White Fur Algae or something?

[mwood]

Hi All,

First post here !

Hope to ID the fairly even layer of white algae (or other) on the top surfaces of my rocks as seen in the pictures. This layer is not present on my live rock in the sump.

A little background on this tank.

The tank is a RSR 425XL new build, an upgrade/transfer from a 55 gallon (1.5 year reef) reef tank. I transferred the live rock from old tank to new tank along with about 30 gallons of old water from the old tank. I discarded the old live sand, and used new live sand. I also added some new dry rock into the tank, but most is the live rock from the other tank.

Also, I transferred my cuc, snails, crabs, star fish, from the old tank. No fish were transferred, as I am doing the 76 day fishless period to ensure no ich in new tank, and the fish remain in the QT.

All has been going great, except what I am trying to ID.

Thanks,

 

[Rlreefing]

what is your current lighting schedule? how long ago did you set the new system up, and how much dry rock did you add. does you sump have a lighting cycle as well?

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Is it slimy to the touch? Does it fall off or wipe off, If so, then looks like a bacterial bloom. White slime algae. There are a few ways to handle this. See the video attached as its very enlightening. Good luck!

 

[mwood]

what is your current lighting schedule? how long ago did you set the new system up, and how much dry rock did you add. does you sump have a lighting cycle as well?

Hi Rlreefin,
Thanks for replying,
I recently cut back my lighting schedule several days ago, from 12 noon to 5:30PM (was 10AM to 7PM) at about 50% intensity Radion XR15s, with whites 50% of that and greens and reds down to 35%. I ramp up from 8AM to noon and ramp down at 5:30 PM to 9PM.

I set up the new system 1 month ago today, this stuff started to show up after about a week. As far as rock, I added about 25 lbs of dry rock to about 65 lbs of live rock from old tank. I turn on low intensity LED lighting in the sump during daytime for Peppermint shrimp which I had to move to sump when I found them eating my Acan Coral.

 

[mwood]

Is it slimy to the touch? Does it fall off or wipe off, If so, then looks like a bacterial bloom. White slime algae. There are a few ways to handle this. See the video attached as its very enlightening. Good luck!

Hi Pathot984,
Yes, it is slimy to the touch. I tried brushing it off the rocks, but it does not brush off so easily, so I would say no, it does not fall off or wipe off too easily. Thanks for the video, I will watch it.

 

[LAReefer4Life]

Hi Pathot984,
Yes, it is slimy to the touch. I tried brushing it off the rocks, but it does not brush off so easily, so I would say no, it does not fall off or wipe off too easily. Thanks for the video, I will watch it.

I recommend BRS high capacity GFO. It is amazing stuff but very potent. You can use it in media bag or reactor. Reactor being the most effective. Start half the recommended dose and gear up after 30 days so the water chemistry can adapt as it strips out phosphates levels dramatically which cause this nuisance bacteria and algae to die off.

But the video gives plenty if options and tweaks that could help your problem, GFO worked best for me after personal experience.

 

[mwood]

Thank you Pathot984,

I will give BRS high capacity GFO a go. As well thanks for the video suggestion it was very helpful, and I had not seen it.

 

[ReefJedi]

were you able to figure out how to get rid of it? i think i have the same problem.

 

[Roadhouse]

Following.

 

[ReefJedi]

Astraea Turbo Snails and Mexican Turbo Snails will eat it. Hermits and Ceriths don't touch the stuff. Tang picks at it but can't get it clean. It seems to be the least favorite algae for the turbos though so keep the glass and back walls clean and they'll get to work on the rocks.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I’ve got this mess too. What is it? Some abomination of GHA?

 

[jneu82]

Here we go! I have the white fuzz also growing on a few patches of rocks. Who has had any luck getting rid of this and what method did you choose. I keep my po4 down under 0.05 I'm thinking this happened when my levels had an up swing a few weeks back. Loaded the tank up with snails and crabs but I'm curious if there's another approach. Thanks

 

[blecki]

The easiest way to be rid of this is time. Don't panic, in a stable tank it will right itself. Also pods go nuts for it.

 

[dbugg]

Here we go! I have the white fuzz also growing on a few patches of rocks. Who has had any luck getting rid of this and what method did you choose. I keep my po4 down under 0.05 I'm thinking this happened when my levels had an up swing a few weeks back. Loaded the tank up with snails and crabs but I'm curious if there's another approach. Thanks

What worked for you to get rid of the white fuzz algae?

 

[dbugg]

Astraea Turbo Snails and Mexican Turbo Snails will eat it. Hermits and Ceriths don't touch the stuff. Tang picks at it but can't get it clean. It seems to be the least favorite algae for the turbos though so keep the glass and back walls clean and they'll get to work on the rocks.

Is this all that worked for you? Turbo Snails? How long until it was gone?

 

[dbugg]

Thank you Pathot984,

I will give BRS high capacity GFO a go. As well thanks for the video suggestion it was very helpful, and I had not seen it.

What worked for you? I have the same problem, and some exact same details... importantly, I also set up a secondary/QT tank and used some live rock from my main DT and some bleach-cured dry live rock. The white fuzz only grew on the rock that came from the DT, but I've never seen this white fuzz in the DT. The bleach-cured other rock has none. Of note, there's no rocks that actually touch each other, so I could keep an eye on the QT newbies. For now, I only have a blenny in there since he's all that survived from my newest LFS purchase. No CC.

Appreciate anyone who could say they had exactly what was in your pictures and "xxx worked for me"".