Newbie question about green algae

OK....so I've spent the last 10 days fighting off the red slime....as a
newly set up tank just over 8 weeks old I was expecting this...it is a
15 gall nano reef....but to my dismay I discover green hair algae has
covered up my star corals....I've been blasting the stuff away with a
syringe but see not great recovery in what was my centre piece....

The coral itself is still attached to the rock...but no sign of any
polyps coming out....is it dead or do I need to be more
patient???....another piece of gold star polyps that went under almost
as soon as I put it in is now showing signs of life (not great but at
least some polyps are out and about)....

Is there anything else I can do other than keep the rock algae free? The
rock in question also houses a mantis shrimp and I want fish....should I
just sacrifice the whole thing? And get rid of the pest at the same time????

Very confusued newbie

Oh and these are the parameters pre water change...need to take them again:-

Sg 1.026
pH 8.4
Alk - higher end of normal on red sea kit
Calcium 450pm
NO3 High 12.5 Low 2.5
PO4 - 0.1

But I have now done a water change so need to test NO3 and PO4
again...the water matched all other existing parameters.....

I'm not really too keen on losing the corals...but if I have already
(it's been around a week) I need to know, especially with the colony
that has the mantis shrimp....

TIA
Gill

Gill

Star polyps are tough. If there is something there, then
it's still alive. There might also be something else wrong
causing the polyps to not bloom out, like water quality,
or not enough light. Do pull the hair algae out of the
star polyps so that they can bloom out.

For the mantis shrimp, make an extra salty solution of
water, and dip the rock in that, and the mantis will shoot
out, then quickly put the rock back in the tank, and swish
it around to get the normal salt water in it.

Instead of a syringe, use a turkey baster, or (my
favorite)a ear wax removal bulb.


Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Gill Passman wrote on 11/6/2006 6:20 PM:
OK....so I've spent the last 10 days fighting off the red slime....as a
newly set up tank just over 8 weeks old I was expecting this...it is a
15 gall nano reef....but to my dismay I discover green hair algae has
covered up my star corals....I've been blasting the stuff away with a
syringe but see not great recovery in what was my centre piece....

The coral itself is still attached to the rock...but no sign of any
polyps coming out....is it dead or do I need to be more
patient???....another piece of gold star polyps that went under almost
as soon as I put it in is now showing signs of life (not great but at
least some polyps are out and about)....

Is there anything else I can do other than keep the rock algae free? The
rock in question also houses a mantis shrimp and I want fish....should I
just sacrifice the whole thing? And get rid of the pest at the same
time????

Very confusued newbie

Oh and these are the parameters pre water change...need to take them
again:-

Sg 1.026
pH 8.4
Alk - higher end of normal on red sea kit
Calcium 450pm
NO3 High 12.5 Low 2.5
PO4 - 0.1

But I have now done a water change so need to test NO3 and PO4
again...the water matched all other existing parameters.....

I'm not really too keen on losing the corals...but if I have already
(it's been around a week) I need to know, especially with the colony
that has the mantis shrimp....

TIA
Gill

Gill

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Star polyps are tough. If there is something there, then it's still
alive. There might also be something else wrong causing the polyps to
not bloom out, like water quality, or not enough light. Do pull the hair
algae out of the star polyps so that they can bloom out.

For the mantis shrimp, make an extra salty solution of water, and dip
the rock in that, and the mantis will shoot out, then quickly put the
rock back in the tank, and swish it around to get the normal salt water
in it.

Instead of a syringe, use a turkey baster, or (my favorite)a ear wax
removal bulb.


Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Gill Passman wrote on 11/6/2006 6:20 PM:

OK....so I've spent the last 10 days fighting off the red slime....as
a newly set up tank just over 8 weeks old I was expecting this...it is
a 15 gall nano reef....but to my dismay I discover green hair algae
has covered up my star corals....I've been blasting the stuff away
with a syringe but see not great recovery in what was my centre piece....

The coral itself is still attached to the rock...but no sign of any
polyps coming out....is it dead or do I need to be more
patient???....another piece of gold star polyps that went under almost
as soon as I put it in is now showing signs of life (not great but at
least some polyps are out and about)....

Is there anything else I can do other than keep the rock algae free?
The rock in question also houses a mantis shrimp and I want
fish....should I just sacrifice the whole thing? And get rid of the
pest at the same time????

Very confusued newbie

Oh and these are the parameters pre water change...need to take them
again:-

Sg 1.026
pH 8.4
Alk - higher end of normal on red sea kit
Calcium 450pm
NO3 High 12.5 Low 2.5
PO4 - 0.1

But I have now done a water change so need to test NO3 and PO4
again...the water matched all other existing parameters.....

I'm not really too keen on losing the corals...but if I have already
(it's been around a week) I need to know, especially with the colony
that has the mantis shrimp....

TIA
Gill

Gill
Thanks Wayne,

Light is definitely a consideration with the gold star polyps...when I
bought them they looked like a great lawn but have never thrived in my
tank - the LFS had them under halides and I only have flourescents at 3W
per gallon. The pink star polyps were thriving so the only thing I can
think of is the algae. The water tests out fine and there haven't been
any swings apart from the nitrate which is now back at zero following a
water change (after the problem with the star polyps started):-

Sg 1.026
pH .4
Alk - High end of Normal
Calcium 550 ppm
NO2 0
NO3 0
PO4 0.1

I'll try and get a turkey baster if I can find one in the UK. The
syringe was very much a grab anything to hand that might work...it is a
real PITA to squirt such a small amount of water and takes hours.

I can potentially isolate the pink star polyp with it's possible Mantis
inhabitant but this would mean reduced lighting for the coral unless I
can hitch something up temporarily using lamps. If the higher salt
concentrate would get the mantis but not the star polyps I'll give it a try.

Thanks again
Gill

Gill Passman wrote on 11/7/2006 2:24 PM:
If the higher salt
concentrate would get the mantis but not the star polyps I'll give it a
try.

Thanks again
Gill

Yea you just stick it in for a second. Don't leave it in
very long.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets

Ditch the Red Sea kits and pick up some salifert kits. Are you using
RO/DI water or out of the tap? Do you have a refugium?


On Nov 6, 6:20 pm, Gill Passman
wrote:
OK....so I've spent the last 10 days fighting off the red slime....as a
newly set up tank just over 8 weeks old I was expecting this...it is a
15 gall nano reef....but to my dismay I discover green hair algae has
covered up my star corals....I've been blasting the stuff away with a
syringe but see not great recovery in what was my centre piece....

The coral itself is still attached to the rock...but no sign of any
polyps coming out....is it dead or do I need to be more
patient???....another piece of gold star polyps that went under almost
as soon as I put it in is now showing signs of life (not great but at
least some polyps are out and about)....

Is there anything else I can do other than keep the rock algae free? The
rock in question also houses a mantis shrimp and I want fish....should I
just sacrifice the whole thing? And get rid of the pest at the same time????

Very confusued newbie

Oh and these are the parameters pre water change...need to take them again:-

Sg 1.026
pH 8.4
Alk - higher end of normal on red sea kit
Calcium 450pm
NO3 High 12.5 Low 2.5
PO4 - 0.1

But I have now done a water change so need to test NO3 and PO4
again...the water matched all other existing parameters.....

I'm not really too keen on losing the corals...but if I have already
(it's been around a week) I need to know, especially with the colony
that has the mantis shrimp....

TIA
Gill

Gill

wrote:
Ditch the Red Sea kits and pick up some salifert kits. Are you using
RO/DI water or out of the tap? Do you have a refugium?


I'm using RO water which I get at the LFS. It is a small 15gall Nano
reef tank - I do not have a refugium. My nitrates are now down to 0
again but I have added two clowns a week ago (nitrites were 0 yesterday
but haven't given a reading at all since the fish went in so the tank
could still be cycling - I don't have an ammonia test kit but am testing
for nitrites daily) - don't know what my phosphates are as it is my
"water test day" today and water change day tomorrow.

I've been cleaning the algae off with a turkey baster a couple of times
a day. The green star polyps are slowly starting to come out again but
not to their full potential. The pink looks as if it might at lights on
but then retracts again after around 30 mins. So it looks as if there is
still life there.

I'm adding iodine, strontium, molybdenum and something described as
trace elements as a slow drip (manual) once a week. I've not had to
adjust the calcium as yet but make sure that my salt water mix matches
in terms of salinity, calcium, pH and buffering before doing the change
(10%). This is mixed and heated in a small 5 gall tank until it matches
the main tank.

On the advice of my LFS I now also have a Manthrax crab - he does appear
to be cleaning up some of the algae but typically not from the places
that I want him to - I guess he'll get around to it eventually.

Thanks
Gill

Gil,

Keep in mind that GHA comes from excess nutrients in the tank. If you
don't have some means of exporting nurtients you will get nuciance
(sp?) algae. A refugium is GREAT for this. If you can grow some
chaeto, it will use up all the excess nutrients that the GHA needs and
inhibit its growth.

Are you overfeeding? The best solution to GHA is to find the source of
the excess nutrients.


Gill Passman wrote:
wrote:
Ditch the Red Sea kits and pick up some salifert kits. Are you using
RO/DI water or out of the tap? Do you have a refugium?


I'm using RO water which I get at the LFS. It is a small 15gall Nano
reef tank - I do not have a refugium. My nitrates are now down to 0
again but I have added two clowns a week ago (nitrites were 0 yesterday
but haven't given a reading at all since the fish went in so the tank
could still be cycling - I don't have an ammonia test kit but am testing
for nitrites daily) - don't know what my phosphates are as it is my
"water test day" today and water change day tomorrow.

I've been cleaning the algae off with a turkey baster a couple of times
a day. The green star polyps are slowly starting to come out again but
not to their full potential. The pink looks as if it might at lights on
but then retracts again after around 30 mins. So it looks as if there is
still life there.

I'm adding iodine, strontium, molybdenum and something described as
trace elements as a slow drip (manual) once a week. I've not had to
adjust the calcium as yet but make sure that my salt water mix matches
in terms of salinity, calcium, pH and buffering before doing the change
(10%). This is mixed and heated in a small 5 gall tank until it matches
the main tank.

On the advice of my LFS I now also have a Manthrax crab - he does appear
to be cleaning up some of the algae but typically not from the places
that I want him to - I guess he'll get around to it eventually.

Thanks
Gill

wrote:
Gil,

Keep in mind that GHA comes from excess nutrients in the tank. If you
don't have some means of exporting nurtients you will get nuciance
(sp?) algae. A refugium is GREAT for this. If you can grow some
chaeto, it will use up all the excess nutrients that the GHA needs and
inhibit its growth.

Are you overfeeding? The best solution to GHA is to find the source of
the excess nutrients.



Hi,
Don't think that I am overfeeding being quite senstive to this from my
freshwater fish. I'm not overly sure about if I am feeding the right
amounts to the corals - I'm feeding around 2ml of Phytoplankton every
2-3 days - don't know if tis is over feeding or under. As for the fish,
there are just two Clowns who rapidly hoover up their food within around
30 secs - they are fed twice a day. If it was overfeeding I would expect
to be seeing nitrate and higher phosphates....

The GHA itself is pretty much contained and seems on the decline since I
started moving it with a turkey baster but I'm still getting some "red
dust" - I'm removing as much of this as I can twice a day.....

I will research into refugiums - sounds like a very good idea if/when I
set up a larger tank....not sure how it would fit into my current Nano
setup.

Thanks
Gill

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
wrote:
Gil,

Keep in mind that GHA comes from excess nutrients in the tank. If you
don't have some means of exporting nurtients you will get nuciance
(sp?) algae. A refugium is GREAT for this. If you can grow some
chaeto, it will use up all the excess nutrients that the GHA needs and
inhibit its growth.

Are you overfeeding? The best solution to GHA is to find the source of
the excess nutrients.



Hi,
Don't think that I am overfeeding being quite senstive to this from my
freshwater fish. I'm not overly sure about if I am feeding the right
amounts to the corals - I'm feeding around 2ml of Phytoplankton every 2-3
days - don't know if tis is over feeding or under. As for the fish, there
are just two Clowns who rapidly hoover up their food within around 30
secs - they are fed twice a day. If it was overfeeding I would expect to
be seeing nitrate and higher phosphates....

The GHA itself is pretty much contained and seems on the decline since I
started moving it with a turkey baster but I'm still getting some "red
dust" - I'm removing as much of this as I can twice a day.....

I will research into refugiums - sounds like a very good idea if/when I
set up a larger tank....not sure how it would fit into my current Nano
setup.

Thanks
Gill

You won't see the phosphate and nitrate if it is being converting into algae
bloom.
What sort of water flow do you have on the area? dead spots will have high
co2 and can help algae establish better in some spots than others.

You won't see the phosphate and nitrate if it is being converting into algae
bloom.
What sort of water flow do you have on the area? dead spots will have high
co2 and can help algae establish better in some spots than others.


Ironically, it is growing in the area with the most flow....it is
decreasing so perhaps part of the whole cycling thing....or maybe it is
the programme of light deprivation I've had to put in place that is
killing it off.....My problem wasn't the green algae but a
dinoflagellate bloom which I am now slowly getting under control (by a
combination of light deprivation, skimming, blasting (turkey baster),
manual removal, carbon, water changes, willpower, determination plus
whatever else you want to add....but it is a long haul....of course the
reduction in these will almost certainly impact my phosphates and
nitrates so a close monitoring regime is in place....but at least my
corals are perking up....shame it killed all the snails :-( Once under
control (I understand it never goes) I will restock with some algae
eating clean up crew....to be quite honest I can cope with the green
stuff all the while I get rid of the toxic dinoflagellate bloom....

After 5 days I am now seeing good progress....fingers crossed....

Gill