Red Algae help?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
S

smnw10

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
82
I've had this algae for about 9 months now even with great maintenance, water parameters, scrubbing rocks, and on and on and on...I can't get rid of it. If I wouldn't kill my corals I'd simply keep the lights out for 2 weeks and see how it likes that!

I asked my LFS as I saw some of the stuff in one of their tanks and they said they don't know what it is or where it came from but they can't get rid of it. They said it doesn't have anythign to do with water changes or water quality issues. I'm certain I picked it up from them when I bought some live rock a few weeks before I noticed it in my tank. They said they can't find anything that eats it and everything they've tried doesn't work to get rid of it and said to just take the rocks out when I do a water change and scrub the rocks in the bucket to slow it down.

This is not cyano! If you have had this stuff before what worked? I've not seen a picture of this algae anywhere and definitely not in the common algae references. This is my tank at work and I'm really close to pulling all the rock out, letting it dry for a few weeks, and start over but I'd hate to lose all my corals too.

redalgae.jpg
 
Looks like a red hair algae. Can't help ya on that one.

And your phosphate readings are... ? Just for the heck of discussion. Might as well post all your water readings anyway. Either we can say, "it still thrives in this???" Either way, I think it will help our understanding of something. :)
 
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:10-20
PH: 8.2
Specific Gravity: 1.024
Calcium: need to retest...it's been low for a while...mid 300s.
Phosphate: actually went to LFS to buy a test and asked about the problem then left without a test (d'oh!). They said phosphate bags?, running charcoal, and lots of water changes slowed it but didn't get rid of it.

No refugium on this setup. Running a skimmer. 2 Korala power heads...good flow. New bulbs in my light. Snails and hermits seem to just ignore it.
 
I'm suspecting phospates. Also, what kinda lights (bulbs need a changin'?)and how long daily?

What kinda food and what is your water source BTW? tap?
 
The bulbs are 3 months old. Power Compact, 4 65 watt bulbs. They are on for 8 hours a day. I'll gladly put them on a shorter cycle if it will help but not harm the corals I have?

I'm using RO/DI water and always have.

If it's phosphates what's the plan to get those down?
 
Check your filters on the RO/DI to ensure you are getting phosphate free water. Test if too - when yo remember to bring the test kit home, of course. :) I'm still asking what do you feed. You can get plenty of phosphates from certain food too. Like flake food too much. Or frozen cubes of shrimp without rinsing the phospate laden water first.
 
Oh yea food. Frozen mysis cubes. For a while I was letting them defrost on a paper towel to soak up water as it de-froze but after a month of doing that it seemed to have no impact so I quit doing it.

I have a TDS meter on my unit and it's around 5ppm before the DI and 0ppm after the DI. I was told just to monitor that and as long as the water coming out of the DI was 0ppm I was fine. The filters don't look dirty, I do the "flush" or rinse before and after each use.

EDIT: and I've only been feeding a half a cube a day. 1 Yellow tang (who also gets dry nori) and 2 striped eel catfish. CUC has 3 stars, snails, hermits
 
thincat - thanks for the article. Over the past 9 months the best suitor for what I have was red turf algae but it didn't fit the description of being able to pull it off in clumps...and this stuff seems a more vibrant color than any photos I've seen...it may be though.

Regardless, I think I'll pickup some Mexican Turbo Snails and see how the next couple weeks go. Right now I've got a bunch of dwarf ceriths, nessarius, a couple blue legs and a dozen scarlet hermits and none of them will touch the stuff.

ilostnemo - if you like the look you're more than welcome to as many free samples as you want! :)
 
It looks like red turf algae to me too, but much worse than I ever had it. You may need to "cook" your rock to get rid of it. No that does not mean pre-heat the oven to 350. It means starving the rock of nutrients. It works like (from a thread on another forum):

The first step to this is commitment.
You have to be willing to remove your rock from the tank.
It doesn't have to be all at once, but I feel if you are going to do this do it all. In stages if that is easier but make sure that all of it gets done.

The new environment you are creating for your rock is to take it from an algal driven to a bacterial driven system.
In order to this, the rock needs to be in total darkness to retard and eventually kill the algae's on the rock and to give the bacteria time to do the job.

So basically you need tubs to hold the rock.

Equipment needed.
1. Dedication.
2. Tubs to cook rock in. And an equal amount of tubs to hold the rock during waterchanges.
3. A few powerheads.
4. Plenty of buckets.
5. A smug feeling of superiority that you are taking it to "the next level."
biggrin.gif


Here are the steps.

1. Get into your head and accept the fact you will be making lots of salt water if you aren't lucky enough to have access to filtered NSW.
2. Explain to significant other what is going on so they don't flip out. This process can take up to 2 months. Prepare them in advance so he/she can mark it on the calendar and that they won't nag about it until that date arrives.
wink.gif

3. Setup a tub(s) where the rock is to be cooked. Garages are great for this (may need a heater for the tub.
4. Make up enough water to fill tub(s) about halfway and around 5-7 buckets about 60% full.
5. Remove all the rock you want to cook at this stage. (The rock can be removed piece by piece until you are done.) I suggest shutting off the circulation beforehand to minimize dust storms.
6. Take the first piece of rock and dunk it, swish it, very, very well in the first bucket. Then do it again in the 2nd bucket, then the third.
7. Place rock in the tub.
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 to every piece of rock you want to cook at this time. The reason I suggested 5-7 buckets of water will be evident quickly...as the water quickly turnsq brown.
wink.gif

9. Place powerhead(s) in the tub and plug in. Position at least one powerhead so that it agitates the surface of the water pretty well. This is to keep the water oxygenated. You can use an air pump for additional oxygenation if you wish.
9. Cover the tub. Remember, we want total darkness.
10. Empty out buckets, restart circulation on main tank.
11. Wait.
12. During the first couple of weeks it is recommended to do a swishing and dunking of the rocks twice a week.
What this entails is to make up enough water to fill up those buckets and the tub the rock is in.
First, lay out your empty tub(s) and fill buckets the same as before.
Then, uncover tub with the rock in it. Take a rock and swish it in the tub it's in to knock any easy to get off junk.
Then, swish it thru the 3 buckets again, and place in the empty tub..
Repeat for all your rocks.
Then empty the tub that all the rocks were cooking in, take it outside and rinse it out with a hose.
Place tub back where it was, fill with new saltwater, add rocks and powerheads, and cover.
Wait again until the next water change.
You will be utterly amazed at how much sand, silt, detrius is at the bottom of the tub and every bucket. It is amazing.

Some FAQ's.
When re-introducing the rock to my tank, a month or two from now, should I do that in parts to help minimize any cycling effect(s)...if there are any?
I never have. Really after a very short while, the ammonia cycle has been extablished. That's not what you're worry about though, it's the stored phosphates and that's you have to wait out.
When they are producing very little detritus - you'll know - then I would use them all at once.

Would running Carbon filtration and/or a PO4 reducing media help/hurry/hinder the process?
I wouldn't fool with it. You don't want the detritus to sit there long enough to rot, release water soluble P again. You want to take it out while it's still locked up in that bacterial detritus.


I hope this helps you out.
It really is a "miracle" and a low cost one at that.
The only monies spent are for salt and electricity for the powerheads which are nominal. Especially to rid yourself of Bryopsis.
Time and effort is all it akes. And really not that much effort.
I would say that 85% of my exposed rock had Bryopsis (hair algae) covering it.
There isn't a single visible strand on andy rocks in the tubs now.
Remember, the key is patience. Let this process run its course.

And a few last minute tidbits I remembered.
Your coralline will die back, receed etc.
My thoughts on this are GREAT!
Now my rock is more porous for additional pods, mysids, worms etc.
Coralline will grow back.
Throughout this process the sponges, and pods on my rock have not died off.
Everytime I do a waterchange they are there and plentiful.

Hope that helps
 
Great info!
I could do this with rock that has no coral on it and hope the Turbos take care of what's on those rocks?

Here's my plan now:
1) I'll get my cannister hooked back up and let it run for a week.
2) Get some Mexican Turbos ASAP
3) Cook the rocks that have no coral on them
4) delicately remove algae on rocks with coral twice a week

I will update this thread when I have more information, cooking the rocks with some turbos on the coral rocks sounds like the way to go.
 
Just posting an update on the situation:
I bought 5 Mexican Turbo Snails last week so they've had 5 days of eating. On Friday I opted to use a toothbrush, take the rocks out and scrub the red algae off of them when I did my PWC. WOW was that water a mess after that. The rocks, powerheads, and all look much better of course. There is no noticable difference from the Mexican Turbos though.

Instead of cooking the rocks because of the amount of corals I have that have this stuff on their rocks...I'm going to remove and scrub all rocks with red algae when I do my PWCs for the next 2 weeks. That should knock it down more than enough that if the Mexican Turbos do actually eat the stuff, they won't have a bountiful supply to pick from and their affects may be noticed more on the smaller supply.

Will post more observations next week.
 
Have you seen the turbos leave a clean trail through it?
Diadema urchins are said to eat it too, as well as some fish. My Foxface and tangs never touched the stuff.
 
Haven't seen a "clean trail" behind them. Might be a placebo effect but the area they hang out around seems cleaner. One got on a powerhead which is now clean other than some coraline but the powerhead had a mixture of different algaes on it. The article Thincat posted said it was around 2 weeks before they could tell a difference...we'll see.

I did read that some urchins will eat it too. I'll try those in a couple weeks if this doesn't work. Another option that I was told to try is Algaefix by API. Supposedly completely fish, invert and coral safe. Was told it works great on Green Hair Algae but no one seemed to know if it would work on RHA.

Regarding the cleaning/scrubbing. I started my PWC filling up a 5 gallon bucket then took out the rocks one by one from the tank and scrubbed them in the bucket...not all the rocks, just the ones that weren't on the bottom in the sand. After that I siphoned out another 5 gallons to suck up more of the debris that was created by moving things around. That first bucket was so red and murky it looked more like the Mississippi river dyed red. I'll do this again this week and next and if by then the snails aren't getting it on the run, it may be time to look for that urchin or try the Algaefix.
 
"Algaefix by API",,,I believe that this product is for "Freshwater" use only. and even that with caution. IMO
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
String Algae help
Replies
0
Views
571
pberm1962
P
L
Purple algae purgatory
Replies
1
Views
221
Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum
J
White algae or something else?
Replies
9
Views
580
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
B
brown algae annoying
Replies
3
Views
569
bulatz
B
F
Algae Problems
Replies
3
Views
398
Andy Sager
Andy Sager

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom