white frost on the rocks

[rangeworks]

hello, so we came home last night and discovered a new "item" in our biocube14. On the right hand side of the tank on the rock holding up the frag of blue mushrooms, which also holds up our back piece of coral with the leather on it, we discoverd the 2/3/4 pictures.
to me this looks to be like frost covering a window on a cold winter morning. it is white, i cannot tell if it is hard or soft, overlaps itself and each other at random angles and seems to stay close to the rock. from some of the filaments that i can see away from the rock they are not swaying in the current. this is the highest current part of my tank actually as i have the intakes for the filter as well as a circ fan in the top left that points down and across the back wall to keep that cleaned out.
the tank has been up and running for around 3 months. i have a log of the parameters going and it has long since cycled, the current parameters are ph around 8.2, phosphate is 0.0, ammonia is 0.0, nitrite is 0.0 calcium is 480 and nitrate is between 20 and 40 ppm. salinity/sg is 1.025-1.026
we have been doing water changes every other week (20%). we feed some dry flake in the am, we feed a little less then half a blister pack of san fran frozen mysis in the evening, every other day i give them .5ml of DT's phyto food.
we have 4 turbo, 1 free range snail (came in on a frag), 5 ceriths, 4 hermits, 1 gramma, 1 saddleback, 1 firefish and a sand sifter gobby. we also have a couple bristle worms, and some brittle stars.
we are in the procees of moving to a 92 gallon corner tank so it may seem a litte overstocked right now but figured it would be fine for a couple weeks.
everything has been going well and growing and splitting off and getting new heads etc, i just dont know what the sudden influx of "white frost" is, and or what to do about it.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Honestly looks like white coraline algae. It also may come in as purple. Totally safe and very beautiful. If it is clear, i would say its a sponge

 

[rangeworks]

thanks for the quick response. i do have some sponges on the rock up above it that came in as hitchhikers on the live rock. this does not look like those as of yet. yes we were noobies and didnt quaranteen properly. we are working to rectify that moving forward. i also have purple coraline growing across rocks and on my glass and circ pump etc so it seems to be a healthy environment. just caught us off guard that it all showed up in like 4 hours away from home and across such a large area like a carpet bombing run.

Not discounting your response, but would love to know if there are any other thoughts out there?

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Doesnt take long to get out of those biocubes, aye!

 

[Ted]

Not really sure what it is called but I have seen it in my tanks before. It went away about as fast as it showed up. One day it was there then a month or so later it wasnt. If I remember right I cleaned some of it off by hitting it with the flow of a power head. Figured it was diatoms that had died off....

 

[rangeworks]

and for the record, i didnt notice the white coralline algea. you are correct and i do see more of it. this post is about the white/grey looking lattice work looking frost stuff on the rocks in the large parts of the pictures that i am trying to id. i went to 4 saltwater shops here locally and no one here has every seen it.

thanks for pointing out the white coralline. i am looking up the diatoms connection as well.

 

[wontonflip]

Does it look like this?

If so, could be a Bryozoan -- see my thread on it if that's what you think it is. Mine is hard, and has grown and they're harmless.

https://www.livingreefs.com/white-growth-t41277.html

 

[rangeworks]

so that actually is looking very much closer than anything i have been able to find. i am attaching some more pics with different lighting as the sun in actually out in seattle.... i did play with the birght/contrast/mid tones to try and highlight the "subjects".

you will have to excuse me as i must go sacrifice some animals and do a happy vitamin d dance or the sun will go away for another six months..... (kidding)

 

[FishyReef]

Are they hard to the touch? Can you see them move at all? I had something that looked a bit like that and it turned out to be montipora eating nudibranchs. I don't think yours is the same thing as mine were clearly on my montipora, but I wanted to mention it anyway just in case.

 

[rangeworks]

definately not nudibranches. not mobile, some form of growth coming straight out of the (on top of) the rock. however if they are, i have a sudden mating commune of them and will have a couple hundred for sale or gifts..... i might actually be able to recoup some of the money the wife is blowing thru on this new "hobby".

ok i admit it, i am a dork and am now just as hooked on looking at this dumb little cube of acrylic like 90 times a day to see what is going on....and what else i... i mean she is going to want to buy.... and reef scaping the new tank..... ahhh you all already know...

 

[2XAl]

I can't really help with the ID but in my opinion you are overfeeding which is probably why your nitrates are slightly elevated. I have 1 less fish than you and feed half of that. In addition everyone has always said flakes are a nitrate nightmare so that may be the problem right there. Sorry I can't help with the odd growths