How could I get rid of Grape Macro Algae!

[arash53]

I am really ****ed of , I remove the rock and scraped it even washed it with fresh water but they came back again :( I really dont know what to do, I search in the forums but could not find anything useful , some people like this stuff and even fish store sell it! but I dont like them , they grow really fast and take over the hole tank.

http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww353/arash53/d86dea24.jpg

[gobytron]

control your nutrients first and algae second.

do you test for nitrate or phosphate?
what size is the tank and what skimmer do you run?

[arash53]

Everything is under control the water chemistry is perfect , this is my only issue and it is not related to water chemistry

[gobytron]

well, science might argue with you.
if you didn't have excess nutrients in your system, the algae would starve.

what test kit do you use for your phosphate?


Just saw this post of yours from a thread on the 11th...

My Tank is ReaSea MAX 34G, and I have only 5 small fish and corals.
My protein skimmer died 2 month ago but tank were running just fine without protein skimmer.

I would guess a lack of skimmer would be your most likely reason for this algae bloom.
If you're not running a skimmer, weekly 10% water changes should also do the trick.

[arash53]

I use API its something between 0 to .25

[AquaticFinatic]

I am really ****ed of , I remove the rock and scraped it even washed it with fresh water but they came back again :( I really dont know what to do, I search in the forums but could not find anything useful , some people like this stuff and even fish store sell it! but I dont like them , they grow really fast and take over the hole tank.

http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww353/arash53/d86dea24.jpg
You must of missed this one..........this is my question and responses. :biggrin:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=76792

[arash53]

I did not missed that, I did brush the rock, but the came back after a week

[MKLKT]

I use API its something between 0 to .25

You won't have readable measurements if the algae is utilizing the phosphates.

[BlueWorldAquatic]

I had a major problem with the same alae in our SPS tank at the store. We pilled it out daily, tried emerald crabs, and tangs & foxfaces. As long as the roots are still in place, it comes back very fast.

The solution I came up with is the following;
1 - pick off as much as you can
2 - Soak it in HOt (not boiling water) for about 3 minutes
3 - scrub the rock
4 - let the residue dry a bit, then rinse in salt water

we havent had the problem since.

Ask Bean, I had her scrubbing with me most of the day.

Ken - BWA

[arash53]

Thanks for the advise ,the problem is the rock is covered with blue mushrooms and I dont want to kill them. I poll them as mush as I can every couple days but these things are really fast grow, currently they are only on one rock.
my emerald carb dosent toch them and I cant have tang in 34gallon :( and I cant boil the rock and kill all the mushrooms thats way I really dont know what todo ,
My LSF told me they are beneficial for the tank and people buy these algae from them and they have some in their Show tank !

But I just want them out of my tank :(

[arash53]

I do a 20% water change every week ,it is not really alge bloom it just in one rock and its macro.

[reefwars]

Thanks for the advise ,the problem is the rock is covered with blue mushrooms and I dont want to kill them. I poll them as mush as I can every couple days but these things are really fast grow, currently they are only on one rock.
my emerald carb dosent toch them and I cant have tang in 34gallon :( and I cant boil the rock and kill all the mushrooms thats way I really dont know what todo ,
My LSF told me they are beneficial for the tank and people buy these algae from them and they have some in their Show tank !

But I just want them out of my tank :(


welcome to the reefing world lol (jking)so heres the thing we all have tough decisions and yours prob is to lose your mushrooms or get them scraped and put them somewhere else and then kill off the grape. another idea is to scrape what you can and epoxy the area so no further growth can happen if theres no nutrients then theres only one other source for food and if you block out the light then wha la ;)

[whatcaneyedo]

Remove the rock and place it in a dark sump or circulating bin of water until the algae dies. In my experience mushrooms can survive longer in the dark than caulerpa. But if you're worried you can always cut some of the mushrooms off of the rock to leave in the tank. That is how I rid most of my tank from that nuisance algae. The last little bit of it I plucked out with tweezers. FYI I don't keep any of that crap anymore. Not even in a refugium. Chaetomorphia and gracillaria are much less invasive.

[gobytron]

I had a similar problem with a small rock that had zoas on it.
I know it really made a big difference when I started running GFO.

You'll find it doesnt grow back nearly as fast once you do manually remove it.
however, i think you might be stuck with it as long as you want to keep the 'shrooms.

[arash53]

I found out nice they get thicker it is easier to remove them from rock

[Timbits]

Hi did you end up getting rid of it all? I have the same problem right now and its really ****ing! :twised:

[MarkoD]

if your tank is big enough, get a foxface.

[RESONANCE]

Yeah, grape caulerpa (what you have) really gives macro algae a bad reputation. I'm not sure which is worse - valona or grape caulerpa :P.

If you're intent on keeping the rock 'live', as MarkoD suggested, try a foxface. To add to that you can also try to find and buy a few lettuce nudibrachs. They're a type of sea slug that sucks the 'juice' from caulerpa and uses it for photosynthesize in their mantle. I've never used either fish or nudibrach so I can't say how effective either type is.

The sure fire way is to throw out the live rock that has the grape caulerpa growing on it. If you want to re-use the rock, let it dry out thoroughly in the sun for 3+ months before attempting to introduce it into your tank again.

You can always save your blue shrooms by chipping off as much of them from your rock and transfer them to unaffected rocks in your tank.

[FitoPharmer]

I have the marine atlas by Baensch. I do not think it is the newest version 1994. But it has a very interesting section on Caulerpa. I like caulerpa, so I have never really tried to get rid of it. I guess you could say I am a quite bias when it comes to macro algae. It has so many interesting biological functions in a reef. I have also read that no healthy reef is without caulerpa or a similar species. Never the less here are 2 suggestions from the book and one of my own.

1. Berthelina Choloris (DALL, 1918) was suggested to be a bivalve that specifically targets and eats caulerpa spices.

2. Since caulerpa is essentially one giant cell some species can bleed to death. The section states that the algae creates wound plugs when fish nip and eat the algae to stop it from bleeding to death. The section goes on to suggest applying pressure to the stolon (the tube that has the roots and leaves coming out) to create a wound plug before cutting the section. It might be possible if you spinkled some kalk powder on the caulerpa out of water it might burn holes in the algae without the force to make the wound plug up. Possibly causing the algae to bleed to death.

3. You might also try Hydrogen peroxide. The full strength stuff they sell at garden stores can be pretty lethal to certain kinds of algae.

[ScubaSteve]

Hi did you end up getting rid of it all? I have the same problem right now and its really ****ing! :twised:

Tim, I'd recommend testing your phosphates and before you do anything else and try to pinpoint what's fueling it's growth. I suspect that over feeding or detritus in the rocks are the contributors. I have an Elos Phosphate kit if you need to double check your numbers.

Even if you think it's completely gone, it might come back if there is still a nutrient source for it.