John, I know we PMed about this, but maybe one to add to the list:

Yea that first pic is really slow growing stuff. That what you see is probably 5 months of growth.



Thanks I will look at that link. I am thinking I might get a emerald crab. I've got a bit of small bubble and then all this other crud. Just kinda to add one of those critters. I know I should have left the rocks in the water. But if your pichur taking sux like mine then out of the water is far superior to what you would have gotten. Sorry I wanst trying to to make the id hard for you guys and gals.

Isnt it strange how you can have a tank set up for 7 months w/o the first algea and then WAM!

thanks! I will do that. I have like 10 others I have to get to as well. TIme to get on that ball




let me use those pics and I will get names for all of them out to you.

I have a nasty plague outbreak of this stuff right now, trying to figure out the best way to tackle it...

Wait, is this the kind of cottony stuff and not the cyano type stuff?
If so, that's what I have.

yes weet - it's the cottony stuff. john said hermits and nerites will eat it.

that is a species lyngbya, a type of cyano. (not cotton candy algae if that is what you are thinking) Warmer water helps fuel it, but it isn't necessary I have had a lot of "fun " having to deal with this myself a few months back. The Sprung book identifies something similar looking as the sporophyte stage of Asparagopsis taxiformis, but I doubt that is it here. It spreads and becomes fully mature without ever turning into the beautiful A. taxiformis macro. It was (spelling alert!) Lyngbya muscujalra (way off on the spelling probably), in my 72g tank, looked exactly the same. The nerites were beating it back, but I got tired of waiting and put in a bunch of hermits, (I mean a bunch), and it took are of it. Acitinic only lighting seemed to effect it, as well as lowering the temp, but it still lived. Although growth slowed. It grows so fast, I mean really, really fast, that without slowing the growth I don't know if I would have ever caught up with it. Ragged sea hares were doing a lot of damage to it, but I have two Koralias, in that 72 so the sea hares kept wandering into them and I had to remove them entirely. In the end I think a strong stocking of nerites would have eventually got it, but the 1000+ hermits took care of it in really short order. I am not sure if it was hermit v. hermit fighting, or hermit v. nerite fighting, but there may have been an adverse effect on CUCs that were eating it. I am not sure about that, but it seems I either lost some nerites and hermits into the rock work maze, or that stuff hurt it. Not sure, but I didn't pull out as much as I put in. Just speculating there, I didn't have it long enough to really learn more about it other than how to kill it off.

good word, john. i'm going to place a nice hermit and nerite order with you and i'll let you know if i get a repeat performance. we'll figure this stuff out.

Hey John you can use those pics if you wanna. I did go ahead and get a little bitty emerald crab. Do you have any other advise on this stuff. My CUC is all the snails that you sent me, 2 blue leggers, and a single emerald. Oh this is in a 12 gallon.

the emeralds will be your best. gelidium americanum (the red one - that is a about as close as i will get from a picture), is pretty wirey. I would be shocked if snails or hermits ate it, your new emerald or an urchin is your best bet. (I know you can fit an urchin in, but others may be reading)



the first picture, acanthophora spicifera



might benefit from hand removal. The emerald crab might eat it, it is edible but being as stiff as it is, I am not sure about that.

I swear I knew the name of the yellow one when I posted, or at least a species with similar characteristics...give me a minute let check the books.

Cool. I did remove it all, or as much as I could when I had the rocks out. I even went as far as to take a torch and toast the rocks a bit. LOL Corvettejoe is suppose to go collecting in a few weeks. Hopefully he will find a little urchin for my tank. Do you have any recomendations on what type of urchin?

if it is acrylic, don't get any, they will all scratch the tank. little rock borings are good for glass tanks. I like them because they eat algae (of course), but also don't pick things up and walk around with them. It is easy to get ahold of one that is small, their sharp spines and general low cost make shipping large ones prohibitive. They grow to the size of softballs though, so he will need a home at some point. I am just checking in real quick now, but I will go find that id for you...will pick up the books tonight. Help me out though...what is the range I should be looking at? Is that Florida rock?

Its not acrylic so I am safe. I do not know what rock those algeas are on but this is what I have in there. HTH. Timpora, Kaelini, and Fiji. I got it from Premium Aquatics.

having some trouble looking up that last one...it looks almost like Pterocladiella capillacea, that is what i thought it initially was, I had remembered the picture at least, but the branching is different. in yours the branching is pretty irregular, and in P. capillacea the branching is opposite....Problem with a lot of the species in the Gelidiaceae family is they don't tend to look much like each other, and there is broad differences even in between species in the same genus....i will come back to this...i should get a tax book for pacific species at some point, i just have some field guides that don't really do the trick...

Does anyone know what this algae is? I recall having it cover my glass and powerheads during my tank's cycle. I still get it on occasion if I don't scrape the glass for a long time as well.

Seems like fairly common stuff... Maybe Calothrix? Although this stuff seems to grow best in areas of higher flow.

I'm not sure what this light brown/tan feathery/hairy stuff is on my rocks and I couldn't find anything that looked similar in this thread. Any help ID'ing is appreciated. thanks

lm - where is your rock from? what is the texture like? might need to see a close up of the branching, but lets see where i can get from the above info...

ajmkay - if it is an "algae" type species it may be a type of cyano or chrysophytes (spelling, but you guys should be used to that from me by now..),looks invert related from the picture though

[quote name='johnmaloney' date='Nov 18 2009, 01:51 PM' post='2531464']
lm - where is your rock from? what is the texture like? might need to see a close up of the branching, but lets see where i can get from the above info...

This rock is from Fiji. The store I bought it from said they get Walt Smiths Fiji LR (I'm pretty positive that's what he said.) This stuff started growing about a month ago, the tank has been set up since February. Nothing new was added when this stuff started growing.

is it brittle or fleshy?

I think Halimeda should be added to the "nuisance" algae list.
it sucks up too much Ca...

no

Fin by me.
but still. they suck up Ca like no tomorrow.

then don't dose like it was yesterday

(or limit their growth by limiting nutrients)

More brittle than fleshy. If I was to scrape it off, it comes off really easily. I took out all of the rocks and scrubbed them with a toothbrush and put them back in, It seems like it came back with a vengence.
Please let me know if there is anything else you need to know. Thanks!

will do.

oh by the way - caulerpa verticellata (probably an extra "l" or something that spelling) aka fuzzy caulerpa - is an easy fix. Blue legs and rock boring urchins are devouring it. More testing to come, those were my first pics (emeralds also eat it), and now to try out some chitons, and limpets etc...

Hey John wondering if I could get a little help with these 3 ID's, wonder if there's any desirable's and if not what actions to take.

1.


2.


3. I think these are the same????

i dont have any books in front of me, but i am going to say the last one looks like gelidium, or a close resemblance. Something like gelidium americanum. the second might be some sort of ulva species? Lots of different ulvas. I have seen that before, I am not sure if it was in a person or in a book, I wouldn't worry about it to much, although manual removal will be kind of a pain if you need to do it. The red leaf looking one I think will be desirable. Too small to tell what it is, give it some time and see. Looks like the macro is growing straight up from an discernible holdfast, that is usually the sign of an easy to maintain macro.

ditch this:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t121/Fi...t/IMG_3523S.jpg
and this:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t121/Fi...t/IMG_3524S.jpg

keep us updated with:
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t121/Fi...t/IMG_3526S.jpg

Thanks John I appreciate it, do you think I should remove the first one from my tank and scrap it, it's on a rock by itself, I have scrubbed it before and let it sit in a bucket for over a month with no light and it looked like it was gone but after about two weeks of being back in my tank it began to grow again, one of my astrea snaisl ate a good portion of it, but now seems no longer interested and for the other two I'll keep an eye on them. Thanks again.

john, this stuff is crazy. also, seems like it's popping up a bunch more in people's tanks. the hermits and nerites have definitely munched on it, but they aren't taking it out completely. i don't know if i need more hermits or what. the tank underwent a 5 day black out and the stuff made it through just fine. it's the devil.

It is amazing how fast it can grow. our ugly tank contest winner is plagued by it too, he has a mantis to boot so that should be fun. No fret though, when it is wiped out it stays gone. Maybe check spectrum on the bulbs. Do you have dwarf ceriths? Do they eat it? WOuld be nice to find something cheap that you could throw at in bulk. You got a strong crew, but it is hard to catch. Are they at least turning the tide?

They're turning the tide in the top tank, because it's small. But they are turning it VERY slowly. The bottom tank is now starting to grow it pretty heavily. I've got 30 gallons of water total IIRC. I haven't seen the ceriths touch it. Astreas, nerites, and blue hermits eat it - I'm pretty sure I saw the fuzzy chiton take some out as well and of course my emerald picks at it. I'm having the same experience as you though - I'm counting less hermits than I put in now, so I'm wondering if it's hurting them?

Manual removal is tough - the stuff doesn't come off the rock easily at all. I have to replace all the bulbs in my bottom tank, so that may be the issue for the growth there. Growth has slowed in the top tank since adding the LED bulb.

if the rock is really ugly maybe, or would cost more to clean it then replace it.

dhaut - yeah manual removal is the pits it breaks off too easy and the strands are fine. PLus after a night of hard work it grows back to the same level. I don't think ceriths ate it for me either, (i had very few in the tank though) it was the nerites and blue legs.

Chitons seem a likely candidate to eat it, but they are slow regardless. Let me know about this though, they move at night more, so tracking them can be hard.

Good to hear they are turning the tide. As it goes down they should be able to get it down faster as time goes on. I was at this point too, then I added the hermit army. Such are the luxuries of a snailsman. Does the bottom tank have anything that is photosynthetic? If so, what?

Some softie corals (zoas, mini nems, GSP, goni, encrusting gorg) and some of your aglae's (Shaving brushes, flame, halymenia, fans, halimeda). But not a whole lot other than that. I hesitate to do a blackout - I did that on the top tank and it didn't work.

Honestly, after the holidays we may just have to get a hermit/nerite army in there. I can always trade them in at the LFS if there's too many after they eat the stuff.

oh yeah I know that refugium..it is too nice to turn the lights off on. can you tone down the lighting, assist the top tank with manual removal and do it on the bottom, (especially on the other macros), until the top is under control and then move the cuc?

do you have it on any pumps that may be spreading it? with mine it was in a 72 that didn't have an overflow/sump/etc... but it was spreading from a koralia. after cleaning that it slowed.

I've been cleaning the pumps the best I can - the snails actually do a better job than me in that regard. I think the 10k bulb in the lower tank is old and has shifted too far into the red spectrum. I'm planning to replace it in the next couple weeks.

my bulb needed changing around that time . i did actinic lighting only and it seemed to slow it. could have been just because of the loss of light, but the other half of the fixture was far gone, and gave off a mountain dew yellow.

lol. I'm not at Mountain Dew yet, but I definitely think it's time for new bulbs. WIsh I had some spare cash - tough to do around the holidays. Oh well. I'll let you know how it goes.

My tank has been overrun with the turf like algae you referred to as Derbesia for a couple of years now. I have managed to keep it under control with an emerald crab, nothing else worked.

Question: Is it that bad? I've noticed pods scurrying around in the dense mats, apparently safe from predators. I haven't manually removed all the algae because I wanted to keep a place for the pods as long as the cons of the algae didnt outweigh the pros of the pods.

it is as bad as it looks, so it ultimately comes down to what you think.

awesome thread

thanks!

are you scraping it off, or brushing it and it the macro is ripping apart? That may have spread it, make sure to get the holdfast clean and rinse afterward. like weeding the lawn, anything left continues...urchins, emeralds, a large turbo would be worth a shot...all have cons..bulldozing, scratching acrylic, knock over coral etc...

Alright guys and gals,

I've been battling gelidium for a while now and am sick of it. Tomorrow I'm going to scrub brush and dremel brush my rock for the second time in 3 months. This stuff doesn't grow too fast but it is creeping and persistent. I tried an emerald crab which was luckily eating the stuff...however it was also eating my zoanthids . I am going to brush the LR, toss the worst stuff and then add 2 mexican turbos to my tank. After brushing im going to rinse into a bucket, can I rinse with freshwater??? Ahh this stuff is terrible, once my coralline gets going, i have to brush it all off again. Anybody have any tips on dealing with this stuff???

Thanks a lot,
Sean

Here's what mine looks like....



Cheers

bump!

there is some info in this thread...don't let the fragments stay on the rock when removing, urchins and emeralds probably your best bet to eat it, rinse rock with SW afterward to wash away remnants, pluck as much out - don't brush, make sure to get it all etc...)

well i just spent a few hours dremeling the rock, boy does that save time versus plucking and brushing. After dremeling, i dipped in a bucket, then in another progressively cleaner bucket then back into the tank. Im going to glue the rocks and frags down, then get a turbo. Hopefully they will keep it in check!! I happened to stop by a dental office today and they gave me some picks for free, so if it tries to make a comeback i can get it with that and a siphon nearby.

thanks!

lowfi

that will be the way to get it...time and determination unfortunately. rough stuff....good luck to you. be aggressive and you will get it out.

This is my first post so just wanted to say thanks for all the great info on this entire site.

I currently have a 14BC which has been setup for approx 1 month. I have 8lbs of live rock, 20lbs of live sand, and used the pre bottled salt water to set everything up. At first I kept the system stock and then after reading this site the mods began. To coincide with this thread I have started to get a bad algae problem on the sand and live rock. I have done my research on here but just want to make sure I dont have something else going on.

I run my lights from 9-9 with the actinic from 8-10. I have a hydor flow on my stock output and a koralia nano on the opposite side. I switched to SteveT's media rack, which I have filled with filter floss, purigen, and chemi-pure, although I just purchased some chaeto and a fuge light to put in the middle chamber. My salinity is approx 1.024-1.025. As far as I know all my water parameters are within specs but as of now I have a cheap test kit and need to get a more accurate one. Stock for now is a coral banded shrimp, 2 percula clowns, a royal gamma, 1 soft coral I think Nephthea and approx 8 red hermits. I was feeding daily but have stopped that after reading here and am doing every 2-3 days.

Below are some pics of the algae. From posts I have read I think its cyano? Or just part of the cycle and will go away? Any help would be greatly appreciated! And maybe the pictures would be good for the library.

Within specs? ok? You need to list your params, inaccurate params are better than none at all IMO

and how do you know your test kit is inaccurate? what brand is it?

cyano...+1 to ^^

happy first post!

it is normal to have some cyano, but that is an outbreak that needs to be dealt with. Here is the only formula you need to know to be rid of cyano:

1. Reduce nutrients -

Reducing the importation of nutrients:

a. First look at amount you feed, and if there are available phosphates in it above and beyond what will be a byproduct of the feeding. (Are you using phyto etc...what do you feed? how much? how often?)

b. Use higher quality water, either ro/di, or check your ro/di etc...

Increasing the exportation of nutrients:

a. Additional water changes with the water described above.

b. Harvest algae or cyano from the tank and allow more to grow. Usually people use chaeto in a refugium, there are other options. ATS systems etc....big part of the hobby. Phosban + additional rock/DSB etc....

2. Removal of cyanobacteria and maintenance

a. With critters - nerites, chitons and to a lesser extent blue legs for the rocks and glass (blue legs don't do the glass though) ceriths for the sand.

b. Manually - You can siphon it out and should during the water changes described above. You can also brush it off the rocks, use your net to round it up when it starts floating.

3. Tricks for cyano:

a. Higher alkalinity, (like 11dkh if you used most beginner kits - dissolved carbonate hardness test....otherwise 4 meq/l - just my personal preference. Consistency is more important than a certain value.), discourages the growth of cyano.

b. Higher flow discourages the growth of cyano. If you see some spots are more prone to buildup test the flow in those spots and consider adjustment. Cyano can be an opportunity to redesign your current design.

Check your light schedule. How old are your bulbs?
What are your parameters in numbers?
How many fish?

The good news is cyano is easy to beat, and it doesn't have to ruin your reefing experience.