kgb Posted October 4, 2002 Share Posted October 4, 2002 hey i have some questions bout alge ok are all plants in the ocean alge ? because i have small stem like plant growning on my LR also i have questions bout all alge in general ok i got purple alge growing on my rock and glass along with ,white , brown, gree bubble things, abd the hair stuff which is good and which is bad and what do they do Link to comment
Brianc_4 Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 The stuff that looks like a plant is most likely macro-algae----Good, but you will need to trim it back. Its good beacause it will use up nitrates that the would otherwise feed the micro-algaes. Purple and white algae----coralline algae, definitely good(too much info on this to list, search the board) Green bubble algae-----good and bad, this stuff is known as valonia. It won't do your tank any harm unless it starts to grow out of control. coralline algae will not grow where there is valonia. If you do remove, be careful not to break it, it will release spores and spread more quickly. Hair algae---bad, get some snails, they'll chow this down in no time, especially turbos. Link to comment
Hitoriki Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 hermits will do a better jon on the hair algae than the snails. Link to comment
Brianc_4 Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 Maybe in quantity, but I have witnessed one turbo clean off an entire 3# piece of live rock in an evening. Either will do...just get one or the other, or even better a couple of both! Link to comment
ross76053 Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 I've got to agree - I've got a slew of snails and hermits, and I've never seen a hermit touch my hair algae. My snails chow on it - especially my Astreas. (I know hermits will eat hair, but mine just don't) Ross Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted October 5, 2002 Share Posted October 5, 2002 Hair has to be fairly short for snails to eat it!! When it grows longer rainford gobies and urchins are your only real munchers. -Tip pull it by hand to give your snails a fighting chance. If turbos eat it, astreas will eat it (pretty good general rule). Turbos will do it faster, but then again they are 4x the size of the tiny astreas! Question for any SERIOUS bio-nuts out there... Is kelp still considered an "algae" what about "blue-green algae"/cyano... I know we call them algae in the trade, but where do we draw the line since they are not plants?? -just wondering (sorry I didn't mean to make the thread more complex, but I am very curious)... Link to comment
spectre Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 not sure on kelp, but cyano is considered a bacteria...HTH Link to comment
Brianc_4 Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 Cyano is not a plant or an algae it is a bacteria. Kelp, as I understand, are different types of algae. Rhodophyta, is red algae. Phaeophyta is brown algae. And Chlorophyta is green algae. Giant kelp is a chromist. Chromists are a type of phaeophyta. Chromista is not related at all to plants, and it is a lot different than most algaes. In addition to kelp, diatoms and mildew both are chromista. Chromista is different from most plants in that it has chlorophyll 3(which normal plants do not have), and its photosynthesis does not store energy in the form of starch. It also has different pigments than normal plants, which allow it to have that golden brown color( diadinoxanthin and fucoxanthin). So now that I have geeked out on you, I guess what I am trying to say is that kelp is an algae, but a very different algae than most. ;) Link to comment
MKramer Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 If I understand correctly, cyanobacteria is not a true bacteria, either. It's one of those lifeforms that walks thel ines between classifications. It has distuishing features of both algae and bacteria. Or am I wrong, and it is officially classified as a bacteria? I hadn't heard that about kelp before, that's interesting. Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted October 8, 2002 Share Posted October 8, 2002 LOL, what I was wondering though is does a species actually NEED to be a plant to be considered an "alga" or can bacterium that forms plant like structure fit the description and earn the title of alga? -Or do only "true" plants qualify?? Under casual circumstances I would call cyano and kelp algae, but I would never call them plants... However, the word "algae" certainly does have a heavy connotation, or even a denotation (perhaps), of plant... ?? Anyone know...? Do the border-liners (bacterium based structures) that act like plants still get included in "algae" or should we call them "pseudo-algae"?? I think I’ll use the latter term until I know for sure ... -Thanks for the info guys... Link to comment
HuBu Posted October 10, 2002 Share Posted October 10, 2002 if you can get your hands on some mexican snails, theyll be able to take care of all your algae problems in no time. these snails are about 5x the size of an average turbo. Link to comment
Brianc_4 Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 Plants are plants. Algae is algae. Phyta is algae. Chromists are phyta. Kelp is a chromista. Bacteria is bacteria. A snail 5x the size of a turbo in a nano!????? ??? Link to comment
HuBu Posted October 11, 2002 Share Posted October 11, 2002 yeah you would only need a few, 1-2. i have 2 in my 10 gal tank right now. gonna move them into the 29 gal tank once it finishes cycling. Link to comment
MKramer Posted October 12, 2002 Share Posted October 12, 2002 Methinks you haven't seen many typical-sized turbos. I can't imagine having 2 of them in my 10g. Something 5x their size would be absurd. That would actually make them almost as wide as my tank itself. Link to comment
Brianc_4 Posted October 13, 2002 Share Posted October 13, 2002 I think I saw one of those snails kick Mothras ass in one of the old Godzilla movies. Link to comment
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