Small White Filaments In New Tank

[bevo5]

I'm in the nitrite phase of a new tank cycle that I seeded with about 40 pounds of well-established live rock with all sorts of critters and coralline etc. The tank glass is crawling with tiny pods and I just woke up to a few patches of really tiny, white filament type "strings" on the back wall. About a quarter in long. They're attached on one end and move back/forth with the current.

I know this picture is crap but it's in the back of the tank and I couldn't do much better. They're not those little circle worms...just looks like tiny little strings stuck to the wall. I'm not overly concerned, just curious what they might be.

Thanks all!

 

[reef lover]

Could be hair alage starting or digitate hydroids...

 

[bevo5]

Hi. Thank you. They are extremely tiny, which don’t match the images I’ve found for the hydroids. Maybe it is tiny bits of hair algae. I am getting nitrates and I’ve been running the lights to try and keep the algae on the live rock ok.

should I just add some clean up crew or take drastic measures to stop it before it really starts?

 

[reef lover]

Once your not showing nitrites then id add cuc. Cut the light cycle way down until cycle is complete. Can clean glass with scraper.

 

[Glott3133]

I experienced the same thing and get it occasionally, as my tank is only 3 months old. I typically see it as brown algae starts dying off. I've chalked it up as dead algae that hasn't been cleaned up by the current or my fish.