Nutrient dilemma: acros or turf algae

[mfollen]

hey all,

I’m hurting here.

I’ve been trying to ensure my acropora get suffice PO4 & no3. I have been losing acros from this as they have been getting pale, receding at tips and bases...

I’ve been dosing to do get both parameters to detectable levels. Unfortunately I have been upping the dose to no avail. It’s been so difficult to lift both above 0.

Why? Green Turf algae has been booming.

I believe the turf algae is sucking down the nutrients, resulting in starving acros.

To combat the algae I introduced dr Tim’s slow-release waste away gel. I actually have been running that but put a new one in. So that is another source sucking down the nutrients.

I’m at a loss. I either continue to fuel the turf algae or let the acros continue to suffer.

I also dose reef energy a and b.

I’m going to order some pin cushion urchins from live aquaria next week and hope they eat the green turf algae.

Any one have any other recommendations? I can’t remove the rock as corals have grown onto them. I also leave for vacation the following week.

Thank you everyone.

 

[brandon429]

we fix turf algae commonly in the nuisance algae thread, never by adjusting nutrients or acting via the water/additives

would you want to run the cures we do where you access the rock outside the tank and kill it off, then put back the rock wo the invader all by tomorrow (we apply a kill step to it, so it doesn't regrow clearly before you put it back together)

 

[Subsea]

To remove algae on live rock, soak in 10% peroxide solutipn for 10 minutes. Wash off and put back in tank. Coral slime protects coral.

 

[mfollen]

Really? It won’t kill acropora?

It’s throughout the tank. This will only hold it back.

Do the pin-cushion urchins eat green turf algae?

I’m interested in the treatment

 

[brandon429]

can you post a full tank shot of the sys

one aspect we do differently than most is pre modeling the kill before you take all that time to dental-debride the main tank in between the horns.

We take a small test rock and do what Subsea mentioned as test #1, let it soak a bit, and rinse in saltwater then put back. that's observation #1

obs2 is step up: before peroxide, take steak knife and become a parrotfish on that target.

rasp and take some rock with you, wearing a hockey mask while doing the work but be pointful, preserve coralline and coral and dig it clean. rinse off.

take the forced clean rock and apply peroxide on the clean spots, rinse in saltwater, put back. observation #2 is your worst case scenario

frankly any form of treatment we might consider for the main tank ought to be pre modeled in a bubbling test nano reef paint bucket reef in the garage. make the dilutions match, observe target before experimenting with the whole tank.

I routinely drain my super old nano reef for half an hour in the air, we like the access part/surgery part is fun but we only upscale the known best condition rock.

we should observe what test rocks do first, ideally. we should definitely get knee deep into some acro tank surgery after that though
B

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...ll-rework-skip-cycle-reassembly.525310/page-4

read post #80, follow his update he gave us months of post work updates~

Xcry was contributing to science heartily. others in the thread purely challenging the work, not so much/first couple pages.

that's a tank surgery thread, for people not playing around.

 

[Hermie]

Do the pin-cushion urchins eat green turf algae?
I’m interested in the treatment

Hey, I just got a pincushion last week and have to say... where it does travel, it eats the algae down to the rock (hair/cyano/turf/whatever).
So, it's pretty cool actually, and I am really glad I added it to my tank. The issue now is that I have to wait for it to "make its way" across all the rocks and stuff... and they do not have real "eyesight" so they can't exactly target areas like you might expect. They just kind of crawl around and eat, almost blindly.

So, I would recommend them definitely, it's just that you will still have the issue of time, where:

• urchin eats algae, then produces its own waste
• nutrients then go back into the water stream
• algae tries to regrow where it was removed from

So ultimately you are going to have to find a way to remove those "waste" nutrients that the urchin is producing (the dead algae it removed)
either through skimmer, or filter pad, or water changes, or some mechanism.

 

[mfollen]

Thank you everyone.

Apologies on the delayed response, unexpected death in the family yesterday

Unfortunately removing the rock is not possible now with everything going on. I will look into it further if the chance allows.

Pin cushion urchins, emerald crabs will be coming mid week. Any specific types of pincushion?

Otherwise,anyone else have tips?

Thank you so much...

 

[brandon429]

Sorry to hear about your loss

 

[Hermie]

before:

after:

 

[mfollen]

Wow. Impressive. Is that a regular pincushion @NotASpammerDude ? Or a hairy?

Been reading that quoyi parrotfish eat algae, wonder if they eat turf algae too...

 

[Hermie]

regular pincushion
Lytechinus variegatus

 

[mfollen]

Thanks! Will give them a go this week!!