Red Hair Algae?

[WReef12]

Hello everyone , I was just wondering if anyone could help Identify this algae . It looks almost exactlly like green hair algae in texture , but it's red and gets pieces of debris caught in it . Anyways , it's starting to take over my rockscape and my back wall so I want to get rid of it (obviously) . As i've already said I'm wondering if anyone knows what it is and if there is anything that can eat / kill it . Ps , I'm going on vacation so I wont be able to reply for about a week from the post date .

 

[725196]

Looks like a fungus but hard to tell. Could be a form of Cyanobacteria

 

[725196]

How old is your tank?

 

[BanjoBandito]

Unpopular opinion - get in there and clean it out. It’s only going to get worse. As I’ve been told many many many times “you are the best CUC”. You’ve got to get it to a manageable level. No amount of animals is going to clean all that up. I’m not trying to be negative even though this sounds negative. Good luck!

PS: post your tank age, parameters and livestock for reference

 

[Alexraptor]

Looks a fair bit like cotton candy algae.

Nasty stuff, completely wrecked my 25G eradicating it. If it is, then I can say sea hares(Dolabella Auricularia) are extremely effective at getting rid of the stuff.

Unfortunately for me, the tank had an infestation of Oenone fulgida worms.... which ate my hare!

However, seeing as how your rocks are rather barren, I'd highly suggest good old fashion "elbow grease" and just pull them out and scrub scrub scrub!

 

[131696]

Do maintenance on tank stop the wait look at the glass filled with algae.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello everyone , I was just wondering if anyone could help Identify this algae . It looks almost exactlly like green hair algae in texture , but it's red and gets pieces of debris caught in it . Anyways , it's starting to take over my rockscape and my back wall so I want to get rid of it (obviously) . As i've already said I'm wondering if anyone knows what it is and if there is anything that can eat / kill it . Ps , I'm going on vacation so I wont be able to reply for about a week from the post date .

Although not common is referred to as cotton candy algae and sways in the current attached to many small root ike structure and often fuzzy looking.
The only real treatment /removal is manually by trying to peel as much as you can and then removing rock to a container of tank water and scrubbing or scraping it off and dipping in peroxide and then return rock to the tank.
Once back in tank, add pencil urchins, chiton snails, ninja star snails, carribean blue leg hermits, larger astrea and turbo snails and female emerald crabs. These cleaners will not control this UNLESS you clean the rock as this type of algae grows faster than they can consume it

 

[ying yang]

Reef Cleaners

A good guide to identify most of the nuisance algae that plagues the hobby. Complete with pictures and suggested treatments

www.reefcleaners.org

I was thinking same as @Alexraptor on cotton candy.its at bottom of above guide

 

[WReef12]

Thanks for the replies everybody ! First of all , my tank is about a year old , but since I have'nt had much success it does'nt look it . My nitrates sit at about 5 but because of the immense amount of algae it might be higher , and i've also had an ongoing problem of high alk so if anyone knows how to lower it thad would be helpful . My stocking includes 3 softies (2 zoas and one leather) and only one of the zoas is attached to the rock . For fish all I have is a clownfish , because of the countless issues i've run into I would consider myself very understocked . Mr.ReefSafe wdym by fungus? And AlexRaptor I do think that it is cotton candy algae but I am actually planning a rescape so it is the perfect opportunity for me to scrup the rocks Like BanjoBandito suggested . vetteguy thanks for the information about the algae but what specific species do best for eating cc algae ? I am mainly interested in an emerald crab and/or an urchin but I dont like pencil urchins so would a halloween or tux urchin work too ? - ps thanks for the responses everyone

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

What is your "high" alk reading, and what alk does your new saltwater mix to?

 

[Bfragale]

+1 - cotton candy algae

 

[WReef12]

Erin1971Texas : When I do my next water change I'll check the alk from my tap water and then the alk in my salt mix​

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Erin1971Texas : When I do my next water change I'll check the alk from my tap water and then the alk in my salt mix​

Wait, what? You're not using RODI? I was asking about your tank parameters (alk) and what your salt usually mixes to.

 

[WReef12]

I know , I've been meaning to get one for a while and probably will soon . At first I thought that it wasn't necessary but nowadays I'm pretty sure it's the source of my problems . Sidenote , do you think I should get ro di or just ro , I've heard that di isn't completely necessary

 

[Bfragale]

Rodi-

I made a video on this. Maybe there’s some helpful info here:

 

[emain879]

I know , I've been meaning to get one for a while and probably will soon . At first I thought that it wasn't necessary but nowadays I'm pretty sure it's the source of my problems . Sidenote , do you think I should get ro di or just ro , I've heard that di isn't completely necessary

Use rodi water

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I know , I've been meaning to get one for a while and probably will soon . At first I thought that it wasn't necessary but nowadays I'm pretty sure it's the source of my problems . Sidenote , do you think I should get ro di or just ro , I've heard that di isn't completely necessary

Unless you know exactly what's in your tap water (and it doesn't/won't change), then definitely get DI as well... especially since you're already having problems. Better to control the variables you can, so you are better able to pinpoint the cause of future problems.

I'm curious to know where you heard that DI isn't necessary.
(I mean, there are a lot of things that aren't ABSOLUTELY necessary in this hobby but that are a very very good idea...)

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Unless you know exactly what's in your tap water (and it doesn't/won't change), then definitely get DI as well...

What I meant by this comment is, is your water source very low in TDS and could that change? Municipal water sources often have different makeup from year to year, at least based on the annual water quality reports...

 

[ying yang]

For the little extra added cost which wouldn't be that much imo,would be to get rodi unit rather than just ro.
Now don't get me wrong I've seen some beautiful reef tanks just using tap water but as probably mentioned in this thread ,but definately in 100's of others is everyone's tap water is different so some may be ok where others aren't.
What convinced me to get an ridi unit was that it was highly recommended by most but using tap water could introduce something like trace amounts off copper as water passes through are copper pipes and starts off ok in tanks life in these small amounts but water changes on tank don't remove it ir any other small trace contaminants and over time builds up to harmful amounts and livestock in tank starts suffering so that was enough for me to read and invest in one .
I'm a plumbing and heating engineer so could of easily bought all the filters,housings, switches,booster pump and made my own but just found it much easier to buy a ready made one with a booster pump fitted.
And seeing it say 0 tds gives you that extra piece off mind,but 0 tds doesnt mean other things not getting through and if water supplier adds chloramines instead off chlorine then a filter fir chloramines highly advised and I believe even some water very high in silicates so seperate added filter advised bit don't quote me on this.
@Woodyman wrote a nice article/ thread on rodi ,I'll see if can find it for you if you ever decide to invest in one

 

[ying yang]

RO/DI Basic Guide

There are always a lot of questions regarding which RO/DI setup do I need, how many stages, how do I know when to change filters/membranes, I’m getting a weird TDS value, etc. Hopefully this clarifies a few things and helps some of you out one day. My first recommendation would be to find the...

www.reef2reef.com

Here the guide I mentioned,