Newb-ish w/ some questions... and hello!

[IMay1280]

Howdy folks...

I have been lurking through the forums for a few weeks now, so I figured it was about time I actually introduced myself. My name is Ian, and I just purchased a 90 gallon w/ sump reef tank from a gentleman that decided he wanted to quit the hobby, and now find myself on fast forward trying to learn everything that I need to know.

The setup came with everything, minus fish, and I do mean "everything". I have a couple of pictures that I was hoping some of you more experienced folks might be able to help me with. First, I -think- I am looking at aiptasia here but I am not sure. Second, I have developed an outbreak of this feathery looking algae that doesn't look quite like the caulerpa algae pictures I have been comparing it to. Any of you awesome guys able to positively ID these two for me? Thanks in advance!

[Newsmyrna80]

Welcome! This is a the best website for learning about this hobby (or obsession as we call it;)). The unidentified coral in pics 2 and 3 is some sort of paly, not aiptasia. This feathery object in the first pic is a green macroalgae. It's hard to determine exact species with the naked eye but here's a website that may help you id it: http://marineplantbook.com/marineplantbookgreenalgae.htm

[IMay1280]

Thanks for replying! I'm glad to hear it isn't aiptasia, that's at least one relief. As far as the macro goes, I have a lettuce nudibranch, a hippo tang, and lots of hermits/snails, but nobody seems to be touching the stuff. It isn't running on a vine, and is extremely hard to pull more than the top section of the stalk off of the live rock by hand. Any suggestions on where I should go from here?

[GMay]

That is a nice looking macro algae. I would not try and get ride of it. You will need to manage it as it grows. Consider it a helpful manager of nitrates and phosphates. You let it grow, it consumes excess nutrients, you harvest it periodically, and you export those nutrients.

[IMay1280]

That makes perfect sense, but it is going too far, too fast for me. I am waiting on my order of some chaeto/halimeda to arrive so I can get my refugium off to a good start, so hopefully that will slow down the DT growth some. I'd just move this stuff down to the refugium, but it is mostly growing in between my zoos. This little cluster is fairly attractive and in a good spot, his 500 cousins, on the other hand...

[Newsmyrna80]

Lol I have some growing in the refugium. I have no idea where it came from but it really hasn't grown all that much. I would try to move as much of it from your DT as possible before it gets out of hand.