Experimental Macroalgae Troubleshooting Thread

[johnmaloney]

weetie -oh good to hear. I thought that was a cool looking combo.

 

got2envy - sorry to hear it, i will email you

[Markushka]

looking at weeties pics, I dont think I got Laurencia. and the Acanthophora is all white and i'm afraid its a goner too. i really need to take some pics. also how is the iridescent Dictyota supposed to look?

[johnmaloney]

sorry to hear everything is going so poorly, email me through the site if you have any future issues and I can get a credit setup for you. sorry this didnt work out to well guys.

[Shyla8]

I got the grape caulerpa and the brown bushy thing. I will take a picture of the tank and show you all the stuff..........

 

When they first got here....

Its Sargassum - Dictyota - Caul. Prolifera

Catcus Caul. - Brown bush - Grape Caul.

Pencil cap - Red Grac. - Brown Grac. - Brown bush

 

After I placed them in the tank....

 

I know the red graci looks bad, not sure if it will come back or not. The brown one I threw in the fuge of my 50g because I don't much like that macro lol. But I am hoping all the rest look good and stay around

[johnmaloney]

do you use iron? are you using ro/di?

 

list some parameters when you can.

 

mag

alk

calcium

nitrates

temp

salinity

testing brand

 

do you dose anything? If so what?

[Weetabix7]

How big of a deal is it for us to dose iron?

[Shyla8]

do you use iron? are you using ro/di?

 

list some parameters when you can.

 

mag

alk

calcium

nitrates

temp

salinity

testing brand

 

do you dose anything? If so what?

Did you mean me or Mark?

 

For me -

Mag 1200

Alk 10

Calcium 500

Nitrates 0 (unfortunately in this tank huh? lol)

Temp 80

Salinity 1.024

API Tests for all but Magnesium which is Red Sea

 

The only things I dose are magnesium Kent M, once a week 1/8 tsp and Seachem Reef Builder usually once a week to keep alk at 10 (but this doesn't fluctuate much at all in this tank) and I do 1 gallon weekly water changes with IO Reef Crystals.

 

The lighting is 1 18w PC 50/50's in a canopy.

 

The red grape macro grows a lot! I started with one strand and have already pruned some from what you see in the pic. The codium grows slowly as I see new tips alot and the halymenia is kinda at a stand still from what I can tell but its not dying either. I don't dose anything else but I could if need be, I have Strontium, Iodine and Calcium on hand.

 

Oh yeah and I use ro/di. Should I be using tap on this tank? lol They say tap causes algae right, maybe tap would be good for this pico

[johnmaloney]

i am not sure it is the cause of the things above, although the grape caulerpa could use it. I do it. for macros to take such a swift turn south something is off. Iron is good when your greens are going pale.

 

trouble aside... the macros that did make it look pretty cool in your tank

[Markushka]

Yeah I don't dose yet, lifes been to hectic. And I use tap but my tap doesn't have many contaminants. I'll check the params in a few. I'm gonna start dosing, I have all the stuff just need to get around to figuring out how much I need. I got a pencil cap from you a month or two back and its taken off like crazy! its sent up like 5 or 6 new shoots.

 

Oh shy the tank looks awesome!

[Shyla8]

Maybe I need to use tap too, your not too far from me Mark, maybe our water is the similar. But really John, would it hurt to try tap? Maybe it has some minerals in there this tank could use. I'd never use in it my reef but in this case?

 

John, don't worry about the Graci really. I don't like the macro it just came in the pack so I am not worried about it dying, I just wondered why it did that since I thought it was a hardier one than the rest. If the rest look good to you then thats what makes me happy, I like all those

 

I never would of even thought to dose iron. If it makes the greens greener, whats it do to the reds?

 

And thanks Mark, glad you like it!

 

Oh and Whoops! The light is 2 18w, not one, duh! Dunno where my brain was typing that lol

[johnmaloney]

email lag

 

iron -

fiddling with iron can be dangerous...cyano blooms... if you do it go slow, or just try to get it in with water changes. I use Fergon brand iron dissolved in water sparingly in a 200 gallon system. One pill lasts awhile. I do it by feeling though to be honest. If I have a lot of pale greens I try to dose a little to darken them up. The correction, (assuming that was the limitation, are you familiar with Liebig's law yet?), happens remarkably fast. If you don't have a pale greens problem don't bother.

 

See if you can get a fan on the tank and try to bring it down a few degrees shyla. other than that the alk is still the only difference i notice, but it isn't major. Mine is a little higher but 10 is close, (I think I am at 11 now). I don't think the nutrients would have done it so quickly.

 

markusha -

Chloramine/Chlorine in tap water is a no go for algae. Some species react differently than others. Check on that, make sure you are "Prime - ing" it.

 

shyla - the refund for it should have posted by now, no worries. It is hardy, to be honest it dies on me as often as chaeto does, can't even remember the last time... It can live for days in FW, something about your setup it doesn't like I guess. Light wouldn't be too bright, I have had that setup before. Too little light wouldn't have acted overnight like that either.

 

how about... how long is the light on?

[Shyla8]

email lag

 

iron -

fiddling with iron can be dangerous...cyano blooms... if you do it go slow, or just try to get it in with water changes. I use Fergon brand iron dissolved in water sparingly in a 200 gallon system. One pill lasts awhile. I do it by feeling though to be honest. If I have a lot of pale greens I try to dose a little to darken them up. The correction, (assuming that was the limitation, are you familiar with Liebig's law yet?), happens remarkably fast. If you don't have a pale greens problem don't bother.

 

See if you can get a fan on the tank and try to bring it down a few degrees shyla. other than that the alk is still the only difference i notice, but it isn't major. Mine is a little higher but 10 is close, (I think I am at 11 now). I don't think the nutrients would have done it so quickly.

 

markusha -

Chloramine/Chlorine in tap water is a no go for algae. Some species react differently than others. Check on that, make sure you are "Prime - ing" it.

 

shyla - the refund for it should have posted by now, no worries. It is hardy, to be honest it dies on me as often as chaeto does, can't even remember the last time... It can live for days in FW, something about your setup it doesn't like I guess. Light wouldn't be too bright, I have had that setup before. Too little light wouldn't have acted overnight like that either.

 

how about... how long is the light on?

 

Yes I saw the refund John, thanks. Its wierd I have luck with some and then others none at all and the hardy ones die, go figure lol. Well I could always up the alk, thats easy and if they like it higher I will.

Yeah gonna try the fan. The odd thing about this tank is one its really small with a canopy so I have a fan in the hood blowing on the lights to keep them cool and the back of the canopy is open so it can go out. Then its on the opposite end of the house than the air conditioner lol. So my 50 stays at 78 constantly and this one can get to 80 during the day. The curse of small compacted setups I guess. I think it will only be a summer, this house issue though.

The light goes on at 1pm and off at 10pm so maybe thats not long enough for macros. I can make that longer too because it goes on a timer. When the lights go off its just the blue led lit for an hour and then I turn it off to dark. Altho I don't think it would have been a light issue with that being as it went in the tank at like 2:30 and was hot pink white before lights went out. It really boggles me that that macro did that to me. I am wondering what it didn't like only out of curiosity. But I am not worried, its nothing I am sad about losing

 

Oh the mysteries of macro's!

[johnmaloney]

sorry you didnt want the gracilaria shyla, i will work it out for you next time around.

[animalmaster6]

That's Awesome!!!!

 

Awesome tank Shyla!

[Markushka]

No chlorine etc. its well water, and untreated. no softeners nothing. strait form the ground. even then I let the tap run a bit to clear the pipes. I ran tests on the water and its acceptable for tank use. Theres a small amount of phosphates, some iron and a trace amount of copper along with other elements.

[johnmaloney]

next time you get an order in place half in distilled freshwater and half in your tank. see which lasts longer. what tests did you run on the well water?

[Shyla8]

next time you get an order in place half in distilled freshwater and half in your tank. see which lasts longer. what tests did you run on the well water?

Would they live in freshwater? I thought they would die right away

 

Awesome tank Shyla!

Thanks AM

[Markushka]

next time you get an order in place half in distilled freshwater and half in your tank. see which lasts longer. what tests did you run on the well water?

Nitrate

nitrite

ammonia

copper*

iron*

phosphate*

carbonate harness*

total hardness*

I cant remember what else. I'll dig up the values. The stared tests I used very accurate scientific testing equipment and i'm quite confident in the values. any tests I should run?

[johnmaloney]

Would they live in freshwater? I thought they would die right away

 

 

Thanks AM

 

you would be surprised how long they last. caulerpa prolifera can go at least 2 days, gracilaria too. not so much with acanthophora. Chaeto can go awhile. Not even sure when it would die. Halimeda is good for a few hours, I think the most was 5 hours I did with that. It didn't die, I just got to it. THe grac. and caul pro I forgot about and it sat it in a bucket outside with fw in it for 2 and half days or so at least. Took it out and it was fine. Fleshy algae don't do as well though.

 

If it lasts longer in that then in the tank, you should then look at the salt mix or the water source. Testing two cups, and the tank, would be helpful too. If it lasts longer in the well than in the distilled etc...or vice versa.

 

I am sure you have accurate tests b/c drinking water etc.. any sulfur?

[Markushka]

No sulfur, I didnt test for it but the water doesn't smell. will do tho. but I really don't think its the tank they look dead before I put them in. I'll try some tests. should I try it with establish macros or just when I do another order?

[Shyla8]

Ya know John, when I got the pack and the penny macro which was red grac as well I threw the brown grac and penny red one in my 50gal fuge. I took the red grac from the pack and put some of it in the pico and one piece in the 50.

Now the pieces in the pico and the 50 turned the hot pink and white. The one in the fuge is still maroon. Now does that make any kind of sense? lol. I am thinkin the only difference there would be that the fuge had no light on it till the tank lights went off and they are stevie t's underwater lights, probably not very strong. Think it had an issue with too much light right after being shipped?

Also if it is mostly white, do I take it out since it will never color back up or does it actually get its color back if I leave it?

[johnmaloney]

lucky! our well water smells like sulfur.. high content.

 

try acclimating them into the light like coral. with something like caulerpa though just put it under the light. That wasnt the reason the grape went pale.

[Shyla8]

So whats with the grape then?, it totally went, spewed stuff, then sogged away.

 

Eh who knows whats the deal. I got some local ones straight from the beach, I am gonna see if they are tougher and live lol

[Markushka]

me too

lots of gracilarias, well what I think are gracillarias. and ulva to feed my voracious urchins.

[johnmaloney]

went sexual in yours shyla - not sure how it died

 

- let do a thread split here

 

I am going to do a new consolidated and cleaned up thread with just new macro species and the like,

and then this can be for shipments, feedback, and the like.