Help - green algae out of control!

If the light is shining on the glass, you can block
the light from shining on the glass.

Wayne Sallee



Big Habeeb wrote on 11/7/2007 10:33 AM:
George,
Whew...you had me worried there! Yeah, there's one spot on the rock
that seems to be a hot bed for the stuff, some thick green viscuous
algae there...but I was able to take care of that with a rubber glove
and a turkey baster (man, taken out of context that just sounds BAD).
It's mostly just the glass, overflow box etc. The snails are doing
the durndest and making a decent dent, but the stuff just seems to
grow incredibly fast...and I don't really want to end up with 200
snails running around

I'll go with the scrape it clean method, but I do have to ask: is this
something that will stop as the tank ages or is this going to be a
constant process? If it's going to be ongoing, that sea slug idea
might start to sppeal to me...
Mitch

Yea, foxface do the best job of eating algae over
all of the herbivorous, but they also do the best
job of eating corals, and starfish, over all of the
herbivorous.

Wayne Sallee



George Patterson wrote on 11/6/2007 10:38 PM:
Big Habeeb wrote:

When you say 'do that' you mean, get something to eat the crap?

Yep.

Any
recommendations apart from what I already have in there (snails and
hermits)?

There's a sea slug that loves hair algae. Foxface Rabbitfish like it.
Blue-leg hermit crabs like it, but you would need a lot of them to make
a dent in it.

Not sure what you mean by filter feeders are likely to be
history soon either, can you possibly clarify?

Any you have will probably be hitchhikers at this stage, but hair algae
can smother things like clams, mussels, feather dusters, and the like.
Anything that can't escape can get buried.

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

On Nov 7, 8:57 pm, George Patterson wrote:
Big Habeeb wrote:
I'll go with the scrape it clean method, but I do have to ask: is this
something that will stop as the tank ages or is this going to be a
constant process?

You may get a variety of opinions on that. The most prevalent opinion is that,
if you take steps to make sure your nitrates and phosphates stay near 0, this
algae will disappear. With the usual setup, the bacteria in the live rock will
eventually keep your nitrates at 0, especially with monthly water changes of 20%
or more.

Phosphates will be produced as a fish and food waste product, and are frequently
present in tap water. One of the most common methods of handling this level is
to buy a "phosphate reactor" and use compounds that reduce the level.

Using an RO/DI filter to purify your tap water will prevent introduction of
phosphates in the first place. With one of these, weekly water changes will
bring the level down and you won't need to buy a phosphate reactor. After the
level is down, you can go back to monthly water changes.

Yet another method is to buy an animal that eats the algae. The most effective
one is reported to be a sea slug. The problem with these is that they eat only
hair algae. When the algae is gone, the slug starves. I'm not sure how well they
work at keeping the stuff off the glass.

You might want to take a look at this -http://saltaquarium.about.com/b/2007/10/07/simple-cure-for-green-hair...

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

I do use ro/di water already...the algae production, thankfully, seems
to be slowing down since adding the phosphate remover. Hopefully in a
couple more days it will continue to slow and the snails can make some
good headway. Judging by the next post, I'd say I really, REALLY
don't want ot add a foxface, since I'm quite partial to the corals and
whatnot that I hope to be adding in the near future
Mitch