My 75G build

[Rothgar]

Where did you buy your bulbs from?

I was going to buy them from BulkReefSupply but they where out of the 48" KZ Bulbs, so I went with Saltysupply.com since they where in FL.... BUT.... They shipped the bulbs from CA so I should have just went with reefgeek.com since they where going to be cheaper and were based in CA.

 

[TrishW]

I have ordered my bulbs from reefgeek and have always been pleased. The prices are a little bit higher but I normally have questions and the guys at reefgeek always have answers;

 

[Rothgar]

I have ordered my bulbs from reefgeek and have always been pleased. The prices are a little bit higher but I normally have questions and the guys at reefgeek always have answers;

I have heard good things about ReefGeeks

 

[Mason Dixon]

Very nice, where did you get the anemone and clown's from?

 

[Rothgar]

The two Maroons are from Petco and the anemone is from someone local that was breaking his tank down.

 

[Rothgar]

Some updated pics!

What is this? And should I pull it out or leave it?

 

[Rothgar]

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Kill that alga quick!! It has an appearance of Bryopsis, which is hard to get rid of.

 

[Rothgar]

Kill that alga quick!! It has an appearance of Bryopsis, which is hard to get rid of.

I had a feeling i should get rid of it. The only way to is to just pull it out?

 

[TrishW]

How can you tell the difference in bryopsis and hair algae. I used old rock in the nano when I broke it down, cleaned it and set it back up BB. About two weeks later it was growing what I thought to be hair algae. I took the rock and the two fish out and started dosing algaefix just as an experiment. The growth seemed to slow but I it has been without light for at least two weeks and it still isn't dead. So that makes me wonder if it was bryopsis and not hair algae.

 

[TrishW]

that nem and toadstool look awesome!

 

[eric.battani]

I like your anemone.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

How can you tell the difference in bryopsis and hair algae. I used old rock in the nano when I broke it down, cleaned it and set it back up BB. About two weeks later it was growing what I thought to be hair algae. I took the rock and the two fish out and started dosing algaefix just as an experiment. The growth seemed to slow but I it has been without light for at least two weeks and it still isn't dead. So that makes me wonder if it was bryopsis and not hair algae.

Bryopsis has a more feathery look to it. An individual strand is also shaped like a feather or a frond oa a fern. Derbesia is more single stranded and less coarse looking.

If you can pull the rock out, remove the alga and treat the part of the rock with peroxide or vinegar. If you cannot take the rock out, be very careful and try not to let strands of it to float around. Algaefix should be the last resort since it will knock off your crustaceans.

 

[Rothgar]

I was reading that High Mg would kill it off... still doing research on that.

 

[Rothgar]

The stuff i pulled out last night was single stranded. From pics it looked more like Derbesia than Bryopsis.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Is that the only rock you have the alga on? If so, I'd just take it out and treat the spot. If not, you can use a chemical or a biological control. No fish or snail seem to eat bryopsis. Lettuce slugs eat them depending on which algae they grew up on: some go for bryopsis and somd for derbesia, but these smaller slugs often end up in powerheads. Foxface rabbitfish eats derbesia and valonia voraciously and clean up your tank in a short order, but some of them develop a liking to zoanthid unfortunately...

 

[Rothgar]

Is that the only rock you have the alga on? If so, I'd just take it out and treat the spot. If not, you can use a chemical or a biological control. No fish or snail seem to eat bryopsis. Lettuce slugs eat them depending on which algae they grew up on: some go for bryopsis and somd for derbesia, but these smaller slugs often end up in powerheads. Foxface rabbitfish eats derbesia and valonia voraciously and clean up your tank in a short order, but some of them develop a liking to zoanthid unfortunately...

It is just on that rock. The issue is one of my BTA is on it. Do you think running GFO will slow it down?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

It may slow it down some. It only needs a trace amount of phosphate to survive. It also use nitrate to grow. So you need to control both. I'd get the rock partly out of water (with anemone in the water) and scrape off that alga as much as possible outside of the tank. You can squirt some hydrogen peroxide with a small pipette so that it only wets the area where alga grows.

It may be derbesia or cladophora. I had a small clump of what looked exactly like your alga in my 15g. It looked like derbesia initially, but when I pulled a big wad of it out later on, it had a lot of branching strands like bryopsis fronds mixed among single strands. It was coarse and I could not tell if it was bryopsis or cladophora at that stage. It probably was cladophora or something else. In any event it took hold of my 15g in a short period of time, and I had to resort to a drastic measure to get rid of it. It did not respond to a high level of Tech M, magnisium sulfate, or Algaefix (tried them all separately of course).

 

[Rothgar]

How long does the peroxide need to sit on that area?

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Just a few seconds. It is a strong oxidizer. Vinegar is just as effective, though. Some people does in-tank treatment with peroxide (not vinegar), turning off all the water flow devices and spot treat algae with a pipette. This is not as effective, though.