Let's Talk About ~Algae Control~

[taekwondodo]

I had three of those (think two now) for bubble algae. they don't touch it.

Thanks,

- Jeff

 

[james734]

I have that stuff also. My FoxFace Rabbit keeps it under control..

 

[NaH2O]

It is actually a red algae, as opposed to a purple algae. It reminded me of this past thread, see if it helps on your ID: Algae Identification/Extermination

 

[burning2nd]

my green algae is geting its azz kicked. but i had a small patch of that purple algae,

I thought it looked cool. (at least better then this bryopsis) but it came and left rather quickly (i think the b, took it out)


we will now refer to the bryopsis as "the b" "the killer b" or just strait up "Death in a can"

 

[bripen]

I mow it once a week when I do a 25% wc (5 gal) - very tough stuff. I could tow my car with it if I could weave it together. Right now I am doing almost no feeding in the tank and am running a sump with chaeto-only in it.

It started off as this pretty little patch of purple and when the pretty patch got too big, I pulled as much as I could off of the rock and little pieces went into the current... within a week it was everywhere.

Any ideas (in addition to "standard" WC, feeding) would be appreciated.

Unfortunately if I do a search for "purple AND algae" I get 500,000 "Purple-up" threads :doubt:

Thanks,

- Jeff

I had that stuff...my scribbled rabbitfish made short work of it. Within a week it was totally gone.

 

[taekwondodo]

Thanks,

But it's only a 20 gallon tank - Rabbitfishes would outgrow the tank quickly...

unless someone is aware of a dwarf, or can loan me one for a week...

Thanks,

- Jeff

 

[staraquarist]

Yeah, rabbitfishes would indeed outgrow the tank way too fast! I'll try researching a dwarf...Peace

 

[bripen]

i had some wicked cyano in my 10 for awhile...

removed as much as i could with my hands and a net ... and then let the lights stay off for one day... the next day .. nothing .. and has worked like a charm from then on..

If I remember correctly, Cyano is unaffected by light. It doesnt need light to grow.

 

[sausage fingers]

Hi All,

Seems to me through reading a lot of the posts that its the new guys to reefing and include myself in that catagory that suffer the most with algae problems.
Though not new to fish keeping kept fresh for some years this subject of algae has broken many hearts and emptied many wallets and would have put a good few of the hobby through bad experiences tank crashes etc. etc
Good preperation and understanding is key here for success learn through reading, forums etc etc understand the equipment you intend to use and be realistic in your expectations.
Many new to the hobby look at amazement at the tanks down the lfs get a surge of the well known male problem want got and have and expect a tank to look and be as good as the ones they based there purchase on within a week.
Patience is something people have little of nowdays and you cant buy that but when setting up one of these tanks is something thats key to success because throwing good cash at problems through not understanding eventually leads to the hobby becoming expensive and like most things expensive quickly takes a backseat.
Who would have thought that mother natures most basic lifeform (Algae) eludes mother natures most advanced, theres a moral in there somewhere.

Thanks for reading

 

[Paul B]

Sausage Fingers, I am glad you wrote that. It is true that the majority of algae problems is in new tanks and the reason is that most new hobbiests feel that when their test kits read zero for nitrite and ammonia it is cycled and they can put in animals. This is true but not exactly. A tank is not cycled in a few weeks no matter what a test kit reads. It is only cycled to the extent of whatever you cycled the tank with. If you used two mollies to cycle the tank, then you have enough bacteria of the correct types to convert the waste from two mollies and nothing else. As soon as you put something else in there will be more waste generated than your meager bacteria can process. Bacteria take time to grow and at this point in the cycle all available places in the tank are already settled with different types of bacteria, not bacteria necessarilly beneficial to the nitrogen cycle. So the bacteria we want will have to wait until they find spaces to settle and start processing wastes. It doesen't happen overnight and goes on for years. Eventually the beneficial bacteria we want will find enough space to settle down and process the wastes of all the animals we house. But in the meantime all that waste has to go somewhere. Some is removed by skimming, carbon etc. Some is removed through water changes but much of it becomes algae food. This is not really a bad thing. The algae will remove the nutrients from the water faster and more completely than the bacteria. The only problem of course is that we don't like the look of algae in our tanks and if the algae die, those nutrients will be back where they started. This is the reason algae grows faster in a newer tank. Of course while this is going on the bacteria are continually finding places to grow and process wastes so in time your algae woes will diminish.
If you were to harvest the algae the process would proceed more quickly.
Bacteria for the most part need a substrait to grow on. There are very few bacteria just floating around. They need a place to settle thats why it's important to have enough rock, more rock translates to more surfaces. I purposely did not say "live rock" because any rock or surface will grow bacteria. Natural rock is better because the porous nature allows bacteria to grow on the outside and since it is porous other beneficial bacteria that will convert nitrate will grow in the recesses of the pores.
Have a great day.
Paul

 

[sausage fingers]

Hi Paul,

Water chemistry is complex and complicated as are enviroments we isolate our stock in. Its good to stand back and read words of wisdom at times it put things back into perspective. You have summed up the bacterial/Algae and load relationship very well in your comment.

Thanks for reading

 

[clkarner]

Happy New Year everyone,

I am a novice aquarist with a 1 1/2 year old 40 gal reef with sea horses. About 2 months ago I was adding a vitamin supplement for the corals and hair algae broke out. I stopped the vitamins and have been trying to hand remove the algae with little success. I also have a protein skimmer. I put 2 emerald crabs in the tank last week but they died (I believe the person at the fish store dropped the bag). I'm on the way to get some more crabs. Any suggestions as to how I can remove the hair algae???? Maybe the light needs to be cut back to 10 hrs a day? My protein skimmer has been running dry lately too (is there some way to clean it thoroughly?)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Novice hobbyist,
Chuck K.
Windsor Mill, MD

 

[Paul B]

Chuck, ah the joys of hair algae. it may have been the vitamins or it may have been something else. Algae are always on the verge of growing because there are always enough nutrients and light in a healthy tank. Cutting the light back to 10 hours should do nothing for your problem. Unfortunately, seahorses need to eat a lot and very often. They have a terribly designed digestive system and don't even have a stomach. Much of what they eat is passed out without much digestion. Luckily, they don't move much or they would eat more.
I don't know what you mean by your skimmer going dry.
The best way to eliminate hair algae is to pull out as much as you can by hand. If it dies in there the nutrients will go right back into making more algae. If there are any rocks or decorations in there you should remove them and scrub off the algae in salt water. Algae is self limiting and will die very soon as soon as they absorb all the nutrients. Most of these nutrients are now locked up in the algae and if you can manually remove the algae you will solve your problem. Hair algae comes in cycles and no matter how many posts you read or how many books I don't think anyone really knows why.
Yes we all know it needs certain nutrients but as I said, we always have these nutrients in a tank, why it grows sometimes and sometimes not, I don't know. But since I have been getting these cycles for three decades I know it will eventually die leaving you a healthier more stable tank.
I would (and do) use some plastic window screen available in a hardware store. Stretch it from one end of the tank to the other towards the back near the surface but in such a way that light hits it. When it becomes full of algae, remove it and clean it. The algae will grow faster on the screen because it is closer to the light and it is easier to clean than the rocks.
Have patience, algae is not a disease and it will not kill your seahorses. As a matter of fact, with all that algae growing the water will be relitively free of disolved nutrients and will be better for the horses.
Of course many people will disagree with me on my algae theories but it is what it is.
Have a great day and Happy New Year
Paul

 

[burning2nd]

sounds complacated.

you could do a few things,

cut back a hour or 2 on light.

water changes will do the most for you.

did you acclamate the crabs?
have you ever supplamented with copper?

 

[Paul B]

The reason I purposely did not say "water changes" is because with a hair algae bloom most, if not all the nutrients will be in the algae and the water will be pure, maybe purer than the water that you will change it with. But whatever.
Paul

 

[burning2nd]

manualy removeing the algea, could lead to more faster spread or it..


becarefull

make sure that if you do pul the algea by hand.. you have the flow off completly still and a siphon sucking water out around where you are pulling from (2 remove spores)

most algae, only needs to be distrubed to spread worse.

 

[clkarner]

Many thanks Paul,

I will be patient and start by scrubbing the rocks in salt water and continue to remove the algae manually. The guy at the fish store told me to put Purigen in the canister and to add a bunch of hermit crabs to start eating away at the problem. I will also give it a try with the plastic screening to collect future hair algae. This is the first time that I have used a forum and it is great to be able to get input from people who have experience. I can only hope to have a reef similar to yours some time in the future. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Chuck K.

 

[Paul B]

Chuck, I am sure your tank will be much better than mine in time. We are getting more useful knowlege every day.
Purigen in a canister is good, I do that too, and hermit crabs are fine.
Have a great day.
Paul

 

[morgan]

did u say u use a canister filter because they are nitrate traps
im currently haven a hair algae out break in my 30gl softy tank
tomorrow iam remopving the sand bed and havening a bare bottom tank i dont know if this will help stop the algea but i will be able to put more current in the tank which should stop deteris building on the rock which seems to have spurred this current algea out break
the comment on algea eating nitrates and phosphates is a good thing in theroy but if it stops my softys from spreading all over the rocks then its not good
i but a bulk load of rock in a dark bucket full off water with and air bubbler scrubed the rock a couple times and but it back in the bucket this was for about a week the hair algea died and it hasnt cum back in my 50gl
sum of the rock in my 30 is the same rock that was struck with hair algea and i spose it could of been lying dormant untill i slipped up with a slight nitrate bloom
i hope u have good luck in your algea battle

 

[DonW]

did u say u use a canister filter because they are nitrate traps

Nitrate trap?? They can become a nitrate producers if you let them. They are fine for media like purigen, carbon,rowa and.......... You just dont want to use them with sponges or other element filters for particle filtration.

Don