Algae invading algae: Have you had unwanted algae in your good macroalgae?

[Peace River]

Algae invading algae: Have you had unwanted algae in your good macroalgae?

Macroalgae is both beautiful and very functional. Of course, this statement applies when it isn’t struggling and one of the things that can cause macroalgae to struggle, in addition to poor lighting and nutrition, is when it is surrounded by unwanted algae. Whether it is in the display tank, in an algae scrubber, in a algae reactor, or in refugium, when unwanted algae shows up it can be a problem. Has this happened to you? Have you had unwanted algae in your good macroalgae? If so, please let us know how you have dealt with it and tell us about your experience with unwanted algae in your macroalgae.

Photo by Deltec


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[KrisReef]

Always get some hair algae growing in the fuge along with the chaetomorpha and the red macro algae that I have in there.

 

[k2-]

Yeap - My 100G external regugium has an algae taking over cheto - but as long as its doing the job i am fine with it.

 

[Dburr1014]

Never had a problem with algae, only cyano in my cheato.

 

[tzabor10]

Sometimes see hair algae. But mostly grape caulerpa

 

[Wasabiroot]

I always get the mushy clumpy GHA that grows in the fronds of my gracilaria. I can't tell if there's too much iron, or not enough light or flow or something else. It ends up taking over unless I constantly remove clumps of it >_<

 

[MattPLaw]

I have chaeto in my make shift refugium in my redsea e170. I get green hair algae with it all the time. As far as I am concerned I just need to clean it up a bit every week. In my opinion the point of the refugium is to take extra nutrients out of the display, so isn't the "pest" algae doing that too?

 

[GARRIGA]

Last Fuge was a failure. GHA overtook my Pom Pom which otherwise was thriving. Next Fuge I'm going to run it post all filtration to eliminate GHA spores from contacting it. Seems GHA the dominate species as it pertains to Pom Pom. Perhaps other macroalgae fair better.

 

[JoJosReef]

Used to have display macroalgae. Valonia and ulva were a major problem. Valonia would get on everything and ulva would suffocate my calcareous macros like Galaxaura.

 

[shakacuz]

occasionally if i harvest/remove too much chaeto i do get some GHA that takes a hold and tried to outcompete.

 

[slingfox]

I used to grow chaeto in my refugium but it kept on getting outcompeted by the mix of algae that grows in turf scrubbers. I ultimately decided to remove the chaeto and now I just grow the turf algae on plastic pot scrubbers sitting in pond baskets in the refugium. Solid growth and easy to harvest.

 

[Reefer Reboot]

I have bubble algae growing with my Chaeto. Occasionally I'll just pull out a clump of it and toss it in the display tank (I can hear the gasps now), but the rabbit and tangs destroy it in seconds.

 

[GARRIGA]

I used to grow chaeto in my refugium but it kept on getting outcompeted by the mix of algae that grows in turf scrubbers. I ultimately decided to remove the chaeto and now I just grow the turf algae on plastic pot scrubbers sitting in pond baskets in the refugium. Solid growth and easy to harvest.

That's an awesome application. Been trying to figure out how to grow GHA without an ATS and this solves it. No sense spending on chaeto or Pom Pom when GHA free.

 

[slingfox]

That's an awesome application. Been trying to figure out how to grow GHA without an ATS and this solves it. No sense spending on chaeto or Pom Pom when GHA free.

Yes the setup is essentially a makeshift algae turf scrubber using stuff I already had. The only thing I needed to buy was the plastic pot scrubbers which are cheap. The chaeto could not compete against the turf algae. I removed chaeto from the two baskets and cleaned out the turf algae multiple times but it kept coming back. Over time the chaeto started to get brittle and fall apart. I then decided to switch to the setup shown. I am thinking about reducing the number of pot scrubbers slightly to give the turf algae more room to grow.

 

[GARRIGA]

Yes the setup is essentially a makeshift algae turf scrubber using stuff I already had. The only thing I needed to buy was the plastic pot scrubbers which are cheap. The chaeto could not compete against the turf algae. I removed chaeto from the two baskets and cleaned out the turf algae multiple times but it kept coming back. Over time the chaeto started to get brittle and fall apart. I then decided to switch to the setup shown. I am thinking about reducing the number of pot scrubbers slightly to give the turf algae more room to grow.

That's what was happening in my DIY HOB Fuge. GHA grew on top of the Pom Pom. Tried placing a screen horizontal but wasn't as effective. Couldn't figure out what else to use. Considered ping pongs which are used for reducing evaporation but floated too high. Never crossed my mind to use pot scrubbers although have considered them for biological. Go figure.

Have the pond baskets. Was going to float chaeto on them. Now you've solved my problem. Lazy as I am. I'll just throw them in a bucket with citric acid.

 

[Joseph_Joe]

Hair algae on my Codium and Halymenia, both slow growth algae, but not on the other species.
Is it related ? Time will tell

 

[NewbieC123]

I used to grow chaeto in my refugium but it kept on getting outcompeted by the mix of algae that grows in turf scrubbers. I ultimately decided to remove the chaeto and now I just grow the turf algae on plastic pot scrubbers sitting in pond baskets in the refugium. Solid growth and easy to harvest.

How often do you clean those out? Do you have a formula for how many plastic scrubbers to how many gallons you use?

 

[slingfox]

How often do you clean those out? Do you have a formula for how many plastic scrubbers to how many gallons you use?

I currently pull out the algae every two weeks or so but am only running the refugium lights for 8 hours at night since my nutrients were low and I did not have much nuisance algae in the display tank. I used to run the refugium as much as 14 hours a day when I was dealing with a massive GHA outbreak in the display tank. For the pot scrubbers I bought a pack of 15 on Amazon for $10.99 and put 7 in each basket and use the spare one in my laundry room sink. I have been planning to reduce the pot scrubber count to 4-5 to see if more water area allows the turf algae to grow better. Right now I get the most growth on the sides of the pond baskets. I got plastic put scrubbers since they provide surface area for beneficial bacteria, substrate for turf algae to grow, and homes for copepods.

 

[mfinn]

I usually get a little hair algae growing in my sump around the edges where the flow is almost nonexistent. No biggie, just grab a hand full and toss it.

 

[merkmerk73]

GHA in and on the chaeto

It’s annoying