is this bryopsis or just hair algae

this little algae is appearing in my tank thats a few weeks old now, I hope it isnt the start of bryopsis, and its just hair algae, little pieces seem to stick to the glass and grow, but none of them are large and it isnt spreading to quickly at the moment, so if it something that I need to combat please let me know, the tank is just finishing the cycle i believe, amonia is a 0 nitrites are at zero and my nitrates are declining (went from 40 down to 20 and hasnt gone back up in several days) only stuff in the tank is a small button polyp rock, couple turbo snails and a blue leg hermit, was gonna get more hermits(5 more) shortly cause my coralline is coming back nicely and I want to combat the bad algaes with a small clean up crew, if they eat it clean and there are too many I can trade them back to the LFS for something else(our store is pretty decent, I was suprised)oh also got some pods on the polyp rock, I was stoked about that

 

Bryopsis is very easy to identify but unless you post a picture, I can't help you. The bryopsis that I've always dealt with has had little fern like looking fronds, not sure if that helps any.

 

heres the pics, forgot them in the first post, I dont think they look like ferns but that may be cause they are small yet, man I hope its not, they hang onto the glass pretty well, and another thing, it looks like some of it got covered in brown algae and dies off, which the snail have been mowing up the brown stuff pretty well...

 

Well, I can't tell from the pics but hopefully, you've just got your general, run of the mill hair algae. How old is your tank again?

 

its going on three weeks, I wouldnt have put the snails or anything in but after I saw everything rise and then fall back down I figured theyd keep the brown algae off the coralline which is coming back slowly but def coming back, and they have been doing just that, very interesting to watch them also...and the small button polyp rock I just put in last night, seems like its doing well though, opened up imeadiatly and is looking healthy, its the first coral in the tank, wanted to see how that did before I put anything else in...

p.s. my live rock was fully cured and I used live sand, dunno if thats why all the numbers came down that quickly or not, they def. rose and fell though, I have been watching like a hawk

 

Bryopsis Plumosa must die!

 

I just got goosebumps...and not the good kind!

 

I wouldn't worry about it then at this time. If the "hair" algae persists, take more pics and post them here and hopefully, we can "yay" or "nay" whether you've got bryopsis or not.

 

ok, gave it a bit of a backround on the glass and got a pic, doesnt look like those bryopsis pics, but it also doesnt look like typical hair algae(to me at least)...hope this pic helps, Im just worried after seeing some of the bryopsis horror stories on here, talk of starting over and stuff...not good...

 

I wish I could tell you more from your pics but the algae is just too small at this moment to identify it. I'm also guilty of putting some of the fear of bryopsis in you I'm afraid. Like I said, I wouldn't worry about it at this point. Just keep a vigilant eye on it and take more pics if/when it gets larger. If you have typical hair algae, which I think you do, it should go away in time if you keep your water parameters in check.