Is this still die off? 3 months!

[portugee]

Thanks for reading,
I've had my live rock for three months now.
2 months into the project I pulled all of it out and scrubbed it with a nylon brush in a bucket of salt water because of a bad diatom bloom. It cleaned up real nice. While the lr was out I siphoned the CC to remove any remaining die off.
It looked great, very clean. 1 month later the same stuff is all over the rock. If you pickup a piece it sheds all of this brown particle stuff.
Is this stuff algae or die off?
What do I need to do to keep the rock looking clean?
Thank you for any replies

 

[broomer5]

Portugee
The live rock in my 30 gallon tank did the same thing. About 6 weeks into the new set up - diatom city.
It eventually went away on it's own.
It sounds like diatoms, if it's a rusty brownish golden appearance, sort of dusty like and "covers" the rock - diatoms. Is it growing on the substrate too ?
If it has a plant like structure or hairy - probably some form of nuisance alage.
If it blows off real easy, and is sort of a tan/gray dust that settles in the pockets and crevices of the rock - could just be a lot of detritus.
Identifying the cause is the best way to keep it clean in my opinion.
What's your freshwater source ?
What do you feed the tank and how often ?
Are the 2 triggers pretty messy eaters ?
What's your lighting, lighting duration and how old are the lamps ?
You shouldn't have to do much to live rock but occasionally blast off some detritus build up with a powerhead or baster now and then.
sorry for so many questions back at ya

 

[portugee]

Broomer5, everything you said is happening. Rusty-brown algae on everything and greyish brown stuff on the rock and CC. Oh and green hair algae to .
My water is from a local vendor that purifies it for drinking.
I've been feeding those triggers twice a day, but they eat every morsel.
My lighting is two 40 watt that came with the setup. No corals
I was thinking about getting a protein skimmer and a UV.