Strange grass-like stuff growing in tank

[damselz]

I was not sure if this is the right place to post this but I have a 33 gallon long tank that is Fish only with live rock. My tank is just about 2 years old and I noticed that I have some Green sticks and grassy looking algae growing on my live rock and now on my dead barnacle shell. It feels like a toothbrush and nothing seems to be interested in eating it. I have hermits, emeralds, snails and not one even goes near it. I asked my lfs and he said it's some sort of ???optic algae, forgive me I can't remember exactly what he called it but he said nothing will eat it. I have too many nutrients in my tank and since I have no corals, the algae is getting well nourished. He recommended some corals but I am not sure I have the right lighting. I had a red clove coral for about 8 months and it did well but a hitchhiker did him in. I have a 48" 50/50 Reef Sun light. Are there any corals that I can get that do not require intense lights? If so what are they and /or do you think this guy was just trying to sell me some corals? Any thoughts would be great.
Thanx

 

[damselz]

anyone have any ideas about this?

 

[zeroc]

what are your parameters? are you using a protein skimmer? RO water? I think i had some algae like that that came in on a frag, but the hermits ate it all in a day.

 

[mudplayerx]

Could be maiden's hair or hair algae. The latter is a nusiance algae arising from elevated nutrients.

 

[mcbdz]

A macro algea will work or some mushrooms, Xenia, or leathers. Frequent water changes are always a good idea. What are your water para. The actual numbers; amm, NO3, NO4, cal, phos., and any others you may test for? How often do you feed and what?

 

[gypsana]

If is very stiff and kind of looks like grass growing on a rock I might have that also. I do have a few corals in my tank. I even posted a pretty bad pic of it in an earlier post. If you are interest I can take another one to see if they are the same. I never got a definitive answer on what it was.

 

[petjunkie]

Can you rip it out? I have some random slowgrowing algea that is in a few places and I usually let it grow for a while and then tear it out. Mine's dark green, close together and stiff. I can't keep any other algea alive but this one and it only grows under good lighting, with low pcs it didn't show up at all, just when I upgraded lights.

 

[mudplayerx]

Originally Posted by petjunkie
Can you rip it out? I have some random slowgrowing algea that is in a few places and I usually let it grow for a while and then tear it out.
Exactly what I do.

 

[damselz]

Originally Posted by gypsana
If is very stiff and kind of looks like grass growing on a rock I might have that also. I do have a few corals in my tank. I even posted a pretty bad pic of it in an earlier post. If you are interest I can take another one to see if they are the same. I never got a definitive answer on what it was.
If you have a pic post it, I'm curious to see if it is the same thing, I will post a pic later today

 

[damselz]

Originally Posted by petjunkie
Can you rip it out? I have some random slowgrowing algea that is in a few places and I usually let it grow for a while and then tear it out. Mine's dark green, close together and stiff. I can't keep any other algea alive but this one and it only grows under good lighting, with low pcs it didn't show up at all, just when I upgraded lights.
I tried ripping it out, it's pretty strong stuff. So there really is nothing that will eat it?

 

[gypsana]

Sorry it took me so long to get this pic up. Does it resemble this? Sorry the size of pics that are allowed do not come out so clear. If you want I can send it to you in a message. Let me know because I would like to know what it is myself.

 

[damselz]

that's it exactly, it was growing all over my LR and started growing on my powerhead. I got a purple sea urchin and that guy is tearing it up. It has eaten amount of the grassy stuff and it appears to be shaving my LR. Surprisingly he hasn't eaten the coraline algae yet. I hear they can cause it to spread by releasing spores when it eats it. We'll see. It's doing a good job but is a little slow.

 

[gypsana]

Well at least we know we do not have an alien life form in our tanks!

I am going to leave mine there to see how it looks when it gets bigger. Anyhow my anenome likes to wrap it's tentacles around it.

Maybe someone will actually have a name for it, but at this point I doubt it.

 

[damselz]

Originally Posted by gypsana
Well at least we know we do not have an alien life form in our tanks!

I am going to leave mine there to see how it looks when it gets bigger. Anyhow my anenome likes to wrap it's tentacles around it.

Maybe someone will actually have a name for it, but at this point I doubt it.
I would try to get rid of it because it starts to grow every where and it doesn't look too pleasant once it turns into stick like plants. Good luck with it, mine is starting to disappear finally.

 

[gypsana]

Thanks for the info. I wonder if there is any other way of getting rid of it. I do not want an urchin in my tank. I have known too many people that had there reek havoc. I am already facing an issue of my LTA out growing my tank. I guess I will try to remove it during a water change. Again thanks.