Sponge algae?

[jbonez_]

Having a hard time identifying what this is growing on my rock scape? Possible bubble algae? Any insight would be great.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Having a hard time identifying what this is growing on my rock scape? Possible bubble algae? Any insight would be great.

Not bubble algae - that's a brown macroalgae; for possible ID's see the quotes below:

Not a sponge in this case - this is a brown macroalgae of some variety; I would guess one from the order Ectocarpales like Encephalophycus tuberculatus or Colpomenia sinuosa, but I haven't learned enough about brown algae yet to easily distinguish the various species.

Some other possibilities (various species from the genera below):

-Asteronema
-Colpomenia
-Leathesia
-Petrospongium
-Sarcinochrysis

 

[jbonez_]

Not bubble algae - that's a brown macroalgae; for possible ID's see the quotes below:

Would snails clean this up? I know it's unknown what it is, but I'm at a loss on what to do.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Would snails clean this up? I know it's unknown what it is, but I'm at a loss on what to do.

Possibly, but I wouldn't expect it:

I know some amphipods and the Purple Urchin, Heliocidaris crassispina, will eat Colpomenia, and I've seen speculation that some snails or hermits may eat algae like this as well, but I'm not aware of any large herbivores we commonly keep that confirmedly eat it at the moment.

You may be able to peel it off the rocks; if you have any herbivore fish, you could try basically popping/scraping this stuff up a bit (damaged algae tends to be more attractive to a lot of herbivores); otherwise there are a few different things you could do to try and eliminate the algae like shading it/covering it with something, injecting it with hydrogen peroxide, etc.

I honestly don't know what would be the most effective removal method here though.