What Algae is this?

[hube]

Here's a list of the most common questions/suggestions you'll get, in no particular order, and my PERSONAL response and/or response to them

1. "You need a CUC (clean-up crew) and/or other herbivores"
I have placed several large orders from reefcleaners, plus purchased locally. It did not help. My herbivore fish didn't put a dent in my algae issues. Are they keeping the algae to a minimum now that the long hair algae is gone? Probably, as they are always grazing.

2. "You need to manually remove it and/or brush it off"
Easier said than done, no matter how many cans of "Elbow Grease" you may have. I have done it. It's a pain. The algae returned anyway.

3. "Use a turkey baster to blast the algae off the rocks"
It's algae!! Not dust! If it's difficult to pull it off with your fingers or brush it off, what makes people thing a simple turkey baster is going to work?!

4. "You need to do a ~3 day blackout"
This worked for me...temporarily. However, the algae just came back after a while. Also, it's probably not a pleasant experience for the fish living in the pitch dark for ~3 days.

5. "You need to reduce your nitrate and phosphate levels"
Yes, but no one says how you do that...you are just supposed to do it. Also, my nutrient levels were nominal, but I still had long hair algae in my tank.

6. "Is your tank near a window? UV rays will cause algae to grow"
My fish room has no windows whatsoever, and I still had algae issues

7. "Use xxx chemical, Vibrant, NoPox, vodka dosing, etc"
Who wants to use chemicals if they don't have to? Overdosing will possibly cause worse issues than algae. My last time using Vibrant, I woke up to find several of my fish dead

8. "You're overfeeding"
Probably true, but personally, I want my fish to be fat and happy. There are ways to mitigate the negative effects that may come with overfeeding. I overfeed, but my N is <10, and my P is ~0.03.

9. "You need more flow"
If algae can grow ON my pumps..where obviously the flow is the strongest, what makes one think flow is going to do much of anything anywhere else?

10. "Change/reduce lighting periods"
I've done that too. No effect. Maybe there's this perfect lighting combination/schedule out there, but I haven't found it.

So, what's left? Perhaps, not THE perfect, one and only solution for everyone, but what has worked for me (and others) is an algae scrubber. While the store bought ones are somewhat pricey, there are DIY solutions that can be built for under $100. I made mine several months ago and my tank has never been this alage-less for this long. My lighting is on 11 hours a day, I feed quite heavily, and I am heavily stocked with fish, and my Nitrates have ranged from 0.01-0.10. Phosphates range from 0.00-0.08

Wow this was incredibly insightful, if you’re selling something I’m buying it haha. I’m going to look into an algae scrubber tonight and try to get it to work, I really appreciate the advice.