Algae id!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheKid]

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/picture.php?albumid=359&pictureid=3146







can u guys pls identify caue i though it was macro algase but now im starting to doubt myself:neutral::neutral:

[christyf5]

Not sure which you're going for there. I assume the bad stuff growing on the glass? Dictyota. Yard it out now before it spreads, not much eats it.

[TheKid]

talking about the green algae on the rock

[TheKid]

Bump

[christyf5]

Turf algae, needs manual removal, its too tough for anything to eat. It should come off pretty easy as it usually grows from a centralized point, just grip firmly and twist.

[TheKid]

Will an urchin eat it? Is it a bad algae cause it's almost smothering one of my zoa frags, I also have some thick brown algae growing on some of my LR , will an urchin eat that too? I'm gonna to get and Rodi later in the year and probably a TLF reactor this weekend with some np pellets.

[christyf5]

Will an urchin eat it? Is it a bad algae cause it's almost smothering one of my zoa frags, I also have some thick brown algae growing on some of my LR , will an urchin eat that too? I'm gonna to get and Rodi later in the year and probably a TLF reactor this weekend with some np pellets.

I doubt it on both counts. You need to seriously look at reducing your nutrient load if you have that much/many types of algae.

[TheKid]

All of this has just really occured after putting t5's over my tank. And as for my bio load phosphate is undetectable and nitrate too low to read so idk?
The test kits are about a year old though.

[christyf5]

Yeah I dunno, phosphate test kits are funny IMO, I think to get a true reading you're supposed to heat the water to 80C or something. I remember Aqua-Digital mentioning it in one of his threads. I just automatically assume that if I have algae in excess that I have phosphate. Right now, I have algae in excess so I am running phosban in a reactor and its slowly disappearing. I am running the NP biopellets as well but they haven't really been doing anything to help on the algae front :neutral:

[TheKid]

I'm also scraping my glass every day cause my walls are all green this also started after t5s

[TheKid]

Is possible to run rowaphos and bio pellets together or how cause I'm supposed to test the new pellets for them but I need to get rid of the algae!

[chris88]

It has nothing to do with t5's. It’s simple biology. If there is an excess of nutrients and algae is present it will grow. test kits are useless because the algae is going to grow in relation to how much nitrates and phosphates are in the water, thus giving you zero or low readings anyways. Do all of the common sense things, feed less, more water changes, bigger skimmer, run a carbon source, etc. Nothing that would eat it would make a difference either, because it will just grow back unless you cut off the source. Try reducing your photoperiod and run a bit more blue light, but in the end you have to get rid of the extra nutrients or find a way to export them.

[Blowfish]

i would not worry about the algae your talking about as thats an easy fix like lowering nutrients, but the dictyota in your first is is the one i would be VVVERY fearful of, it thrives in low nutrient and high nutrient, nothing eats it and spreads like herpes. it is probably the worst macro out there

[trinac]

I had a problem algae when I was feeding flake & pellet food and up to 3 times per day. The algae loved this dissolvable food making my water very nutrient rich. Now, from recommendations I feed the frozen mysis shrimp with excess liquid strained through a coffee filter, and only two times per day, with a bit of pellets. The problem algae has decreased quite a bit. The critters keep everything else pretty clean.

But you may be already employing that technique hey!! If so, perhaps it will help someone else who reads this. :smilecol:

I also now have a deionized water system... but I just used it with a water change today so I can't comment on its effectiveness quite yet!

[TheKid]

I think it might be the fact I use tapwater

[TheKid]

I thought the dictoya was good so I've kept it. The saltwater guy at aquariums west told me I had a rare macro algae and to keep it. I could pull it off easy. What do u guys advise to clean up my tank, I'm thinking an urchin and snails