Algae Identification and what to do (if anything)

[dnprall]

Pictures are as best as I can get them. In the first picture, I don't know what the things are with little white tuffs at the tips. The second picture is green algae that is just invested in the coral. The algae will not come off with forceps (tweezers) or with just grabbing with my fingers. There appears to be another area of this on my power head as well as on my Turbo snail shell. Tank was set up early December 2022. Can I gently use a toothbrush to get it off the coral? I don't know how "aggressive" I can be with the coral.

Testing today (Reefer XL 200):
Nitrate 5.9
Phos 0.04
Mg 1415
Ca 393
Alk 7.6
pH 8.3
These values have been stable for about 2 weeks.

 

[SilverRanger]

I noticed your phosphate was low (good idea to check) yet you have algae. This could imply the algae is absorbing it and using it to grow. Algae on coral can starve the coral of light so this is a problem. Some possibilities could be upping your clean up crew and this algae looks like a job for Scarlet reef hermits and cerith snails. Also are you using any chemical filtration because an absorber like PhosGaurd, GFO or ChemiPure could be a candidate.

 

[pbjorlin]

Looks like Dino’s search YouTube BrS has a video on dealing with them. They generally show up when you’re 0/0 Phosphate nitrate or when you’re too high.

 

[dnprall]

I noticed your phosphate was low (good idea to check) yet you have algae. This could imply the algae is absorbing it and using it to grow. Algae on coral can starve the coral of light so this is a problem. Some possibilities could be upping your clean up crew and this algae looks like a job for Scarlet reef hermits and cerith snails. Also are you using any chemical filtration because an absorber like PhosGaurd, GFO or ChemiPure could be a candidate.

I've been dosing NeoNitro since mid January 2023 since the nitrates were very low (phos was too). I had been checking nitrates and phos since starting NeoNitro and my phos would be 0 to 0.03. I noticed red slime on 2/5/23 (nit 7.2, phos 0). I started dosing NeoPhos on 2/5/23 per recommendation of my LFS. The highest the phos has been (with just about daily testing) is 0.07 but it's always been above 0.02. I'm worried about adding too much and getting phos way too high. My current daily dosing is NeoNitro 1.8 mL along with 3 mL of NeoPhose and 2.5 mL of All-for-Reef.

I have a Turbo snail and many cerith and Astraea snails and red leg hermit crabs (maybe some blue leg too). I like the scarlet reef hermits. I was thinking about getting a tiger conch but I worry that I don't have a big enough tank for it and the Turbo. Was also looking at a ninja star snail (spiny star astrea).

The corals in the pictures are on a rock that is just resting a bit precariously near the top of the tank (it's how my LFS set it up) and I wonder if the crabs/snails just cannot get to it. So I just moved it down to the sand bed to see if that allows easier access.

I do plan on adding a hang-on UV sterilizer this week.

I'm not using any chemical filtration.

I appreciate your thoughts and if you have any further thoughts.