Macro Algae turning white

[nova]

Looks like its just dying to me?

[Mustafa]

Corucia, I think in your case the hair algae is outcompeting the macroalgae for certain nutrients. I bet if you took out the hair algae completely that the macroalgae would come back.

i don't have any hair algae competing in my tank... wonder what's going on everything else is healthy...

In that case I wouldn't worry much. I've had tanks also where my macroalgae seemingly died off for a few months only to come back at some point. If everything else is fine, don't worry about it. You can always get some plastic plants. There will be enough surface algae everywhere to take care of nitrates/phosphates etc. and provide food for shrimp.

[JoanToBa]

Do you have any kind of limestone/calcium carbonate type of rock/substrate in your tank?

Why did you ask that?

[Nellyville41]

Do you have any kind of limestone/calcium carbonate type of rock/substrate in your tank?

Why did you ask that?

To buffer the water

[JoanToBa]

In what sense? Hardness? pH?

[Nellyville41]

In what sense? Hardness? pH?

The PH if it becomes too acidic

[JoanToBa]

Oooooh OK. Thanks!
Does this also mean that crushed coral as substrate would do to "buffer" the water?

[Nellyville41]

Oooooh OK. Thanks!
Does this also mean that crushed coral as substrate would do to "buffer" the water?

Yes

[Mf1]

Hello all,
My algae ball from Mustafa has also turned white and I don’t know what to do to save it. My ph has stayed a constant 7.5 and I have coral in my tank. My tank with just two (rescued from an eco-sphere) shrimps has been going for two years now. It’s only been in the last couple of months that the algae ball turned white. Thoughts? I’m going to try and attach some pictures of my tank.
Thank you
mf1

[JoanToBa]

Let's say it's a tiiiiiiny little bit... ummm ... dead.

[Mf1]

Any help as to what I did wrong to kill it so that I don’t let it happen again?

[Varanus]

I've never seen this algae go so white before, but Mustafa has mentioned sometimes they will seem to die for no apparent reason, only to come back later on.

[Mf1]

Should I remove it if it’s dead? I have left it in to see if it would rebound, but I’m worried that decomposing plant life is bad for my tank, right?

[Malikta]

When I had my ecosphere, the tiny few strands of macroalgae did great with indirect light. Then I purchased macroalgae with shrimp to do a proper set up after freeing my prisoners.

I had an LED light and it just destroyed the macroalgae. When I setup my next tank, I positioned it for natural light and so far so good.

I had read somewhere else that the LED and then daylight combo was not giving the plants enough rest period. That was my case. My timer would go off in the middle of the night, run into the daylight and then my tank was getting both.

Not sure if that's the case with yours but I hope it helps.

[Mf1]

Hmmm, I have mine near a window so it gets indirect sunlight all day. I don’t have a light over it, but I do turn on the ceiling lights in the room at night. I find it so frustrating to not know exactly what went wrong ya know? Thank you for your input though.

I’m going to try and remove the dead macro algae and hope it doesn’t disintegrate and muck up my tank further in the process.