Caribsea Life Rock Issues

[ratzy82]

My Carib sea soaked phosphates and then would leach them back out causing algae issues. Dealt with this for 5 years before it went away.

Yep, I'm not doing that! I'm in the process of tearing it all out. The stuff is not porous so no beneficial bacteria can ever take hold. I think i finally beat it, but I'm not gonna take a chance on having to nuke my tank after all my corals are grown out.

 

[Mattiejay6]

Turbo snails absolutely demolish hair algae

 

[ratzy82]

This stuff makes up half my rockwork, about 8 months after turning lights on I have a few (3) small(1/2” across) tufts of turf algae on one piece that I’m planning on doing an aggressive manual removal on this week but that’s it.

I have a more comprehensive clean up crew though - around a dozen hermits, an emerald, a few porcelain crabs and maybe 30 snails of various types, not including dwarf snails and tiny limpets that reproduce in the tank.

It was 100% of mine, In the process of slowly tearing it out. The only way to beat it, is to let coraline algea grow over it. Took me 3 rounds of flux, and loosing about 5 pieces of coral.

 

[ratzy82]

Turbo snails absolutely demolish hair algae

yep if it's hair algea. In the end i realized it was turf. Nothing eats turf algea.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

my GHA started at about 10 months using Caribsea. I have 2 urchins, 2 turbos, 4 conchs, blue legs, 4 torches, 3 cowrie, 4 Astrea, 2 emeralds, a peppermint and a Blood shrimp. Nothing touches the GHA. I just bought a Dolabella sea hare because they should eat the GHA. Only added it the other day so can't say for sure yet.

 

[ratzy82]

honestly its all about having the proper clean crew in your tank that eat HA and you wont have issues anymore.. HA can grow on any rock. I have seen lots of tanks out there and people complain about which ever brand they have in their tank.

I have had this rock in my tank for about 5 years. I had a HA spout when I neglected the tank, but I introduced the proper cuc and never saw a spec of HA again.

Ehh not so sure about that. I had every clean up crew I could think of. I ended up finding out it was not hair algea at all, but turf algea. Which nothing eats! It only went away after nuking it with flux on 3 separate occasions. I think its gone for good, since most of my rock is now covered with coraline, but I'm not taking a chance. It's all getting replaced with marco. The caribsea stuff is super heavy, and not very porous, which leads me to believe that it has a hard time housing good bacteria. I also think the batch I have leaches something... But either way it's gone and I'll never touch the stuff again. My secondary tank with marco has nowhere near the algea issues.

 

[ratzy82]

my GHA started at about 10 months using Caribsea. I have 2 urchins, 2 turbos, 4 conchs, blue legs, 4 torches, 3 cowrie, 4 Astrea, 2 emeralds, a peppermint and a Blood shrimp. Nothing touches the GHA. I just bought a Dolabella sea hare because they should eat the GHA. Only added it the other day so can't say for sure yet.

It may not be hair algea...this was my issue.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

It may not be hair algea...this was my issue.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Yep, I'm not doing that! I'm in the process of tearing it all out. The stuff is not porous so no beneficial bacteria can ever take hold. I think i finally beat it, but I'm not gonna take a chance on having to nuke my tank after all my corals are grown out.

On the bright side if you have a phosphate issue just put a chunk of this stuff in the tank...it's the best po4 absorber on the planet!

 

[fishybizzness]

I took out half and replaced it with live ocean rock and finally turned the tank around. The live rock never would grow algea and the liferock right next to it would have algea. The remaining liferock has finally gotten mostly covered in coraline and looks better. I'm upgrading from a 120 to a 200 and am seriously thinking about replacing most of the remaining liferock with live ocean rock. The reason is that even after several years when I blow off the rockwork with a baster, a fine white dust always comes out of the liferock but not out of the live rock. My nitrates are always in the 20s andphosphatesaround 0.1, even with a skimmer, algea turf scrubber and dosing vodka. I believe that the rock is leaching nitrates and phosphates that built up over time.

 

[mfollen]

I will say you have green turf algae. That thing is a bear to take out. Caribsea rock or Marco rock. Don’t matter

 

[Mattiejay6]

yep if it's hair algea. In the end i realized it was turf. Nothing eats turf algea.

mexican turbos absolutely munch on hair or turf algae ;-)

 

[ratzy82]

mexican turbos absolutely munch on hair or turf algae ;-)

Not in my experience. Even a sea hare wouldn’t touch it. Have you had turf algae?

 

[PotatoPig]

Not in my experience. Even a sea hare wouldn’t touch it. Have you had turf algae?

Worth noting that Turf Algae is a category of algae rather than a specific species.

While a lot of it looks similar two tanks could very easily have two different species, and so can see considerably different results from the same herbivores and chemical treatments.

 

[Mattiejay6]

Not in my experience. Even a sea hare wouldn’t touch it. Have you had turf algae?

Been in the hobby a long time. Sure have

 

[ratzy82]

hard to tell, can does it pull out easily? Looks pretty long, if you can manually remove it, they may it eat. The turf stuff was impossible to manually remove.

 

[mfollen]

I believe pincushion urchins may eat it.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

hard to tell, can does it pull out easily? Looks pretty long, if you can manually remove it, they may it eat. The turf stuff was impossible to manually remove.

Yes easy to pinch and remove. No roots that I see. Very fine. Usually wait till 1/2” before o pull. The sea hare was eating it but unfortunately died last night. Didn’t ink but it stopped moving and kept rolling over. It didn’t look good when I got it but it arrived alive. Tossing another bag of chemipure in just in case.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

I believe pincushion urchins may eat it.

Mine doesn’t. And the tuxedo wears it now. Probably just spreading the wealth

 

[ratzy82]

Yes easy to pinch and remove. No roots that I see. Very fine. Usually wait till 1/2” before o pull. The sea hare was eating it but unfortunately died last night. Didn’t ink but it stopped moving and kept rolling over. It didn’t look good when I got it but it arrived alive. Tossing another bag of chemipure in just in case.

Yeah looks like hair algea to me, if you get it shorter your CUC may it eat. I also had a sea hare and it would not touch the stuff I had, ended up dying as well.