HELP! Trumpet Coral Growth

bretr30

New Member
Hello all,

I have had this trumpet coral for about 8 months now and notice 2 little green algae bubbles attached to it once I got home. I was able to get rid of those (so I thought), but it’s now been have some green seaweed looking stuff growing on it. I’ve tried cutting it off countless times and of course it just keeps growing back. I wasn’t too worried about it because my coral was still happy and growing, but as of lately it’s been struggling.
My question is: Could that seaweed stuff growing on it be harmful at all to the coral?
Does anyone know how I can completely eliminate these little buggers from growing back on it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks guys!
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
Yes, algae growing on corals can harmful to them. Controlling them is more or less a subject of general algae control. I posted this before, but it's worth repeating -

DaveK's Standard Lecture #2 - Algae Control

Algae control comes down to controlling nitrates and phosphates. If you have a problem with algae it is because these two nutrients are out of control. Do not think that just because your test kits read zero or low values that you do not have a problem. In many cases the algae is removing the nutrients and growing. This is why there is a problem.

Here are possible sources of nitrates and phosphates -

Feeding, especially flake food and not rinsing frozen foods before feeding.
Using tap water to mix salt. Always use RO/DI water for this.
"Dirt traps" and "nitrate factories" in the system.
Low quality carbon can leach nutrients.
Low quality salt can sometimes add nutrients. This is unusual today.
Livestock load on the system

Here are possible ways to remove nitrates and phosphates -

Water changes. Change 1/2 the water and you reduce the nutrients by 1/2.
Skimming. Remove the waste products before the biological filtration need to break then down.
Nitrate and phosphate removal products.
Deep sand beds.
Refugiums.
Algae Scrubbers.

Each of these has advantages and disadvantages. Most people that control algae will use many of the above methods.

There are also other items that can effect algae growth rates.

Good clean up crew.
Other livestock that eats algae.
Low general water quality, especially when the readings are off.
Lighting, sometimes you can reduce it, especially in FO or FOWLR systems.
Old light bulbs. Colors change as they age and this can be a factor.
Water flow. More flow will often help keep algae down.
Manual removal. Very important, especially when there is a big problem.
 
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