This Means War!!!!!!!

[Gina McReeferson]

Alright, here I go... A few of you are aware of my problem but for those that aren't, it is the same as that experienced by Troubleman and described in his thread "My Tank Rehab". Here is the catch, I have a 240 gallon tank with over a thousand dollars of live rock in it and simply can't imagine tossing all that money in the trash. As such, I have decided to declare my algae problem a clear and imminent threat to the security of my bank account and am preparing to use any means neccessary to restore peace and justice to the world! It is my hope to gather to my side a coalition of sympathetic reefers and with our combined knowledge put to rest this evil once and for all!

I have a couple of ideas..... ok,ok, I have one idea. I am considering moving all light loving and desirable organisms to alternate habitations and plunging my display tank into nuclear winter!!!!!(I am going to make it dark). I will leave all equipment running of course, but will totally seal off any light from reaching the inside of my tank thereby robbing the offending organism of it's life blood and killing it.

What do you think?

Any other Ideas?

Possible backfires with this scenario?

Any at all?

 

[dz6t]

First of all, are you sure that is an algae.

 

[~Flighty~]

Make sure you find out what methods he tried to eradicate it first. I had the same algae and I believe my rabbit fish was the one who eradicated it in my tank. I would be happy to try feeding him some if you can give me a sample.

 

[dz6t]

what is your phosphate level?

 

[naturebatslast]

I am considering moving all light loving and desirable organisms to alternate habitations and plunging my display tank into nuclear winter!!!!!(I am going to make it dark).

What! No Fallout?!

 

[OceanGuy]

Algae

I had a big algae problem in the first few months of my 220 gallon tank. I put in 5 Sally Lightfoot Crabs (they're molted several times and are huge now) and two scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp and several snails and small crabs.
My algae problem is gone. You will also need to watch phosphates. If you are using Ro/Di water they should be low, but can really increase with tap water top offs.

Good luck in getting it under control

Tom
OceanGuy

Alright, here I go... A few of you are aware of my problem but for those that aren't, it is the same as that experienced by Troubleman and described in his thread "My Tank Rehab". Here is the catch, I have a 240 gallon tank with over a thousand dollars of live rock in it and simply can't imagine tossing all that money in the trash. As such, I have decided to declare my algae problem a clear and imminent threat to the security of my bank account and am preparing to use any means neccessary to restore peace and justice to the world! It is my hope to gather to my side a coalition of sympathetic reefers and with our combined knowledge put to rest this evil once and for all!

I have a couple of ideas..... ok,ok, I have one idea. I am considering moving all light loving and desirable organisms to alternate habitations and plunging my display tank into nuclear winter!!!!!(I am going to make it dark). I will leave all equipment running of course, but will totally seal off any light from reaching the inside of my tank thereby robbing the offending organism of it's life blood and killing it.

What do you think?

Any other Ideas?

Possible backfires with this scenario?

Any at all?

 

[sw300galma]

It definately works...I did that to my tank..

Here was my powerhead..

2 weeks later it emerged a new tank.

 

[Gina McReeferson]

algae in question

Just so everyone is on the same page, this is a picture of the algae in question.

 

[sw300galma]

Wow that actually looks cool lol!

I had nasty hair algae.

I put my rocks in a rubbermaid container with a powerhead for approx 2weeks.

 

[~Flighty~]

Pick me

 

[NateHanson]

I don't know what that algae is. Not something I've seen before.

FWIW, I had one rock completely covered with hair algae, and I covered it with a black trashbag for 2 weeks. It had little effect. I think ultimately the tank water was sufficiently scrubbed, and I blasted enough detritus out of my rocks' nooks and crannies, that the algae just died off one day. I had no problems after that.

I also had a ton of scarlet crabs and a handful of emerald crabs and turbo snails. They might have helped some, but the disappearance was pretty sudden, so I tend to think it was a nutrient control thing.

 

[Aquadiva]

Just so everyone's on the same page.....

OK...trying to be of some help here...

Pulled out Julian Sprungs book "Algea, A Problem Solver Guide."

certainly looks like the stuff....It says...

Dictyota

brown, yellow, green or blue cushions composed of flatted Y shaped branches.

Similar: Dictyopteris, which has a midrib.

Features: Not palatable to most herbivorous fishes. Fast growing. this alga blooms in aquariums under good water quality conditions, and it seems to have a positive effect on water quality, though it may shade or smother corals.

Controls: removal by hand...herbivores

Herbivores: Diadema Urchin, Mithraculus crab.

Well....not very encouraging....

My only other suggestion would be the method I used to remove early hair algae and the like.

I took a toothbrush and drilled a whole through the middle the same diameter as a piece of air hose tubing. Stick the hose through the toothbrush until it is about halfway through the bristles. Start a siphon and slowing "brush" the algae. The algae gets sucked through the hose and into a bucket. Works really well for hair algae. I don't know about this stuff, though.

Hope it helps.

 

[reefphreak]

This is not your everyday run of the mill too many phosphates or time for a cleanup crew algae.... I know from watching Troublemans tank evolve and it was nothing pretty... Very tough situation.... I still feel bad for Bob... I wish you luck....

 

[Swim74]

small wire brush, used for cleaning car battery terminals

I've used a small wire brush, about the size of a very very large toothbrush.
you want a new one, preferably NOT used on a car battery terminal.

hey for that matter, with the amount of rock it sounds like you have you could probably move up to a backyard grill cleaner brush!

seriously though that wont get to the root of your problem, but it works VERY good for scrubbing rocks clean. just dont poke your fingers.

 

[Aquadiva]

Make sure you find out what methods he tried to eradicate it first. I had the same algae and I believe my rabbit fish was the one who eradicated it in my tank. I would be happy to try feeding him some if you can give me a sample.

I would definitely take Cindy up on this offer, first. If the rabbit fish will eat this stuff, I would say this is the least drastic solution.

BTW....how "infested" is the tank? That pic looks rather nasty, but is it isolated to a few rocks, or is it all over everything, like troubleman's?

 

[fanaglethebagle]

Do you have A LMB?

 

[~Flighty~]

My LMB did nothing to this algae, but here is an article and a quote from it that prompted me to try the rabbit



http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/hcs3/index.php
good article about them {Edit:Fixed Link}

Quote:
Most hobbyists tend to look first towards surgeonfish for a larger herbivore, and in doing so, completely miss the best fish herbivore the hobby has to offer. Usually hobbyists will not 'discover' Rabbitfish until after many years of enamored by surgeonfish. Once discovered, however, they quickly learn that rabbitfish are a hardier choice, display more personality, and will vigorously consume certain algae that surgeonfish would not even consider. The end result is usually a hobbyist wondering why they didn't look into Rabbitfish sooner....


__________________

 

[Troubleman]

I guess I am the guru of the 'dictyot dichotoma' algae.....lucky me. I will do my best to educate everyone about this algae, may take a few posts. Here's a few things:

1. One of the major contibutors to my major outbreak was a sally lightfoot crab, while scavaging for food, it would pick at the algae, sending pieces of it floating around the tank. These pieces would settle elsewhere and form new patches. Do not put any in your tank.....they're not reef safe anyway.

2. This algae had to of come in on a piece of rock, It did not grow in other parts of my system that were protected by any type of mechanical filtration, I.E. sponge filters, filter socks, etc.

3. I experimented with this algae in one of my tanks that has no light access unless the room light was on, which are standard flourescent bulbs. this was in my basement so they were never on for more than 15 min. at time, say 3-4 times a week. Now when I put a rock covered in the algae in a tank plumbed to the same system without any light for one month, it was still alive, the good news it really hadn't grown. but it was still alive.

4. On RC they mention trying specifically a "dolebella sea hare".......didn't eradicate the problem for most, just kept it at bay.....the sea hare I tried nibble at it and could not come close to consuming it all.

5. There are a number of fish that eat it.....they just can't get in to the tight nooks and crannies to get every last bit......also, I could not try most of these fish in my 90g....they get too big, too fast. Some smaller species eat it, but it's a crap shoot.....kinda like getting a reef safe angel....you don't know till you buy one.....

6. I see someone mentioned scrubbing with toothbrushes and wire brushes.....doesn't work. All it does is get rid of the major amount and leaves behind small pieces hidden in crevices and holes you cannot get too. Trust me, every 2-3 weeks i would scrub and siphon it out.....only to see it come right back.......At one point I took each rock out, scrubbed it in a seperate container, triple rinsed and put back.......Did not work.

7.The only issue I had, which didn't start till well after the problem, is my tds was up to 12 ppm before I finally changed my filters. Like I said tho, I had this algae when I was running 0 tds, I have never tested other than 0 for phospates ( tried 2 diff. test kits), my trates, trites, and ammonia are all undetectable. Calcium ~420, mag ~1350. I only have 6 fish in a 130 g total volume system.....I have a fuge with caulurpa and chaeto, that grows well.

Hope this clears some stuff up, feel free to ask more questions.

bob

 

[skyedolphan]

That algea was one of the end factors for tearing down my brothers tank cant rememeber what it is some type of halemeda but it is a major PITA once it gets established,. most of his rock we thru outside and eventually will start ot recycle it I thru a few pieces in my sump which had very little light over it at the time I still will occasionally pick a rock up and find a tiny piece of it on it . the problem that I found is that it will get a foothold and it is almost impossible to erridicate I know none of the tangs I have or had have will touch it even starving they wont go near it .... I would def give a rock to Cindy and see if the rabbitfish enjoys it seems to be a much more natural elimination than throwing the tank into the dark which could have other side effects just my 2 cents

 

[stevenp]

I have that same crap! I am going to nuke my tank but it's no big deal since it's just a nano and the new tank is set up. That stuff is nasty, I pull out fist fulls every two weeks!!!

Look for my post about half way down, I think it's dictyota menstraulis, and I never got a whole lot of help on it from anyone here, reefs.org, or reef central...
http://bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=21245&highlight=algae

Steve