Help ID Algae Growth in New Tank

[CarmieJo]

Watch the turbo snails though. They are a temperate water species and usually do not live long at the temps we keep our reefs at. I also like my hermits. They are good detrivores and FUN to watch.

[Monza28]

Well I'm happy to report that the diatoms are almost completely gone. I picked up three turbo snails and three blue leg hermits. The snails have done a great job on the algae when they arent busy laying on their backs. I'm starting to see a "new" type of green algae that looks like some macroalgae.


Any idea what it is and more importantly what eats it? I'm thinking of picking up some more CUC, what I have is working but new algae is sprouting up elsewhere faster than they can mow it down. What do you think of electric blue hermits? I've also seen quite a few of these little starfish out at night, they are all missing limbs. Are they reef safe? Can they sever themselves to reproduce or are they being preyed upon?

[Reefbaby]

Hi Ricky - the algae is looking suspiciously like Hair Algae, which is a nuisance algae and you definitely don't want to propagate that in your tank! So, make sure you're doing regular water changes to help keep your nitrate and phosphate levels reduced. Make sure your skimmer is producing nice scum. Cut back your lights to a minimum as well - this will help out. Are you feeding anything at the moment?

The little starfish is an Asterina starfish, which is a nice little detrivore/herbivore to have in your tank. They can multiply prolifically, but usually don't pose a problem. They often have uneven leg length, and even different number of legs! Don't worry about them, unless they start taking over your tank.

[Monza28]

Nitrate levels are 0, phosphate levels were tested by LFS a few weeks ago to be 0.1ppm. I'm using RO water but recently changed my RO membrane which had gone bad. I want to attack it now before it proliferates, I'll reduce my photoperiod. I'm alternating between feeding enrichened frozen brine shrimp and ocean nutrition formula one pellets (I feed small amounts once a day). I'm thinking of adding some cerith snails (still looking for them locally) and some more hermits. A LFS has electric blue hermits which are pretty cool looking. I searched and found very little, but they are supposed to be reef safe. I also need to find some Chaeto for my sump.

[Reefbaby]

uigh...I had just written a long post and accidently hit the wrong button and lost it all! okay...start all over...

Reducing the photoperiod will help, but I would also recommend getting some tweezers and pulling as much of it out as possible. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but it's worth the extra effort, because most of the critters in the tank won't really go for eating hair algae.

If I were you, I would invest in a few kits of your own. It's much better if you can choose when you would like to measure your parameters. The kits aren't that expensive and will last for quite a long time. It's definitely worth it!

The chaeto in the sump will help to export the extra nutrients...just make sure you harvest it every once in awhile.

So...why are you feeding? How many fish do you actually have? Could it be that you're just fueling the nutrient levels? If you don't have any fish to eat up all the food, then you should be very careful what you feed, as most of it will just decompose and spark the whole process again....

[Monza28]

I have two clowns in there that I'm feeding. New test kits are on my shopping list.

[CarmieJo]

Also phosphate of 0.1 is reactively high. Are you rinsing the brine? The "soup" they are frozen in can contain phosphate.

[Monza28]

The phosphate was at 0.1 after I filled the tank and had nothing in it. At the time, unknownest to me, I was having trouble with my RO water, I have since fixed the problem. Phosphate level is currently at 0. I'm assuming the algae I have in their now absorbed all the phosphates.

[CarmieJo]

That is good. Algae is a good nutrient sink so I imagine it has taken up the PO4. I would siphon and manually extract as much as possible. This will avoid having the algae release the nutrients back into the system!