Dying macroalgae

[algaeeater]

Hi
My fuge isn't looking very good. It is fed off a Y from my overflow box. The other end goes to a sump, they both meet in the middle and get pumped back up. Anyway, my macroalgae (assorted caluerpa etc) is all stringy, there is some scum on the surface. It is not growing. I have a 15w grow light. Do I need more? Should I be feeding the fuge? My parameters are good, nitrates zero, salinty 1.25, temp 80, use RO/DI water, 10% weekly changes, PH 8.22
Thanks.
Algae should be the easiest thing to grow

 

[flamingkingofhe]

what size is the fuge what type of lights are they strip, vho, pc, etc. also is the caularpa white and how many gph. are you running through the fuge also are you running any power heads in it

 

[algaeeater]

Hi
Thanks for your response
MY fuge is a 30g with a 15w strip light from Home Depot. No PH inside. The caulerpa is white, very few grapes, fuzzy at some places. I dont know the gph. But it isn't much. a trickle compared whats going into the sump. I have some live rock, crushed coral and tons of pods.
Thanks

 

[leboeuf]

welcome to my confusing world. I experience the same dilemia once a month. I started adding iron weekly and this seems to help, but by no means looks like Bang's fuge. I have a decent amount growing but it only fills less than 50% of space available. It doesn't grow anywhere close to the intake slits in the sump. It all gathers in the back. Any indication of why! why! why!
didn't mean to steal your thread.

 

[jlem]

How does your main tank look? Do you have a problem with algae in the main tank? Your tank may be like mine and not produce a high enough bioload to support more algae than what your main tank has. I don't know if I would want to add stuff to increase algae growth when the whole reason for the fuge is to reduce algae growth. I would count your blessings and remove the algae from the fuge until it looks like you need it.

 

[algaeeater]

Hi all
I have been having a problem with some hair algae especially near the return outlets but coraline algae covers all of my LR, all of the back glass and I have to scape it off the sides so I can see. The hair algae is a pain. It has caused my to stop added plankton. My polyps look ok. When I add plankton for the polyps, the hair algae grows.
Maybe there is not enough nitrates etc. for the fuge algae to feed off.
Maybe the hair algae is coming from my swampy fuge! Crap!
Might have to close off that half.
thanks all

 

[jlem]

Does your fuge look stagnant, if so you may have to add a little more waterflow along the surface. You could try a PC light from home depot or wallmart. They are pretty cheap light spectrum is not of major concern inside the fuge.

 

[tvan]

You my have to feed your fuge. If all yor params are zero what is your algae living on?? Also caluerpa has a fast life cycle, you may be at the end of it. Check out other types of marine plants. Add some that aren't so toxic. I switched to tang heaven and Chaetomopha sp.. Brighter lights won't help.
JMO
Tom

 

[jlem]

Brighter lights may indeed help. How do explain an algae bloom when people throw on brighter lights. Now if your water is just extremely pure then the light may not, but since algae grows in the main tank then the difference is the lights. Do you have any algae in the refuge? You may have to try a different type of algae just because different tanks like different things, but more light means more algae. It is the whole photothinsethis ( you can spell it ) thing.

 

[fishkid1000]

I can think of two things that you could add to make the algae grow. Co2 really helps if you inject it into the fuge. If you can find nitrates than you can put some in your fuge. I know farmers around here use nitrates for fertilizer.
HTH

 

[discusking]

brighter lights would help, and the addition of iodine would significantly help in the growth of the algae. I recently found a peice of C. ramosa on my LR and it didnt do much of anything for about 4 days.. yesterday I added some iodine and this morning I found that the number of grapes on the rhzome more than doubled... I think that it really needed a bost of iodine to really get it started. The tank is lit by a 32 watt smart lamp pc.

 

[jlem]

If you add iodine to increase algae then won't the algae in the tank increase also. the light increase may be enough to jump start the algae in the fuge.

 

[tvan]

An Algae bloom is short lived when you add bright lights. How do you rid your tank of algae, lower phospates and nitrates. How do you grow algae?
JMO
Tom

 

[bang guy]

More water flow and a lot more light.