ninerfan4life
Member
75 gal
PH- 8.2
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- .25
Nitrate-0
salin- .022
How do i get this algea to stop growing on my sand???!!!
- Thread starter ninerfan4life
- Start date
75 gal
PH- 8.2
Nitrite- 0
Ammonia- .25
Nitrate-0
salin- .022
geridoc
Well-Known Member
You need to lower the nutrient level in your water. The ammonia level is too high. Unless you have had a fish "disappear" recently, or you added some new live rock, you are probably over feeding or overstocking. Address those problems, do some water changes and add some macro algae to your sump, use only RODI water and the pest algae will eventually go away.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeriDoc http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538327
You need to lower the nutrient level in your water. The ammonia level is too high. Unless you have had a fish "disappear" recently, or you added some new live rock, you are probably over feeding or overstocking. Address those problems, do some water changes and add some macro algae to your sump, use only RODI water and the pest algae will eventually go away.
Hi,
+1
and I want to add that a sand sifting critter will help. Nassarius snails are excellent (you need at least 15 in a 75g). They eat the extra wasted food that fall into the rocks, and dig into the sand to hide when not looking for food...thus stirring it for you without depleting the fauna. A shrimp, serpent or brittle star (NOT the green) will also help to eat extra food in the rocks. By getting critters that rid the tank of the extra nutrients and doing regular water changes, will go a long way in keeping the tank stable with no ammonia spikes. .25 isn't going to kill anything, but it shows you that serious trouble looms.
Originally Posted by GeriDoc http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538327
You need to lower the nutrient level in your water. The ammonia level is too high. Unless you have had a fish "disappear" recently, or you added some new live rock, you are probably over feeding or overstocking. Address those problems, do some water changes and add some macro algae to your sump, use only RODI water and the pest algae will eventually go away.
Hi,
+1
and I want to add that a sand sifting critter will help. Nassarius snails are excellent (you need at least 15 in a 75g). They eat the extra wasted food that fall into the rocks, and dig into the sand to hide when not looking for food...thus stirring it for you without depleting the fauna. A shrimp, serpent or brittle star (NOT the green) will also help to eat extra food in the rocks. By getting critters that rid the tank of the extra nutrients and doing regular water changes, will go a long way in keeping the tank stable with no ammonia spikes. .25 isn't going to kill anything, but it shows you that serious trouble looms.
ninerfan4life
Member
Well it's definitely not over stock all I have is a brittle star, two clowns, lawn mower, fox face, six line and a purple fire fish. I do not have a sump I have a canister. And RO is the only water that I use. I also have a few nass snails. I ordered about 20 Nass and turbo snails for saltwater but when they where all DOA, so I guess in just going to have to go to the local pet store
ninerfan4life
Member
And this macro algae is and does what? First time hearing about it.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by ninerfan4life http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538343
And this macro algae is and does what? First time hearing about it.
Hi,
If you are going for a reef (corals) then you want to get free floating macroalgae, and keep it in the sump, if you have only fish with live rock, you can put some decorator macros right in the display (they have a hold fast so it stays in one spot where you glue it) You can get the type the fish like to eat, but it won't last long, but if it's in a refugium...it is free food...there are also macros most fish will leave alone. Check out Golf Coast Ecosystems...
Now...what is macroalgae? It's a sea plant for lack of a better way to put it. It uses and absorbs ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates to grow...and when it reaches a certain size and becomes "over grown" you prune it back and remove the extra...called harvesting. When you remove the over growth from your tank, you are exporting the nitrates, ammonia, nitrites and phosphates from your system. It costs about $10.00 a pint, or free if you have a friend that is ready to harvest...rather then toss it out, they can give you some.
It's the cheapest and most natural way to keep your water quality pristine. It is not an instant fix, but as it grows and you remove that extra, your tank reaps all kinds of benefits. The tiny sea bugs (copepods, isopods and amphipods) love to live in it, that population is good for your tank and critters. It also adds color to the live rocks and gives the tank a better over all appearance.
Originally Posted by ninerfan4life http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538343
And this macro algae is and does what? First time hearing about it.
Hi,
If you are going for a reef (corals) then you want to get free floating macroalgae, and keep it in the sump, if you have only fish with live rock, you can put some decorator macros right in the display (they have a hold fast so it stays in one spot where you glue it) You can get the type the fish like to eat, but it won't last long, but if it's in a refugium...it is free food...there are also macros most fish will leave alone. Check out Golf Coast Ecosystems...
Now...what is macroalgae? It's a sea plant for lack of a better way to put it. It uses and absorbs ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates to grow...and when it reaches a certain size and becomes "over grown" you prune it back and remove the extra...called harvesting. When you remove the over growth from your tank, you are exporting the nitrates, ammonia, nitrites and phosphates from your system. It costs about $10.00 a pint, or free if you have a friend that is ready to harvest...rather then toss it out, they can give you some.
It's the cheapest and most natural way to keep your water quality pristine. It is not an instant fix, but as it grows and you remove that extra, your tank reaps all kinds of benefits. The tiny sea bugs (copepods, isopods and amphipods) love to live in it, that population is good for your tank and critters. It also adds color to the live rocks and gives the tank a better over all appearance.
ninerfan4life
Member
That's crazy that I have never heard of it, or maybe I have and just don't remember lol. Alright so being that I have a canister filter and do plan on here in the next week or two having a buddy give me some frags, you say I can just glue it wherever in the tank?
ninerfan4life
Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538351
Hi,
If you are going for a reef (corals) then you want to get free floating macroalgae, and keep it in the sump, if you have only fish with live rock, you can put some decorator macros right in the display (they have a hold fast so it stays in one spot where you glue it) You can get the type the fish like to eat, but it won't last long, but if it's in a refugium...it is free food...there are also macros most fish will leave alone. Check out Golf Coast Ecosystems...
Now...what is macroalgae? It's a sea plant for lack of a better way to put it. It uses and absorbs ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates to grow...and when it reaches a certain size and becomes "over grown" you prune it back and remove the extra...called harvesting. When you remove the over growth from your tank, you are exporting the nitrates, ammonia, nitrites and phosphates from your system. It costs about $10.00 a pint, or free if you have a friend that is ready to harvest...rather then toss it out, they can give you some.
It's the cheapest and most natural way to keep your water quality pristine. It is not an instant fix, but as it grows and you remove that extra, your tank reaps all kinds of benefits. The tiny sea bugs (copepods, isopods and amphipods) love to live in it, that population is good for your tank and critters. It also adds color to the live rocks and gives the tank a better over all appearance.
Would putting macro algae in the tank be detrimental for the lawn mower blenny due the lack of food
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538351
Hi,
If you are going for a reef (corals) then you want to get free floating macroalgae, and keep it in the sump, if you have only fish with live rock, you can put some decorator macros right in the display (they have a hold fast so it stays in one spot where you glue it) You can get the type the fish like to eat, but it won't last long, but if it's in a refugium...it is free food...there are also macros most fish will leave alone. Check out Golf Coast Ecosystems...
Now...what is macroalgae? It's a sea plant for lack of a better way to put it. It uses and absorbs ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and phosphates to grow...and when it reaches a certain size and becomes "over grown" you prune it back and remove the extra...called harvesting. When you remove the over growth from your tank, you are exporting the nitrates, ammonia, nitrites and phosphates from your system. It costs about $10.00 a pint, or free if you have a friend that is ready to harvest...rather then toss it out, they can give you some.
It's the cheapest and most natural way to keep your water quality pristine. It is not an instant fix, but as it grows and you remove that extra, your tank reaps all kinds of benefits. The tiny sea bugs (copepods, isopods and amphipods) love to live in it, that population is good for your tank and critters. It also adds color to the live rocks and gives the tank a better over all appearance.
Would putting macro algae in the tank be detrimental for the lawn mower blenny due the lack of food
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by ninerfan4life http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538358
Would putting macro algae in the tank be detrimental for the lawn mower blenny due the lack of food
Hi,
The lawnmower blenny is more likely to attack the macro. There is always algae, macros will just out compete the nuisance algae...otherwise the snails would starve too. I have plenty of fat healthy snails.
Originally Posted by ninerfan4life http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538358
Would putting macro algae in the tank be detrimental for the lawn mower blenny due the lack of food
Hi,
The lawnmower blenny is more likely to attack the macro. There is always algae, macros will just out compete the nuisance algae...otherwise the snails would starve too. I have plenty of fat healthy snails.
ninerfan4life
Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538375
Hi,
The lawnmower blenny is more likely to attack the macro. There is always algae, macros will just out compete the nuisance algae...otherwise the snails would starve too. I have plenty of fat healthy snails.
That makes sense lol. So in your opinion whats the best macro?
Originally Posted by Flower http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538375
Hi,
The lawnmower blenny is more likely to attack the macro. There is always algae, macros will just out compete the nuisance algae...otherwise the snails would starve too. I have plenty of fat healthy snails.
That makes sense lol. So in your opinion whats the best macro?
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by ninerfan4life http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538376
That makes sense lol. So in your opinion whats the best macro?
Hi,
I'm afraid that choice is like selecting your fish, you must choose. Check out Golf Coast Ecosystems, they even have an on-line book to tell you about the different macros. You want the type with a hold fast if you plan to put it in the display, and you would want a slow grower. The free floating stuff, such as Chaeto is for refugiums and it's a fast grower.
I personally stay away from feather or grape caulerpa, it goes sexual and makes the entire tank look like milk. The Prolifera caulerpa however, looks like turtle grass, and I have has it for years and it has never done that. There are red, Golden/Brown, and green macros. I like the bright red myself. I keep seahorses, so I went for the more branchy types (Botryocladia...AKA Red Grape) for hitches
I let the maros really over grow because seahorses are very messy eaters, so when I harvest, I'm removing quite a bit.
Before I harvested: This is the longest I ever let it go....
What the tank looks like now, after a major harvesting.
Originally Posted by ninerfan4life http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538376
That makes sense lol. So in your opinion whats the best macro?
Hi,
I'm afraid that choice is like selecting your fish, you must choose. Check out Golf Coast Ecosystems, they even have an on-line book to tell you about the different macros. You want the type with a hold fast if you plan to put it in the display, and you would want a slow grower. The free floating stuff, such as Chaeto is for refugiums and it's a fast grower.
I personally stay away from feather or grape caulerpa, it goes sexual and makes the entire tank look like milk. The Prolifera caulerpa however, looks like turtle grass, and I have has it for years and it has never done that. There are red, Golden/Brown, and green macros. I like the bright red myself. I keep seahorses, so I went for the more branchy types (Botryocladia...AKA Red Grape) for hitches
I let the maros really over grow because seahorses are very messy eaters, so when I harvest, I'm removing quite a bit.
Before I harvested: This is the longest I ever let it go....
What the tank looks like now, after a major harvesting.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Wow! That looks really good Deb. How's the other tank looking?
ninerfan4life
Member
Damn that does look pretty good. What about the carbon filters, from some of the things I have read it could make algae boom. I have heard to change them but then some people say don't change them. And for the record I havnt change them in about lil over a year for the reason that some people say don't change them.
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by ninerfan4life http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538409
Damn that does look pretty good. What about the carbon filters, from some of the things I have read it could make algae boom. I have heard to change them but then some people say don't change them. And for the record I havnt change them in about lil over a year for the reason that some people say don't change them.
You were told don't change the carbon? I have always read, and been told to remove carbon after 1 month.
After a month, carbon doesn't absorb toxins or purify the water anymore...
HOWEVER, any surface that's been in the tank that long has become part of the bacteria that breaks down waste. There is always a perfect balance between the amount of waste and the amount of good bacteria...if you ever swap that carbon out, you may have a slight ammonia spike as the tank adjusts....but causing an algae bloom???? After a year the carbon isn't doing you any good, remove it a little at a time and replace it with new carbon. This is why folks claim canisters become nitrate factories...if you don't service the filter as you should, the filter media does just that...convert everything to nitrates and trap it there.
Algae is a way of life if you keep a fish tank. We use CUCs (clean up crew) of snails, crabs and certain algae eating fish to control it. That's the beauty of SW tanks, the algae eaters actually do their job. We may not like the "look" of algae, but algae is feeding on all the nasty's that we don't want in our tanks. It's natures way of keeping things balanced...the fish have to eat, swim and poop all in their own environment.
There are many methods to keep our tanks looking good, and healthy, keeping macroalgae is just one of them....IMO, The best thing to do is to put the kind of algae we want, that looks good to us, to out compete the nuisance algae for the food. It's natural, and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to set it up.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Silverado, my 90g is looking pretty good, but I don't have a recent picture to post. The fluorescent orange is spreading...but now I don't think it's a different macro then what is already there. The bat stars seem to be eating something out of the macros and leaving the bright orange behind, as the macro continues to grow, it becomes the bright red it's supposed to be. So now, I think the bat stars are eating away the dead stuff...which is a good thing.
LOL...I was so happy to think it was the algae I mentioned, that I ordered some, as well as some cerith snails. Now that they are cleared off, the wheel and anchor are covered in blue/purple coralline...it was so covered in algae before that I couldn't see the surface of them.
I'm thinking about getting a couple of cucumbers to keep the sand clean on the surface, I'm not sure about that idea yet. I read they actually eat the sand and spit it back out...but that just doesn't sound right. I want to make sure it won't affect the fauna. I already have sand sifting stars in the tank, and if I'm not careful they will starve each other out.
Oh ....after two weeks of giving up on the little peach stripped goby I had added, I seen it alive and healthy, it's a shy little critter and it likes the rocks...EVERYTHING likes the rocks...the tank looks empty until the seahorses come out to play. A single pair will emerge, and the others stay hidden to give them the run of thank, the only time I see all 5 is at feeding time.
Originally Posted by ninerfan4life http:///t/397095/how-do-i-get-this-algea-to-stop-growing-on-my-sand#post_3538409
Damn that does look pretty good. What about the carbon filters, from some of the things I have read it could make algae boom. I have heard to change them but then some people say don't change them. And for the record I havnt change them in about lil over a year for the reason that some people say don't change them.
You were told don't change the carbon? I have always read, and been told to remove carbon after 1 month.
After a month, carbon doesn't absorb toxins or purify the water anymore...
HOWEVER, any surface that's been in the tank that long has become part of the bacteria that breaks down waste. There is always a perfect balance between the amount of waste and the amount of good bacteria...if you ever swap that carbon out, you may have a slight ammonia spike as the tank adjusts....but causing an algae bloom???? After a year the carbon isn't doing you any good, remove it a little at a time and replace it with new carbon. This is why folks claim canisters become nitrate factories...if you don't service the filter as you should, the filter media does just that...convert everything to nitrates and trap it there.
Algae is a way of life if you keep a fish tank. We use CUCs (clean up crew) of snails, crabs and certain algae eating fish to control it. That's the beauty of SW tanks, the algae eaters actually do their job. We may not like the "look" of algae, but algae is feeding on all the nasty's that we don't want in our tanks. It's natures way of keeping things balanced...the fish have to eat, swim and poop all in their own environment.
There are many methods to keep our tanks looking good, and healthy, keeping macroalgae is just one of them....IMO, The best thing to do is to put the kind of algae we want, that looks good to us, to out compete the nuisance algae for the food. It's natural, and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to set it up.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Silverado, my 90g is looking pretty good, but I don't have a recent picture to post. The fluorescent orange is spreading...but now I don't think it's a different macro then what is already there. The bat stars seem to be eating something out of the macros and leaving the bright orange behind, as the macro continues to grow, it becomes the bright red it's supposed to be. So now, I think the bat stars are eating away the dead stuff...which is a good thing.
LOL...I was so happy to think it was the algae I mentioned, that I ordered some, as well as some cerith snails. Now that they are cleared off, the wheel and anchor are covered in blue/purple coralline...it was so covered in algae before that I couldn't see the surface of them.
I'm thinking about getting a couple of cucumbers to keep the sand clean on the surface, I'm not sure about that idea yet. I read they actually eat the sand and spit it back out...but that just doesn't sound right. I want to make sure it won't affect the fauna. I already have sand sifting stars in the tank, and if I'm not careful they will starve each other out.
Oh ....after two weeks of giving up on the little peach stripped goby I had added, I seen it alive and healthy, it's a shy little critter and it likes the rocks...EVERYTHING likes the rocks...the tank looks empty until the seahorses come out to play. A single pair will emerge, and the others stay hidden to give them the run of thank, the only time I see all 5 is at feeding time.