Green everywhere!

[mlt]

A few weeks ago I added plant life to my tank and now I have a real mess! I put in a few strands of grape like plants and now the stuff is growing everywhere. It is stuck to my rocks and now I also have hair algea mixed in with it. I started with well water but I am now using RO/DI for top offs and water changes. My readings are:
ammonia 0
trites 0
trates 40 (plant life didn't help!)
ph is still high but dropping with the RO/DI water
CA at 450
I am using De-Nitrate chips in my filter (Just put in yesterday)
I only have a CB shrimp
3 peppermint shrimp
1 horseshoe crab
1 arrow crab
and a huge hermit crab that is going to town on the hair algea.
What can I do to get rid of the grape stuff. I keep trying to pull it out but like I said it is stuck in the LR. Thanks

 

[flydan]

Hey,
Well, if you are talking about grape caulerpa you should be able to pull it off by hand and it doesn't grow THAT fast. If you're talking about bubble algae you have a whole new problem.

Let us know exactly what it is.
HTH,
Dan'l

 

[beaslbob]

the reason the plant life is triving is your nitrates. Just removing your plants will bump up the nitrates and carbon dioxide as well. Let the plants grow. they will slow down as nitrates and phosphates approach 0.0. then the crabs eating the plants will reduce the plants. nitrates would be much higher if you had not added the plant life. ro/di water will not significantly reduce nitrates as they are overwhelming the result of the bioload of your system. By switching to ro/di water and adding the plant life you can not be sure if the ro/di or plant life is reducing the nitrates.

 

[mlt]

I am not sure what kind of plant it is. It has little grape like clusters on a vine. This stuff has grown fast and has little roots that are attaching to the LR. I am pulling it off as much as I can
but the little roots stick in the rock and the stuff grows back.
Thanks

 

[flydan]

Hey,
OK, that's grape caulerpa. Most people put caulerpa (There are a lot of varieties.) in their refugiums. The good news is that it takes nutients out of the water before the pest algaes can use it. The bad news is that you do have to export it (take it out) from your tank from time to time. Now if your tank is stable with a lot of caulerpa in it, or in a fuge, and you take a lot out all at once you will more than likely get an increase in pest algaes. This can happen very quickly.
HTH,
Dan'l

 

[zotl]

You didn't list any corals or anemones as occupants. If you don't have any, you can cut way back on the lighting till you get it under control.