Round Two

reefnut

Active Member
I need help with my Bryopsis Algae. I have taken most of the suggestions from the previous post and nothing I do seems to work. I've used phosphate removers, pulled the bryopsis out of the display and put it into the fuge (it's still living among the macro's by the way), I have 2- lettuce nudi, added a Foxface a short time ago... Nitrates are 0-5ppm, phosphates still undetectable, silicate undetectable, topoff RO/DI water, 40g fuge full of macros, good skimmer, lighting is on 8-10 hrs/day... What I'm I missing?
edit: Also, feed everyother day. Fish as follows, Purple Tang, Foxface, Lawnmower Blenny, Scooter Blenny, Sixline, Damsel, Tomato Clown. Am I overstocked?
 

reefnut

Active Member
It was suggested that putting the Bryopsis in the fuge with 24/7 lighting would starve out the Bryopsis in the DT. In my case it didn't.
It really surprised me that the Bryopsis continued to grow in the fuge which was filled with macros.
All I can think of is my substrate is nutrient rich and continues to feed the Bryopsis...
 

flydan

Active Member
Hey,
It's got to be getting it's nutrients from somewhere. Since all your perameters seem to be good I would guess something is a bit out of whack that you're not testing for. Maybe Alk levels?
Just another guess, but how old are your lights? Could be getting worn out and not working as well as they should.
HTH,
Dan'l
 

birdy

Active Member
bryopsis can be next to impossible to get rid of. Even if everything is perfect in the tank, once it get's started it just keeps growing. I wound up, moving my corals into a temporary home (I don't have very many), and shutting off the lights completely in my Display for two weeks, after the two weeks, I took all my rocks out and scrubbed them down, put them back in, I also broke down my fuge and took out all the micro algaes that were growing in there and restarted it. I was a lot of work, but it work. Like you I tried everything else first. I also had a lot of other types of hair algae along with my bryopsis.
 

reefnut

Active Member
rangermonroe, bryopsis is a type of hair algae. The leaf looks like a feather.
Dan, I posted the perameters I thought would effect algae growth. Alk is 11.2, calcium 440, mag 1350ish. The VHOs are less than 6-mo old and the MH less than 1- year.
Birdy, :scared: that sounds rough but I'm about getting to that point myself.
Thanks for the ideas!!
 

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
reef: hope you solve this. basically I think you will have to keep at it. eventually the refug will control everything.
And I do see the turning the lights off is becomning a viable solution.
 

reefnut

Active Member
eventually the refug will control everything
This just goes to show how close minded you are.
Turning off the lights is becoming a last ditch attempt, not a viable solution for me. I have over 30 corals most of which are connected to the rocks the algae is growing on. I don't know if I could move them to another tank if I wanted to.
 

jauringer

Member
phosphate reading of 0 can be misleading when you have algea consuming it. There seems to be enough beeing introduced to keep bryopsis alive. What phosphat remover are you using? I have had excelent results with Marc Wiess phosphate and silicate magnet.
edit : what is your water change schedule?
 

reefnut

Active Member
I used PhosGuard by Seachem. Water changes are 5g every 1-2 weeks. Think larger changes would help?
 

jauringer

Member
it couldn't hurt or maybe just more frequent for a couple of weeks. (like maybe 5gl on sunday and again on wed for a few weeks.) phosphate and silicat magnet is a little pricey, but i can tell you. its worth every penny and it last for about 6 months.
 

reefnut

Active Member
I'll give the water changes a try. I'll also look into the phosphate and silicat magnet. Thanks!
 

reefnut

Active Member
jauringer, I'll need it...

aarone, I have 2 but they don't eat very quick. They also tend to stay out of the longer patches.
 

aarone

Active Member
Yeah,
I have noticed that whenever the algae problem is bad, the animals that are eating it are very slow and get the biggest ones last.
aaron
 
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