Can somebody tell me whats all over my live rock?

[waynotcars]

Hi,
No matter WHAT I do this stuff grows all over my live rock. It's not green, it's gray. When I move my flow around it will blow off the rocks and settle some place else. All my parameters are good. 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 0 ammonia etc.

Can somebody tell me what it is and how to get rid of it? I have turbo snails, hermit crabs, brittle stars.

Please tell me what it is and how to attack it?

 

[ming]

Looks like dictyota. Pretty annoying algae IMO

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

high phospate? did you check it

 

[ming]

Unfortunately, it didn't seem nutrients were really the issue when I had that algae. Luckily I had it contained in a small area, and once removed, it never showed up again. The problem is, if its on your rocks as I see on your pic, you'll almost never get it off completely unless you take it out of the water and dry it out. The super tiny nubs attach to the rocks so well, when trying to pull it off, it just breaks and a very tiny leftover stays and regrows. I couldn't find any tangs or herbivores to touch it either.

 

[THEDLO]

in the first pick it looks like marine snow

 

[waynotcars]

OK, so I got marine snow, dictyota, how do I get rid of it? Is it harmful? Do you think it has anything to do with lighting? I runs 300 watts MH and 225 watt T5.
It isn't pretty but if it's not harmful should I WORRY about getting rid of it? On the phosphate issue, I haven't checked it yet. I run aquariapure denitrator

 

[waynotcars]

No, its not dictyota. I googled pics of it and it's not that. What is marine snow?

 

[THEDLO]

blast the rocks, and use filter socks.

 

[waynotcars]

Gonna blast them in a few days when my mag 24 arrives and I hool up my closed loop. I thought filter socks and such were nitrate factories?

 

[THEDLO]

Gonna blast them in a few days when my mag 24 arrives and I hool up my closed loop. I thought filter socks and such were nitrate factories?

only if u never change them. most people buy 2 sets and when one is used they take them off rinse them and throw them in the wash with NO SOAP lol and the cycle continues.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

check that po4 and i would only bleacher your rock once you know the issue how you got the algae or else it keeps coming back

 

[waynotcars]

I'm not going to BLEACH my rock, ever. Just blow it off with current. Already going to begin vodka dosing for po4. Thanks. Still, nobody can name this stuff? I'm the only one who ever grew it on my rock?

 

[THEDLO]

lol i told u what it is...its marine snow!! looks like dust hanging on the rock. u can also brush it off, but u need to filter it all out that y u need the filter socks. and dont does vodka cause thats not going to solve the issue it only covers the symptoms.

 

[waynotcars]

Thanks. That's exactly what it looks like. Dust a_ _ rocks! So if I don't vodka dose, which lowers phosphates & nitrates, what do you recommend? I know to use the filter socks, but that just cleans it out. Water conditions must have caused it.

 

[KathyC]

Yes, but the water conditions can be affected by you. Something you are adding or not doing is causing high nitrates & phosphates, or you 'inherited' rocks or sand that may have had high phisphates in them from an earlier tank. There can be many reasons !

First - how old is this tank and where did you get the rock & sand from if the tank is fairly new?

What do you feed your tank and how often..what is your bioload like?

How often do you do water changes & what % do you change?

Let's start with those questions

 

[Imbarrie]

Can you relocate the rocks to a dark tank until the lack of light kills the algae? That way you won't have to cycle from scratch.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[waynotcars]

As I said my nitrates are 0. I've been keeping aquariums for 42 years and Marine since 1990. It's a 220 tank that was a FOWLER for 3 years and now is being converted to reef.

My rock is my rock for 3 years in this tank. Everything is good except the dusty rock. I'll check phosphates, that is only parameter not checked. It is a bare bottom tank except for a DUSTING of live sand. The tank did have a deep sand bed and I removed it 3 weeks ago.

Equipment is Remora Urchin Skimmer, 2 closed loops for circulation only with 6 outlets all together, turf algae filter, aquaripure denitrator, T5's run from 7 am to midnight, 300 watts of metal Halide from 3pm to 11pm. In-line UV sterilizer. 55 gallon sump with refugium containing live rock that has NO "dusties" on it, Chaeto, brittle stars, snails, etc. sump circulates on a Rio 2500.

33% water changes every 2 weeks.

 

[waynotcars]

oh, it can't really even be called a "bio-load". 3 clowns, 1 bi-pseudo, 1 green chromis, 3 small engineer gobies, 1 yellowtail damsel, 4 turbo snails, 1 coral banded shrimp and black long spined urchin.

 

[KathyC]

alrighty then...lol Not a noob eh?

The tank did have a deep sand bed and I removed it 3 weeks ago.

Did this issue just happen or was it going on before you removed the sandbed?

Since the tank is still a FOWLR, why not kill the lights for 3 or 4 or 5 days. blow it off and catch it in some filter socks. Then see where you are at and if it comes back again?

How old are your bulbs?

 

[waynotcars]

I might try the blackout. I was trying to get some nice coraline going. I was but then the dust started covering it. Yes, it started happening about a week ago, after removal of sandbed. MH bulbs are new, about a month old. T5's need replacing but I am going to build all new t5 retrofits within a couple weeks. I am going to blow the crap outta rocks in a couple days when new mag 24 pump arrives for closed loop. Then I was going to use some 100 micron in sumo for a week or so.