 cardinal, 1 sailfin tang, and 1 firefish. I thought I was dealing with cyano, partly because it is red in color but also because of the appearance. It is not snotty, stringy, and does not retain any bubbles. However, parts of this are suspicious and make me lean more towards dinoflagellates, despite the fact the appearance doesn't look that way. This stuff is all smooth in appearance and seems to grow in slick splotches.

For the most part, this infestation occurs where the light is the brightest. However, there are some places where it is growing in shaded areas, like under overhangs. In my testing this week, both nitrate and phosphate were 0.0. I assumed this was due to aggressive nutrient removal through the use of refugium and chaetomorpha growth.
This stuff has not covered any corals and does not grow at all on the sand, which is odd to me. What are your thoughts?

 

[Sashaka]

Please take a look at the below images. One is a close up of a piece of Tonga branch and otherthe image is a zoomed out picture of the same rock. This stuff has been slowly spreading its way across my tank over the last few months. The tank is less than a year old and is a 125 gallon display with 38 gallon sump. The tank is lightly stocked--2 clowns, 1 cardinal, 1 sailfin tang, and 1 firefish. I thought I was dealing with cyano, partly because it is red in color but also because of the appearance. It is not snotty, stringy, and does not retain any bubbles. However, parts of this are suspicious and make me lean more towards dinoflagellates, despite the fact the appearance doesn't look that way. This stuff is all smooth in appearance and seems to grow in slick splotches.

For the most part, this infestation occurs where the light is the brightest. However, there are some places where it is growing in shaded areas, like under overhangs. In my testing this week, both nitrate and phosphate were 0.0. I assumed this was due to aggressive nutrient removal through the use of refugium and chaetomorpha growth.
This stuff has not covered any corals and does not grow at all on the sand, which is odd to me. What are your thoughts?

Without a microscope ID, I'm not sure. You said it was a slow grower? Is it tight and thick? Maybe it's a type of sponge? They can feel slick. I do have something similar in one of my 30 gal tanks. The ninja star snails love it!
In any event, good luck. I hope you figure out what it is. #reefsquad

 

[Kyle Rinker]

@Sashaka, sponge is a great suggestion. It is a relatively slow grower--took about 3 months to spread this far. I do have some other sponge growing in the tank around my gyre pump. I'm planning to order a microscope already to help with my coral quarantine process so I'll check it out

 

[Ron Reefman]

Does it blow off the rocks if you shoot water at it with a turkey baster?

 

[Kyle Rinker]

Does it blow off the rocks if you shoot water at it with a turkey baster?

@Ron Reefman no it does not.
The appearance and behavior of this one has me stumped.

 

[rkpetersen]

Is it growing on the glass at all? If so, it may be some form of coralline algae.

 

[Kyle Rinker]

@rkpetersen it is not. Just the normal dust algea I scrape every 3rd day. At first I thought coraline, but it is not hard.

 

[RJinPV]

Is it a deep burgundy red? If so, then it is just like algae I have in my tank. It doesn't seem to hurt anything and gives the rocks a nice color contrast to the coralline

 

[Kyle Rinker]

@RJinPV that does fit the description pretty well. We will see how it looks over time. My microscope also comes Tuesday so I will get a closer look

 

[Kyle Rinker]

Without a microscope ID, I'm not sure. You said it was a slow grower? Is it tight and thick? Maybe it's a type of sponge? They can feel slick. I do have something similar in one of my 30 gal tanks. The ninja star snails love it!
In any event, good luck. I hope you figure out what it is. #reefsquad

Well here you go @Sashaka. Best I can do with the microscope camera I have until I figure out better how to use it. Looks like turf algae to me. These are actually pictures under the microscope of the tip of my razor blade.