So my tank has been set up since march 10, 2023 and everything is good for the most part but I have this strange algae that I can't ID and its driving me crazy. It looks like diatoms kinda brown dark green stringy and grows in patches. Here's the kicker it becomes more prevalent after the lights have been out, every morning I go downstairs and blow it off with a turkey baster and its like a snow field, once the lights come on for a bit its drastically reduced. No corals are effected by it, and its only the the rocks not on my glass or barebottom. I am using STAX rocks from two little fishes which I did not cure prior to using them I just cycled with them. Nutrients levels are po4 .03, nitrates are .5 nitrates, I was chasing numbers around for a bit and just stopped since I noticed some of my corals were not opening or shrinking up so I added phosguard and bam stuff is looking better. So I feel like whatever algae this is its consuming the po4 which lead me to lower numbers prior to what I have currently, I get that. I am defiantly not a novice when it comes to reefing but I have never seen algae like this ever. The tank is a 40 long nuvo by the way, skimmer running fresh air from outside, lots of rock. I don't see this coating things like Dinos would I do see bubbles coming from the rock which is very pores in nature. I feel like this the uglies but I want other opinions since I have not seen this in a long time. The rock is defiantly maturing since its stained up from the algae I can see, plenty of biodiversity in the tank such as pods.
