Red Hair Algae

[Kelly]

I have an outbreak of red hair algae. I just did a 15% water change with RO
water. Could this be why? Or is it because I only have:

2 turbo snails
1 sandsifter
2 hermits
1 emerald crab

As my clean up crew?

30 gallon tank
0 ammonia
8.6 ph
0 nitrates
1 percula
1 lawnmower goby
1 mandarin
1 blue damsel
1 urchin
1 coral band
1 peppermint(that I haven't seen in over a week)

[Marc Levenson]

Hi Kelly,

It could be a combination of things. Overfeeding, underskimming, excess
phosphates.....

Your sand sifting starfish is eating the beneficial bacteria and microfauna your
sand bed needs to be a healthy deep sand bed. Plus you've got a mandarin that
eats those same bugs. Once your sand bed is dead / lifeless, you'll have quite
a bit of nuisance algae growing on your substrate and rockwork.

If you've got a refugium with macro algae connected to your system, it will help
prevent microalgae growth.

Marc


Kelly wrote:

> I have an outbreak of red hair algae. I just did a 15% water change with RO
> water. Could this be why? Or is it because I only have:
>
> 2 turbo snails
> 1 sandsifter
> 2 hermits
> 1 emerald crab
>
> As my clean up crew?
>
> 30 gallon tank
> 0 ammonia
> 8.6 ph
> 0 nitrates
> 1 percula
> 1 lawnmower goby
> 1 mandarin
> 1 blue damsel
> 1 urchin
> 1 coral band
> 1 peppermint(that I haven't seen in over a week)

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Kelly]

So the sand sifting snail is bad? I thought I needed him to mix it up.
"Marc Levenson" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Kelly,
>
> It could be a combination of things. Overfeeding, underskimming, excess
> phosphates.....
>
> Your sand sifting starfish is eating the beneficial bacteria and
microfauna your
> sand bed needs to be a healthy deep sand bed. Plus you've got a mandarin
that
> eats those same bugs. Once your sand bed is dead / lifeless, you'll have
quite
> a bit of nuisance algae growing on your substrate and rockwork.
>
> If you've got a refugium with macro algae connected to your system, it
will help
> prevent microalgae growth.
>
> Marc
>
>
> Kelly wrote:
>
> > I have an outbreak of red hair algae. I just did a 15% water change with
RO
> > water. Could this be why? Or is it because I only have:
> >
> > 2 turbo snails
> > 1 sandsifter
> > 2 hermits
> > 1 emerald crab
> >
> > As my clean up crew?
> >
> > 30 gallon tank
> > 0 ammonia
> > 8.6 ph
> > 0 nitrates
> > 1 percula
> > 1 lawnmower goby
> > 1 mandarin
> > 1 blue damsel
> > 1 urchin
> > 1 coral band
> > 1 peppermint(that I haven't seen in over a week)
>
> --
> Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
> Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
> Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com
>
>

[Ct Midnite]

I don't think it sand sifting that hurts as much as it is what the
sand sifters are eating. My cucumbers eat sand all the time but it
just surface and I've never heard anyone bad mouth the cuc's. Don't
know about the snails.

I had two sand sifting stars, one in each of my display tanks. I took
both back to my lfs for no credit.

I was amazing the difference between my two display tank's and my
refugium's sands. They were literally lifeless compared to the
refugium.

I didn't believe at first, but now I do.

Ct Midnite


On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 06:45:55 GMT, "Kelly" > wrote:

>So the sand sifting snail is bad? I thought I needed him to mix it up.
>"Marc Levenson" > wrote in message
...
>> Hi Kelly,
>>
>> It could be a combination of things. Overfeeding, underskimming, excess
>> phosphates.....
>>
>> Your sand sifting starfish is eating the beneficial bacteria and
>microfauna your
>> sand bed needs to be a healthy deep sand bed. Plus you've got a mandarin
>that
>> eats those same bugs. Once your sand bed is dead / lifeless, you'll have
>quite
>> a bit of nuisance algae growing on your substrate and rockwork.
>>
>> If you've got a refugium with macro algae connected to your system, it
>will help
>> prevent microalgae growth.
>>
>> Marc
>>
>>
>> Kelly wrote:
>>
>> > I have an outbreak of red hair algae. I just did a 15% water change with
>RO
>> > water. Could this be why? Or is it because I only have:
>> >
>> > 2 turbo snails
>> > 1 sandsifter
>> > 2 hermits
>> > 1 emerald crab
>> >
>> > As my clean up crew?
>> >
>> > 30 gallon tank
>> > 0 ammonia
>> > 8.6 ph
>> > 0 nitrates
>> > 1 percula
>> > 1 lawnmower goby
>> > 1 mandarin
>> > 1 blue damsel
>> > 1 urchin
>> > 1 coral band
>> > 1 peppermint(that I haven't seen in over a week)
>>
>> --
>> Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
>> Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
>> Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com
>>
>>
>


http://www.geocities.com/ctmidnite53/

[Marc Levenson]

A lot of people believe that. I was at the LFS a couple of months ago, and the
employee had bagged a number of items for a friend of mine. I looked at each
creature, and then asked who was buying a SSS and a Mandarin at the same time.
About 2 minutes later my friend walked up and I asked him why he wanted a SSS
and he thought as you did.

However, when I pointed out that this was going into a 150g reef tank, the
employee immediately agreed that it did not belong in a reef tank. Another guy
in my club turned his entire DSB lifeless with a SSS and had a major algae
outbreak, and that was on a 120g.

If you want sand sifting, consider (tigertail) cucumbers, nassarius snails,
and/or fighting conchs.

SSS are good for FO tanks, as long as those fish don't eat starfish.

Marc


Kelly wrote:

> So the sand sifting snail is bad? I thought I needed him to mix it up.
> "Marc Levenson" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi Kelly,
> >
> > It could be a combination of things. Overfeeding, underskimming, excess
> > phosphates.....
> >
> > Your sand sifting starfish is eating the beneficial bacteria and
> microfauna your
> > sand bed needs to be a healthy deep sand bed. Plus you've got a mandarin
> that
> > eats those same bugs. Once your sand bed is dead / lifeless, you'll have
> quite
> > a bit of nuisance algae growing on your substrate and rockwork.
> >
> > If you've got a refugium with macro algae connected to your system, it
> will help
> > prevent microalgae growth.
> >
> > Marc
> >
> >
> > Kelly wrote:
> >
> > > I have an outbreak of red hair algae. I just did a 15% water change with
> RO
> > > water. Could this be why? Or is it because I only have:
> > >
> > > 2 turbo snails
> > > 1 sandsifter
> > > 2 hermits
> > > 1 emerald crab
> > >
> > > As my clean up crew?
> > >
> > > 30 gallon tank
> > > 0 ammonia
> > > 8.6 ph
> > > 0 nitrates
> > > 1 percula
> > > 1 lawnmower goby
> > > 1 mandarin
> > > 1 blue damsel
> > > 1 urchin
> > > 1 coral band
> > > 1 peppermint(that I haven't seen in over a week)
> >
> > --
> > Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
> > Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
> > Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com
> >
> >

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[John]

I have a 100 gallon with a shallow sandbed and employ a SSS to mix up this
1" bed. IMO it is ok to use a SSS in a shallow sandbed. It only helps to
turn the bed over.

John