Algae Alert! Help please :)

[Rangachick]

Our tank is now about 7 months old and is slowly settling. At the moment, we have this beautifully flowing algae growing on our rocks and wondering if you have any suggestions. I am happy to let nature run its course rather than add chemicals etc. Clean up crew consists of 3 hermit crabs, 2 nassarius snails, 2 strombus snails and 1 trochus snail. Would you increase the clean up crew or tackle this issue another way?

Current parameters are:
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.5
Nitrate: 1-5
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Temperature range (24 hours) 24-25 degrees celsius
Phosphate: 0-08 (this was 0.9! about 6 weeks ago and has been slowly brought down using phosguard and then Reef Essentials liquid phosphate remover)
Calcium: 421
Alk: 9.1 DKH
We run a skimmer and UV
35 litre water change each week using RODI water. Sand gets a vacuum every second week.

Would appreciate any help.

 

[Lasse]

I would size up the CUC and also add one or two urchins

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Rangachick]

I would size up the CUC and also add one or two urchins

Sincerely Lasse

Thanks so much Lassse - I appreciate your advice and experience. I have heard lots of good things about turbo snails for CUC. I am keen on quarantining anything that goes into our DT so if I need to quarantine CUC is it still 76 days? I'm thinking that in 76 days that algae is going to be showing it's full "beauty"

 

[Lasse]

Whit this type of algae - I think it more a question to ad hermits and one or two urchins.

Yes - this is a problem when you chose extended quarantine instead of herd immunity. if your DT have been quarantine the way that´s common in the US - you have to be careful because your present inhabitants have not faced the threats and a single pathogen can cause a disaster.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[SMSREEF]

Urchins are one of the animals that ICH and velvet trophonts do not attach to. That may be a really good choice because you can rinse a couple times and add to tank.

Take a look at this thread info.

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames Preface: The purpose of this article is to outline time periods required to properly quarantine (QT) marine corals & invertebrates. While unable to host ectoparasites the way fish do, corals/inverts are still able to “carry” fish diseases in one of two ways...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Troy V]

Our tank is now about 7 months old and is slowly settling. At the moment, we have this beautifully flowing algae growing on our rocks and wondering if you have any suggestions. I am happy to let nature run its course rather than add chemicals etc. Clean up crew consists of 3 hermit crabs, 2 nassarius snails, 2 strombus snails and 1 trochus snail. Would you increase the clean up crew or tackle this issue another way?

Current parameters are:
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.5
Nitrate: 1-5
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Temperature range (24 hours) 24-25 degrees celsius
Phosphate: 0-08 (this was 0.9! about 6 weeks ago and has been slowly brought down using phosguard and then Reef Essentials liquid phosphate remover)
Calcium: 421
Alk: 9.1 DKH
We run a skimmer and UV
35 litre water change each week using RODI water. Sand gets a vacuum every second week.

Would appreciate any help.

IMHO I think you were on the right track with letting nature take it's course. I saw your video and your system looks pretty good, just young. As it matures this will go away when left to its own devices. If you add something no matter how small it will increase you bio foot print which will alter your tanks equilibrium. I would allow your system to naturally break this algae down and don't make any biological adjustments. The algae is a natural occurrence in a new system. I think people make a mistake by thinking it's evil, when it is an important part of the biology of your tank. If it gets worse I would first look at chemistry before adding anything. Everything has a purpose in your reef, including algae no matter how unsightly. I have a 550 gallon mixed reef skimmerless system with a CUC that I can count on 2 hands. Small algae populations will ebb and flow from time to time because of coral and clam spawns (which the clam did all last week) but I never add anything to consume it because the system will absorb it. If you feel strongly about the algae in your DT you can pull it and put it in your refugium if you have one. Good luck!

 

[Lasse]

If you add something no matter how small it will increase you bio foot print which will alter your tanks equilibrium.

This is not true - it will not increase the bioload in your system. Your bioload is decided of the amount of food you put in (or organisms that you put in and die in the aquarium) Having grazers eating your own produced algae (produced by leftover from food you have put in) will lower your bio foot print and lock your nutrients into grazer biomass. Your algae consume your leftover, the CUC consume your algae and bind around 20 % the nutrients in CUC biomass. The rest 80 % will be recirculated - food for your cutted algae - they grow again and grazers block 20 % again - and the leftover produce algae - and the grazers ..............

Sincerely Lasse.

 

[Poof No Eyebrows]

You can also just kill the lighting for a few days here and there. That will put a dent in it if not get rid of most of it, but it will not solve the why and how. I agree with everyone else. Add a few more critters to the cleanup crew. FYI be cautious of urchins especially if you have hard corals or want any. I have experienced them munching on birds nests like corn on the cob.

 

[Troy V]

Your bioload is decided of the amount of food you put in (or organisms that you put in and die in the aquarium)

Don't forget as well as waste the organism produces, and food isn't always something you manually put in. Remember light is a food source for most creatures in our reef which is also an external food supply.
If you introduce an organism that consumes a nutrient exporter and that organism produces waste you now have created a void that will need to be filled. No matter how minor it may seem that void will usually be filled by more of the same algae. By your logic if I had a tank full of algae and I introduced a couple of tangs it wouldn't add to the bio load if I don't feed them and allow them to feed only on the algae in the system. This is a trap many new hobbyist fall into. Anyways I always look for a natural approach to solving things rather that adding another mouth to feed no matter how minor. Plus the OPs algae is on the decline. Adding a small CUC will finish the job. However algae does have an important place in our hobby, even the bad ones. It like antibiotics for your reef. Allowing a dose of it to grow every now and then will help keep it safe from an algae plague. I will even add bryopsis and other "harmful" algae to my refugium whenever I can. It's like give my tank a shot.

 

[Cell]

Algae needs active management for all but the few lucky ones. I would not ignore it and let nature takes it's course because it's course might just take over your tank completely if left unchecked.

 

[Lasse]

By your logic if I had a tank full of algae and I introduced a couple of tangs it wouldn't add to the bio load if I don't feed them and allow them to feed only on the algae in the system.

Exactly - you got it. The nutrients is transferred from algae biomass to tang biomass - in smaller and smaller steps. But in the end i does not add to the bioload in a closed system.

Sincerely Lasse