sen5241b
Reef enthusiast
I have what is called Red Turf Algae. (Yote, your guess was right). It grows in low nutrient reefs and is impossible to scrub off. You can pick up a big rock by grabbing this algae. Diadema Urchins will eat it (but they cause problems in reef tanks) and Trochus snails if they have nothing else to eat. Tangs generally will not eat it.
I found a long and involved thread that included extensive comment by Eric Bourneman (one of the top experts in our hobby) and their basic conclusion was that the best, but not only, way to deal with this algae is to pick the rock out of the tank and take a blow-torch to it --seriously!! --> Red Turf Algae
Yesterday, I put some of my rock in a 5G bucket with heat, flow, and air pump BUT NO LIGHT. I'm going to try wrapping the rest of the algae in sheets of black plastic. I already tried wrapping it in 2 layers of trash bag plastic for a week and there was only a tiny bit of die-off. I'm also going to get some trochus snails.
I started with this issue in: https://www.livingreefs.com/weird-red-algae-t26091.html
I found a long and involved thread that included extensive comment by Eric Bourneman (one of the top experts in our hobby) and their basic conclusion was that the best, but not only, way to deal with this algae is to pick the rock out of the tank and take a blow-torch to it --seriously!! --> Red Turf Algae
Yesterday, I put some of my rock in a 5G bucket with heat, flow, and air pump BUT NO LIGHT. I'm going to try wrapping the rest of the algae in sheets of black plastic. I already tried wrapping it in 2 layers of trash bag plastic for a week and there was only a tiny bit of die-off. I'm also going to get some trochus snails.
I started with this issue in: https://www.livingreefs.com/weird-red-algae-t26091.html