Caulerpa whipped

[axlroh]

Before I get whacked in the noggin with some caulerpa taxifolia, here's my very first post.

This question probably belongs in another forum category, so I'll move it if asked.

My Problem: half of my live rock is growing "wigs" of hair algae. I've scrubbed the rock with a toothbrush in a small bucket almost every other week but the "tufts" grow back. Seems the more often I scrub, the faster it grows back.

Once the hair algae gets a foothold in the many crevices of the live rock, it's very difficult to completely remove it. I've read in some posts that the "die-off" in the live rock itself is part of the source of phosphates. I've noticed that squirting the crevices or holes of some pieces of rock creates a small cloud of dust (looks like silt or mud). I've heard of the "dark tank" method of killing off the hair algae, but I have some pieces that are 30-40% coralline algae encrused, so..

I'll admit I tend to overfeed my fish, but am cutting down. I've tried feeding just once a day and found that difficult, so I feed twice a day and just cut way down on the frozen food.

I've been using Phosguard, which helps, slightly, but as I've now read phosphates should be 0.015 (?) or lower. I've just gotten a hold of some Phosban, now realize that I need the Phosban Reactor as well. My power compacts are 3-4 months old, but I have been wondering about the Sunpaq square pin (7000K and 440/420 actinic) bulbs.

Any suggestions, opinions on this problem are welcome. The hair algae "wigs" are driving me mad.

~axl

SG 1.023
Ammonia Undetectable
Nitrites Undetectable
Nitrates Undetectable
PH 8.2-8.4
Calcium 500ppm
Phosphate .10 or .20 (>0, < 0.25)
dKH 8-10

Tank
* 30G L, 45lbs of live rock, 1/2 in. of crushed coral in front half
* 2x65W Power Compact (Current Satellite), 8 hrs/day.
* 2 powerheads, Emperor 280 hang-on filter (biowheel removed)

Sump/Refugium
* 20G Sump/refugium (20G high std. glass tank) Mag Drive 7 return pump.
* Aqua-C Remora skimmer, w/Rio 1700 pump (old pump: Maxi-Jet 1200)
* Available space in sump is 80% full of Chaetomorpha, thick & bushy.
* 1.5 in. Caribsea Mineral Mud in refugium added a few weeks ago. Live rock rubble. Amphipods galore swimming in there.
* 1X65W Power compact 24x7 (tried 14 on/10 off in the past).

Inhabitants:
Royal Gramma
3 small Green Chromis
2 small Ocellaris Clowns
Six-Line Wrasse
Green Bubble Tip Anemone
small Feather Duster
5 Red-Legged Hermits
15 Dwarf Blue Legged Hermits
2 Zebra Turbo Snails

[tatuvaaj]

axlroh,

First, some comments about parameters that don't directly contribute to the algae problem but you might want to fix: the SG is vey low, for a reef tank you'll want full strength sea water with salinity around 35 ‰ (SG 1.025 - 1.026). The other parameter I would fix is the very high calcium, I would stop dosing calcium until it drops to around 400 ppm.

You have quite a lot of phosphate and I'll bet the source is the frozen food you feed. You'll want to rinse it in pure water before feeding to get the extra phosphate out. I for example stopped using Ocean Nutrition Formula One after I noticed that just one feeding raised the phosphate from undetectable to nice blue in my 210 gallon (!) tank IMHO modern flake foods are execellent foods and don't leach phoshphate like most frozen foods do.

The other part of the algae problem is lack of biological control. As you probably know, if you deny access to herbivores for a piece of natural reef you'll get a nice macro algae growth there also (this is also demonstrated by some damselfishes who grow their own patch of algae by agressively attacking any approaching herbivore). But there is really very little you can do about that in a small tank such as yours

One option is to change the Chaetomorpha to Caulerpa sp. Even though the nutrient removal capability isn't probably any better, the Caulerpa spp. have one nice feature: they release chemicals that suppress most other algae. Some authors discourage the use of Caulerpa spp. because of this but like Delbeek & Sprung say in their latest book, there are thousands of hobbyists growing lots of Caulerpa spp. in their tanks without any problems and so this opinion seems to be unfounded.

Short version: increase salinity, lower calcium, rinse frozen foods in tap water before feeding or change to flake foods and start growing Caulerpa (Or use this as an excuse to get larger tank and get a good selection of herbivores )

[aqujoe247]

I'm with Tatuvaaj, your herbs may not be able to get to the algea. How fast is it growing back, maybe to fast for the herbs to keep up with? How often are you doing water changes? Has any of your chaetomorpha died off?

[Gina]

Great advice Tatu!

[Woodstock]

Ditto to Tatu~ I would also encourage you to get a phosban reactor for the phosban. You can use the media passively in your sump but it works much better in the reactor.

You do not mention what water you're using. If it is tap, you're probably adding lots of algae fertilizer Using a ro/di unit for all water will help tremendously. Something else you can do is put a bag of phosban in your newly made salt water (which you should be mixing atleast 24hrs prior to use)... I do this just to ensure I don't add any phosphates into my tank!

Keep blowing the rocks off and make sure your skimmer is clean and working properly.

Make sure to clean all sponge filters daily or at least every other day.

HTH..

[Witfull]

also you may want to check your flow though out the tank. moderate to high flow will keep diterus suspended so the filters can get it out. also, wave makers are great to add cross flow which stirs things up even more.remember that all these fish come form reefs where the flow is much stronger than most realize.

[billyr98]

I wish I could have jumped in and gave an opinion on this, but follow all the advice from above, and you should be all set...

[billyr98]

Ok got it to load up.. Sweet Site!!

[Witfull]

Originally Posted by billyr98

Ok got it to load up.. Sweet Site!!

hhrruuh?,,,said in scooby doo voice

[axlroh]

Originally Posted by tatuvaaj

axlroh,
...

Short version: increase salinity, lower calcium, rinse frozen foods in tap water before feeding or change to flake foods and start growing Caulerpa (Or use this as an excuse to get larger tank and get a good selection of herbivores )

Thanks much to Tatuvaaj & others who replied. This is a great forum; somehow I gravitated to this site after reading alot of thoughtful and insightful posts.

After chewing on all the replies this morning I had a eureka/DOOOoooh moment. I feel like even more the newbie. I've been doing freshwater so many years I don't think about it, just pour in RO water and feed, fish and plants still thrive.

I've actually been trying to raise salinity for the last few weeks, and lower calcium as well. In fact I do use Ocean Nutrition Formula One pellets (aha), but the frozen food I soak in DI water for 1/2 hr, then drain before feeding. I had 7 large Turbo snails, and 3 Astrea, but am down to just 2 Turbos.

This 30G tank is where I had a small freshwater cichlid tank a year ago. That tank was overrun with multiple algae, mostly cyanobacteria. I finally figured out that the sunlight from the window the tank sits under (just 12" to side of the window) added to whatever fluorescent light created an algae problem that I could barely control. I had to cover that small freshwater tank on 3 sides and on top with cardboard or whatever to completely block the sunlight. Only then did I get a handle on all the algae.

I've spent countless hours and weeks researching hair algae fixes, water parameters, nuclear powered phosphate removers, macro algae faq, how-to, species. Now it's clear that I've overlooked the simplest and maybe the largest contributor to the problem, sunlight from the window, and since algae need light first and foremost (then phosphate/nitrogen). That combined with everything else.

Now it's time to DIY myself a tank hood and get the back and sides of this tank covered. I've unplugged one of the 65W power compact bulbs so I'm running with 1X65W 50/50 for now.

I'll dream of a much larger tank (moved away from the window) tonight. Meanwhile I have to go dig out my live rock toothbrush and a 2'x4' piece of plywood to go between the tank and the window.

Thanks again to those who replied.

~axl

[axlroh]

Thought I'd finish this thread out, as it's not quite done.

Just finished brushing about 1cm of hair algae "wigs" from my live rock (in a seperate tank). It grew back in an astonishing 10 days (from the stubble from the last brushing). EGADS.

Now that I have just one 65W PC (last 3 months was running 2X65W) and laid a 100mg bag of Phosban on the return pump in my sump/refugium, (Also have 3/4 cup of Phosguard in my tank's hang on filter) I'm planning for the next round of algae fighting.

I'm hesitating from getting the corals I really want because I don't want the hair algae growing on the corals or the host rock. I figure that algae would be more difficult to remove. I'm really itching to order some ricordea mushrooms, sun polyps, and zoos. (Herbivores will definitely get added to that order).

Items I've done recently. Please comment or make suggestions.

* Concerning detritus, I added a PureFlo pad in my hang-on filter. This 50 micron pad (looks and feels like a felt pad) "browns" and fills up in a matter of days, since it seems I have too much very fine detritus floating around. I've noticed that Poly-Filter is really popular, and there are alot of new phosphate pads out there, but really want a longer term solution (Phosban).

* Tried adding another Maxi-Jet 1200 in the 30G, but that almost yanked my feather duster (and my mini-dusters) out of his tube. I'll have to find another way to add some more water flow. Have looked into wavemakers, but this is a small tank, so maybe the SCWD.

* Added more salt mix yesterday & today (I do mix with RO/DI water and wait 24hrs) to replace evaporated water to get my spec. gravity up to 1.025.

* Am contemplating ordering a Phosban Reactor, but will wait and see about how the Phosban bag does sitting on my return pump. I'm a bit disappointed that you have to get the reactor to really make it effective.

* Am patiently waiting for the small patch of mixed Caulerpa to take hold in my refugium. Chaetomorpha is so thick and busy in there I had to throw some out. Mixing macro algae is not easy. Would like to move to mixed Caulerpa, but then again I'll probably encounter the numberous pitfalls of it (experienced some already) and think again.

* Anyone suggest another brand(s) of dry food that has less phosphate besides Ocean Nutrition as Tatuvaaj pointed out? I have Formula One Pellets and Brine Shrimp Plus, both of which I feed every other day. Ack. I suppose I should throw out this DT Phytoplankton since it says it expires Aug 1.

A mini-star (?) about 2cm long with 2 missing legs (?) has just crawled up the front of the tank since I started writing. H'mmm. Interesting.

Again, thanks for any comments/suggestions.

a_x_l

[Woodstock]

You're making the right moves! Keep up with the phosphate media, cleaning the filter socks every few days, and keeping the nitrAtes down to 10ppm or less via water changes. THe phosphate media will work "passively" in your sump (I used it in this manner for a long time) but obviously will work better with higher flow.

The mini-star you saw was a miniature brittle star. They are good janitors for the tank and stay really small. They multiply by dropping a leg (or two) which will grow into another starfish. Here is a pic of one that was crawling up the front of my glass one day. It was only 3/4" from tip to tip...