Claw Atticas
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 41
I hear all these people asking about how to get rid of nuisance algae, but is algae really that bad? I know as it grows, it gets rid of nitrates and phosphates in the water (which is a very good thing).
I originally had a big problem with my pure white sand and live rock turning brown with diatoms, then after a month of battling, that was fixed.
Afterward, my sand and live rock was turning crimson red and black with red cyano, so I cut back feedings, added Phospure to get rid of phosphates, put some shaving brush algae in the main tank, and chaetomorpha algae in the fuge, which didn't seem to be working, as the cyano kept growing (The nitrates dropped to 10ppm, and phophates to 0ppm) So to 'nuke' the cyano, I added Red Slime Remover, which has worked wonderfully!
Now that my sand is going back to white (It's a little brown now, but will look better after vacuuming), I've noticed my rocks are starting to turn green, but after the previous battles, green is a welcome sight! I'm also growing green algae on the back glass to make up a nice background, though I saw a beautiful tank at the LFS with pink coralline algae growing on the back, with some xenia corals attached which I would actually prefer over the green
Anyway, back to the question at hand: If the nitrate and phosphate removing and green rocks are the pros, are there any cons?
A picture of the growing green algae
And a picture of my shaving brush algae, along with my Coral Beauty and my Ocellaris Clownfish trying to sneak into the shot
I originally had a big problem with my pure white sand and live rock turning brown with diatoms, then after a month of battling, that was fixed.
Afterward, my sand and live rock was turning crimson red and black with red cyano, so I cut back feedings, added Phospure to get rid of phosphates, put some shaving brush algae in the main tank, and chaetomorpha algae in the fuge, which didn't seem to be working, as the cyano kept growing (The nitrates dropped to 10ppm, and phophates to 0ppm) So to 'nuke' the cyano, I added Red Slime Remover, which has worked wonderfully!
Now that my sand is going back to white (It's a little brown now, but will look better after vacuuming), I've noticed my rocks are starting to turn green, but after the previous battles, green is a welcome sight! I'm also growing green algae on the back glass to make up a nice background, though I saw a beautiful tank at the LFS with pink coralline algae growing on the back, with some xenia corals attached which I would actually prefer over the green
Anyway, back to the question at hand: If the nitrate and phosphate removing and green rocks are the pros, are there any cons?
A picture of the growing green algae
And a picture of my shaving brush algae, along with my Coral Beauty and my Ocellaris Clownfish trying to sneak into the shot