Still fighting this algae issue!!!! I need advice!

Gwitness

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So I have posted a couple months ago about this issue and I still have no idea how to get rid of this algae or whatever it is.....
I have a 180 gallon mixed reef with an asm G4+ skimmer....I do 15 gallon a week water changes with Red Sea salt....my parameters are stable, I don't over feed, my nitrates are at 5 (salifert) and phosphates at 0.03-0.06 (Hannah) ....for flow I have an mp40, and 2 jebao rw 20s...

I have 22 fish, mostly smaller or medium sized and couldn't get nitrates under 10 and I thought that is why I had this weird algae covering my rocks...so I have been dosing Red Sea no pox for about 2 months and love it! Got nitrates lower and tank looks great except for the brown stuff covering my rocks still!! As for lights I have 3 radion pros and 2 t5 bulbs...radions max out at 50% and reds only max out at 40% and t5 bulbs are about 3 months old and run for 4hours a day....I also bought a whole new clean up crew 1 month ago and still not any cleaner..

Here are some pics also but I am just at a loss on why and where this algae or whatever it is, is coming from and why it won't go away at all!! Any help would be great or maybe something I am overlooking....thanks in advance

ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1436038358.457935.jpg
ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1436038368.691501.jpg
ImageUploadedByREEF2REEF1436038377.449403.jpg
 

Bugger

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Its hard to tell from the photos take a picture with your lights on. But I am no algae expert
 
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Gwitness

Gwitness

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That is lights on haha ....anytime I take a pic on my phone that's how they turn out...it's so annoying
 
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Gwitness

Gwitness

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The thing is it's not just the dark brown spots on the rock it literally covers the entire rocks almost where they look brown only and no purple at all!! They are mainly the man made rock so they started out all shades of purple pretty much and now completely light brown for the most part
 

Bugger

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It dosen't look like a fast growing specie have you tried scrubbing it off.
 

Lynn52

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I had similar looking stuff and was able to blow it off with a power head. Mine was cyano. I treated for that and changed up my flow and it is almost gone.
 

glb

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Do you have anything in the tank that eats algae?
 
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Gwitness

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I have tried scrubbing it off and t barely came off...turkey baster works on some of it but most of it doesn't blow off...my flow is crazy strong on the rocks it's growing on which is weird to me!
As for fish that eat algae, I have a purple tang, lawn mower blenny, and just bought a brand new clean up crew for a 180 gallon tank about a month or so ago
 

ReelRednekReefer

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You said it was only on the man made rock. I had a 5g that had some Petco aquaculture man made rock in it. It developed a brown kind of furry algea that looked brown, reddish that wouldn't come off for anything! Even spot treated with boiling water. All that did was change it to orange color. Finally concluded that it was a type of coralline. It would fluoresce slightly under blue lighting. Just a thought.
 

ou12004

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Scrub it in peroxide with a brush and see if it comes back. It works well for hair algae
 
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Gwitness

Gwitness

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No I'm sorry I meant that it's on every rock in the tank, but I meant the man made rock I have started all different shades of purple and now all of it is a light brown color with barely any purple on it because it's covered in this stuff.....I did try to take a couple rocks out and the stuff almost felt like slimey stuff...kinda like a rock you find in a creek that is very slimey and covered in something....but there are barely any air bubbles in the stuff and it's not long or anything....
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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While I do not know what this algae is or the best way to get rid of it, the nutrient levels you posted are plenty for algae to thrive. One possible option is to drive the levels lower, especially phosphate.

A more drastic option is to remove the rock and kill the organism in one of several ways.

What else is in the tank?
 
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Gwitness

Gwitness

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I have a bunch of coral, sps and Lps which are doing well still....2 anemones and the 23 fish....
I could increase my nopox dosing a little more and drive the nitrates and phosphates to 0 to see what that does....I just thought I was supposed to have a little nitrate and phosphates for the acros I have
 

lyscer

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Have you looked into algae turf scrubbers? May help naturally lower your phosphate levels.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I have a bunch of coral, sps and Lps which are doing well still....2 anemones and the 23 fish....
I could increase my nopox dosing a little more and drive the nitrates and phosphates to 0 to see what that does....I just thought I was supposed to have a little nitrate and phosphates for the acros I have

It is possible that this pest is also consuming ingredients in the NOPOX.

Your phosphate level is not low enough to restrict many forms of algae. It may be fine for corals, but that isn't always the goal, and natural seawater levels are lower than yours. 0.01-0.02 ppm phosphate might be a better goal if trying to restrict problem algae.
 
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Gwitness

Gwitness

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It is possible that this pest is also consuming ingredients in the NOPOX.

Your phosphate level is not low enough to restrict many forms of algae. It may be fine for corals, but that isn't always the goal, and natural seawater levels are lower than yours. 0.01-0.02 ppm phosphate might be a better goal if trying to restrict problem algae.
I guess that could be possible, but this was going on way before I even started dosing he nopox stuff, but maybe it is helping fuel the algae....I think I will try to get phosphates and nitrates to 0 and then if it isn't changing anything then I will try to stop dosing it and do something else to see what other options are...
 
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Gwitness

Gwitness

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Just got done doing my weekly water change and my phosphates are now at 0.03 and nitrates are reading 5....just FYI....once again thank you for everyone trying to help me out with this! I really do appreciate it
 

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Ozone is a water sterilizer and breaks down organic matter (waste) in the water as well, too much can be deadly so keep a bag of charcoal in your sump to remove excess o3, basically its like HD for fish tanks, although they can be pricey. I have never had anything on a tank that was more effective at removing nuisance algae. i battled aggressive string and macro algae in one of my tanks (350 gallon custom tank) and was just about to pull all the rock then decided to try ozone and within two weeks the algae was regressing after a month it was completely gone and the tank is cleaner than it has been in years with minimal effort.
 

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