Things have certainly slowed down in the tank, with "new tank syndrome" finally starting to wane. I thought I would discuss some happenings prior to any new additions.
In my 24g Nano Cube, I had experienced small tufts of filamentatious algae, some tiny spots of bubble algae and one outbreak of Lobophora (brown wafer algae). All in all, I was lucky. In the new tank, I have experienced various forms of algae that I find both troublesome
and interesting. The interesting aspect is how they wax, wane and out compete each other for nutrients, and what indications that gives me on my tanks diversity and my continued maintenance.
In the 55g, I have deliberately hosted Chaetomorpha, encouraged the hitchhiking growth of Halimeda and Chlorodesmis, and suffered Bryopsis, Dinoflagellates,
Cyanobacteria. Early growth may have been spurred on by maverick feeding procedures, but now I have dialed those back a bit and am following more strict self-imposed guidelines on limiting excess and trapped food through selective spot feeding and pump control.
When I had a pronounced Dinoflagellate outbreak, I noticed that they out-competed the other Macro and Micro algae in the tank. In fact, my troublesome Bryopsis threat weakened and waned almost entirely by being out-competed. My resilient Chaetomorpha growth has even showed some signs of slowing during the worst of it, but has since rebounded.
Prior to the Dino phase, the Bryopsis (almost entirely limited to the right side of the tank) was particularly troubling. Routine pruning the Bryopsis was pointless (within 10 days it grew back entirely), and I could not remove the rock since they are firmly implanted in my
DSB(!). When the Dinos hit, the Briopsis became coated and became pale and weak. I decided to take that opportunity to attack. I turned off all my pumps until the water was still and used a stiff OXO bottle brush (which is my preferred
skimmer cup cleaning tool) to scrub the bulk of the Bryopsis off the rock. The session was quite effective, and I was able to carefully net up virtually all of the debris, and only a few hints of battered Bryopsis remain to this day. I do not think it would be nearly as effective if the Dinos did not severely weaken the Bryopsis through competition.
my new best friend
This gave me new insight on how to battle problematic algae. Not that I would deliberately introduce a pernicious algae to help weaken another, but perhaps there is something (apart from the more careful control of nutrient introduction) to be learned from these events.
Consequently, my Dinos (and even the latest
Cyano phase) are now fading (albeit slowly) as my tank matures.
