Need some Algae ID...options

[chadmace]

First of all my apologies for the quality of these photos....they are with a point and shoot camera. I used a tripod for some stability to make the shots a little more clear...hopefully I can get an ID on each of these and an option for removal. Just a quick back ground. The tank has been up for 14 months. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 1.025 salinity, alk and calcium fine. I am not sure of PO4 since I do not have a test...plus it could be bound up in the algae anyways.

In the first set of pictures I am actually looking at two algaes. I will describe each the best I can.

The brown plating algae started about 2 months ago, is only on the one rock (that I can see) and has grown very fast. Doing some reading my initial thought is Lobophora. Feel slimy, velvety, plates off the rock. Let me know if that is correct and what are my options. I noticed that Krish had to boil his rock to beat this algae. The other algae in the picture is a purple/red hair algae. (to the left of the brown algae) It is very strong and cannot be pulled off the rocks easily. It completely took over one rock that was covered in corraline algae. The only way I have been able to remove it so far is with a screwdriver. It feels like velvet when you touch it. It spreads pretty quickly.

The next one is really small so far. It is on two rocks at separate ends of the tank. It looks like Halimeda to me but need confirmation & options.

Lastly this one is a thickly matted green algae.

At this point my priorities are to get rid of this algae without impacting my corals. I have mostly sps...all growing fine, have polyp extension....just groing algae as well.

 

[chadmace]

Also just found bubble algae in there. It shows in the very top of the first picture. I didn't even know it was there until I was trimming back the plating algae.

 

[dnjan]

I would guess hat you have a buildup of organic nutrients. What is your substrate?
Skimming?
Running carbon?

That one photo looks like halimedia.

I have had that slimey, plating stuff before. Better skimming and carbon (plus water changes, of course) got rid of it.

 

[jamiehill]

I have had that slimey, plating stuff before. Better skimming and carbon (plus water changes, of course) got rid of it.

I have had cyano that looked kind of like that too. With the water changes, I siphon out as much as I can. It seems to mostly grow in low flow areas.

 

[chadmace]

I have a total water volumn of 160 gallons roughly and a Skimmer rated for a 180-400 gallon tank. I do weekly 20% water changes using RO/DI water. (Have since the tank was set-up) I have 6,300 gph flow. I run carbon actively through a phosban reactor changed frequently. Again no detectable contaminants even though I know they are there bound up in the algae. With every water change I siphon my rockwork and sump. I have chaeto and some live rock in the fuge. Enough pods and other stuff that keeps that pretty clean. Temparature does not fluctuate much as my chiller manages to keep it around a 1 degree swing. Can't really think of anything else at the moment...

 

[chadmace]

Tested everything again and my current readings are:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Phosphate - .03 (Need to get this down)
Alk - 8 dKh
Calcium - 375

I have ran a phosban reactor with tlf phosban but that didn't help anything. I am thinking maybe Rowaphos? I am also dosing to bring up my dKh a little and my calcium back up. At this point I am actually going to set-up another tank (40 breeder) to continue to grow out my sps while I address my tank. I have to change out the tank glass due to excessive scratching so I'll just nuke my rock. It will also take care of my pest snail problems. Going forward this 40 breeder will be my quaratine tank and everything will be quarantined. I brought this on myself by introducing the unwanted algae/pests to my tank and not using a quarantine before adding new additions.

 

[Highland Reefer]

If you do not have a reef clean-up crew including the proper snails, I would add them. If you do not have any tangs, I find they help in eating the algae. Foxface work well for this also. If you are running your lights more than 10 hrs, I would cut them back to 10 hrs. I would check your magnesium levels to make sure they are in line (1250 - 1350). Increase your calcium up to 380 -450 ( 400 - 450 better). I like to keep my dKh up at around 10 - 11, which helps to stabilize the Ph better. Keep your Ph at 8.1 - 8.3 if possible. If your Ph is down lower, that adds to the algae problems. If you are not using RODI water, then start using it. I would do weekly water changes of about 15 % using the RODI water. Going through algae and bacterial probems is part of the normal curing procedure of a reef system which is an on going process. With your current Phosphate problem, dosing kalk will help to reduce the levels. I would skim wet if you are not doing so. My two cents.