algae growth

Hello.

I have a year old reef tank with not too much in it. Lately, one of the
rocks has been growing a big "beard" of green stringy algae. The hermit
crabs don't seem interested in it. I think it's starting to spread to
the other rocks, and I really don't want a tank full of green stuff.

Any ideas of why this is starting to happen? Anything I can do?

It's a 30 gal tank with some live rock, couple of clowns, 3 chromis,
bunch of hermit crabs, a shrimp, a blue star, and another fish that I
forgot its name. All basic tests are normal.

thanks,
Brandon.

You can reach down and try to pull it out. Can you
take a picture of it and post it on a web site?

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


Brandon wrote on 6/6/2007 12:28 PM:
Hello.

I have a year old reef tank with not too much in it. Lately, one of the
rocks has been growing a big "beard" of green stringy algae. The hermit
crabs don't seem interested in it. I think it's starting to spread to
the other rocks, and I really don't want a tank full of green stuff.

Any ideas of why this is starting to happen? Anything I can do?

It's a 30 gal tank with some live rock, couple of clowns, 3 chromis,
bunch of hermit crabs, a shrimp, a blue star, and another fish that I
forgot its name. All basic tests are normal.

thanks,
Brandon.

Brandon wrote:
It seems like a lot of work to pull all this out. I'm hoping to prevent
it from happening again even if I do get rid of it.

Take a look at http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/a/005249.htm

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

Brandon, Brandon, Brandon, :-) If you want people to
see your posts, don't attach files to a non-binary
newsgroup.

A lot of servers filter out attachments made on
non-binary newsgroups. Don't attach pictures to
non-binary newsgroups. Instead put them on a web
page, and post a link to that web page.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


George Patterson wrote on 6/6/2007 10:52 PM:
Brandon wrote:
It seems like a lot of work to pull all this out. I'm hoping to
prevent it from happening again even if I do get rid of it.

Take a look at http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/a/005249.htm

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

Sorry. The binary post that I tested before worked - I just figured
everyone could do the same if it wasn't too big a file size.

Anyway, turns out to be hair algae. My nitrates are low, so I assume
it's a phosphate thing. I don't have a test for that though. I've
already turned my light cycles down - I was previously running them for
12 hours.

I tried to find some mangrove plants in town (Vancouver area) - but
nobody seems to carry them. I'll try removing the hair from the rocks,
and then a partial water change.

Brandon.

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Brandon, Brandon, Brandon, :-) If you want people to see your posts,
don't attach files to a non-binary newsgroup.

A lot of servers filter out attachments made on non-binary newsgroups.
Don't attach pictures to non-binary newsgroups. Instead put them on a
web page, and post a link to that web page.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


George Patterson wrote on 6/6/2007 10:52 PM:
Brandon wrote:
It seems like a lot of work to pull all this out. I'm hoping to
prevent it from happening again even if I do get rid of it.

Take a look at http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/a/005249.htm

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

Welcome to the club. There's a few of us fighting this including myself.

Reduce feedings, Water changes, phosphate reactor, dose kalkwasser, and
setup a fug with chaeto. Do gentle scrubbing to remove hair algae and
then use mechanical filtration (floss fabric) to remove it. I'm setting
up a fug now.

I've gone from a complete jungle to maybe 50% of the rocks covered in
about 3 months.

--Kurt



Brandon wrote:
Sorry. The binary post that I tested before worked - I just figured
everyone could do the same if it wasn't too big a file size.

Anyway, turns out to be hair algae. My nitrates are low, so I assume
it's a phosphate thing. I don't have a test for that though. I've
already turned my light cycles down - I was previously running them for
12 hours.

I tried to find some mangrove plants in town (Vancouver area) - but
nobody seems to carry them. I'll try removing the hair from the rocks,
and then a partial water change.

Brandon.

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Brandon, Brandon, Brandon, :-) If you want people to see your posts,
don't attach files to a non-binary newsgroup.

A lot of servers filter out attachments made on non-binary newsgroups.
Don't attach pictures to non-binary newsgroups. Instead put them on a
web page, and post a link to that web page.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


George Patterson wrote on 6/6/2007 10:52 PM:
Brandon wrote:
It seems like a lot of work to pull all this out. I'm hoping to
prevent it from happening again even if I do get rid of it.

Take a look at http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/a/005249.htm

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

And have algae eaters.

What many people don't consider is that in the ocean
if a natural reef is destroyed, hair algae will
cover it up, and it takes time for algae eaters to
increase, and get things back into balance.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


KurtG wrote on 6/8/2007 4:20 PM:
Welcome to the club. There's a few of us fighting this including myself.

Reduce feedings, Water changes, phosphate reactor, dose kalkwasser, and
setup a fug with chaeto. Do gentle scrubbing to remove hair algae and
then use mechanical filtration (floss fabric) to remove it. I'm setting
up a fug now.

I've gone from a complete jungle to maybe 50% of the rocks covered in
about 3 months.

--Kurt



Brandon wrote:
Sorry. The binary post that I tested before worked - I just figured
everyone could do the same if it wasn't too big a file size.

Anyway, turns out to be hair algae. My nitrates are low, so I assume
it's a phosphate thing. I don't have a test for that though. I've
already turned my light cycles down - I was previously running them for
12 hours.

I tried to find some mangrove plants in town (Vancouver area) - but
nobody seems to carry them. I'll try removing the hair from the rocks,
and then a partial water change.

Brandon.

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Brandon, Brandon, Brandon, :-) If you want people to see your posts,
don't attach files to a non-binary newsgroup.

A lot of servers filter out attachments made on non-binary newsgroups.
Don't attach pictures to non-binary newsgroups. Instead put them on a
web page, and post a link to that web page.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


George Patterson wrote on 6/6/2007 10:52 PM:
Brandon wrote:
It seems like a lot of work to pull all this out. I'm hoping to
prevent it from happening again even if I do get rid of it.
Take a look at http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/a/005249.htm

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

Wayne Sallee wrote:
And have algae eaters.

What eats hair algae?

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

J & L Aquatics had Mangroves last time I was in there.

On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 19:39:19 GMT, Brandon wrote:

Sorry. The binary post that I tested before worked - I just figured
everyone could do the same if it wasn't too big a file size.

Anyway, turns out to be hair algae. My nitrates are low, so I assume
it's a phosphate thing. I don't have a test for that though. I've
already turned my light cycles down - I was previously running them for
12 hours.

I tried to find some mangrove plants in town (Vancouver area) - but
nobody seems to carry them. I'll try removing the hair from the rocks,
and then a partial water change.

Brandon.

Wayne Sallee wrote:
Brandon, Brandon, Brandon, :-) If you want people to see your posts,
don't attach files to a non-binary newsgroup.

A lot of servers filter out attachments made on non-binary newsgroups.
Don't attach pictures to non-binary newsgroups. Instead put them on a
web page, and post a link to that web page.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


George Patterson wrote on 6/6/2007 10:52 PM:
Brandon wrote:
It seems like a lot of work to pull all this out. I'm hoping to
prevent it from happening again even if I do get rid of it.

Take a look at http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/a/005249.htm

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

Hermit crabs, amphipods, tangs (eat it some).

Also if the algae is weakened it will get eaten
faster. One thing that weakens algae is phosphate
removers. Also if you keep it trimmed a lot of
things will eat it faster.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


George Patterson wrote on 6/8/2007 11:07 PM:
Wayne Sallee wrote:
And have algae eaters.

What eats hair algae?

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.