Halimeda is all fuzzy, what's up?

[Rippin]

Hi all,

Just noticed that my Halimeda algae is all fuzzy green. There is no pigment in the actual thalli. It looks as if all of the pigment is extended beyond the thalli as fuzzy extensions. See the picture below. Is the Halimeda going sexual? Should I remove it now (it's in a 14g BioCube)?
Thanks in advance.

http://members.shaw.ca/nemod/aquarium/halimeda.jpg

[Rippin]

Yup, did a little more research and it is going sexual.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=983670&highlight=Halimeda

Took it out and trashed it. That's too bad. It was a nice piece as well.

[Skimmerking]

good thing that it didnt wipe out your tank

[Rippin]

Yes, I'm lucky, but it now leaves me wondering if I did something to cause it to do this...:question:

[Skimmerking]

it depends on what could and may have is it something in your tank doing it may be the aLk is high causing it to burnt

[untamed]

It did that to me for 10 years in my 20 gallon. Never a problem. While it looks like it all goes, some of it always remains and regrows. Nice photo.

[Drock169]

Just from personal experience, I've found that the lighting on the 14g Biocube wasnt good enough to keep Halimeda, but my 5G with 36W lighting keeps it fine and my 65 with MH keeps it fine. The only tank it didnt make it in was the bio cube.

[Rippin]

Just from personal experience, I've found that the lighting on the 14g Biocube wasnt good enough to keep Halimeda, but my 5G with 36W lighting keeps it fine and my 65 with MH keeps it fine. The only tank it didnt make it in was the bio cube.

The low lighting could be a possibility. Coincidentally, I just installed the Nanocustoms 3.24 lighting mod to bring the total wattage to 72. Maybe halimeda would have a better chance now.

BTW, I see that you have the Sapphire Nano skimmer. I recently purchased one as well but I just can't get it to skim. Any tips you could pass my way?

[Drock169]

Yeah the sapphire skimmer is kind of annoying to get it to skim, you need to watch the water level in the second chamber to make sure its just above the return. I set my pump to the middle setting, it seems to work the best for me, and the biggest problem I find with it is the airline, the majority of problems I have with it come from the airline. I was actually thinking of trying out the oceanic skimmer that is designed for the biocubes. hopefully something there helped you.

[Rippin]

Thanks for your experiences. I'll give it another shot by playing with the airline. I'm also thinking of modding the impellar so that it has a needle or mesh wheel, but it seems that this product is a waste of $100. It requires way too much fiddling to make it work properly. :sad: