Wanted: Coralline Algae

[macon77]

Hello all,

I appreciate your time and consideration. Hopefully, someone can provide what I am looking for, or can direct me to someone who can. What I am looking for is uncontaminated coralline algae to seed a new system. I am not needing a large quantity to seed the system with (a small piece of rock rubble, or an abandoned snail shell/frag plug would do). This should be a somewhat easy acquisition, but I am having little luck finding a source. Everyone that I have spoken with has had bryopsis, bubble algae, turf algae, chrysophytes/silicoflagellates, cotton candy algae, dictyota, or some other such nuisance in their system at some point. I really would like to minimize the possibility of introducing even the unexpressed spores of any such algae into the new system. I fully understand that there will likely be some risk, regardless of precautions taken. (I will absolutely be utilizing a quarantine/grow-out tank.) With all of that said, if you believe you are able to assist, I would be more than grateful to hear from you. Otherwise, if you are aware of a vendor that might be able to help, I would appreciate the referral.

As it relates to my interest, does anyone have experience with the coralline seed plates that IPSF sells? One video review I watched seemed to indicate that there may be other algae species present on the plates. There was no mention of what those other species might be. The IPSF website states that the company employs strict quarantine procedures. But, elsewhere on the site, it is stated that their staff use NSW to perform water changes. I have a difficult time justifying these seemingly contradictory statements.

Again, I appreciate your time and any assistance/insights you might provide.

 

[haleyf1024]

I would have a few shells I could give you if I was close Have you looked at all the snails at your LFS? If so, and you need to order some, Reefs2Go has "coralline encrusted margarita snails". I have gotten some and they were nice, still cleaning 6 months later!

 

[macon77]

I would have a few shells I could give you if I was close Have you looked at all the snails at your LFS? If so, and you need to order some, Reefs2Go has "coralline encrusted margarita snails". I have gotten some and they were nice, still cleaning 6 months later!

Hello,

I appreciate your reply. Also, I appreciate the sentiment concerning giving me a few shells. Thank you.

With respect to LFSs, as they relate to my current interest, my concerns include the fact that they do not typically employ strict quarantine protocols. Livestock and live rock are imported and sold so frequently, that it would be nearly impossible to determine whether, or not, these items are harboring "difficult-to-deal-with" nuisance algae species. I am not aware of a LFS that I would trust, given my immediate interest. In this regard, I would prefer to deal with someone who has taken care to address these matters already. I have no issue paying a premium for their materials, time, and efforts. Of course, I am willing to pay packing/shipping costs.

After reading many reviews concerning Reefs2Go through the years (I have never dealt with them, personally.), I do not believe that is a route I would want to take. I will say no more about that.

Thank you, again, for your time and thoughts. I really do appreciate it.

 

[Acrononomus]

Why don't u just wait for it to grow? That way you are definitely limiting your chance of acquiring pests... It will grow over time, how long u been set up?

 

[Acrononomus]

Why don't u just wait for it to grow? That way you are definitely limiting your chance of acquiring pests... It will grow over time, how long u been set up?

 

[NanaReefer]

Tad bit on the cautious side are ya? Lol

 

[macon77]

Why don't u just wait for it to grow? That way you are definitely limiting your chance of acquiring pests... It will grow over time, how long u been set up?

Hello,

I appreciate the reply.

I have a recently-cycled 75g display, a recently-cycled 29g quarantine, and a 10g observation tank. The systems were sterilized, and cycled using fresh Marco rock. I will only be keeping bubble-tip anemones, and a pair of ocellaris clownfish. I will purchase cultivated (not wild-collected) copepods and amphipods. I may try to source some micro brittle starfish and stomatella snails, down the road. There will be no other cleanup-crew (excepting myself). Given my stocking list, there will be no legitimate source of coralline algae. I do understand that anemones are comprised of mostly water, and may harbor algae spores. However, I suspect that would not be an expected source. I am currently waiting for the systems to mature a bit, and can grow out some coralline in the observation tank, in the meantime.

 

[macon77]

Tad bit on the cautious side are ya? Lol

Hello,

Indeed, I am. I am just getting back in to the hobby, after a few year hiatus. I took a very long break after losing a truly world-class mushroom collection to a ravaging strain of dinoflagellates. I honestly did not think I would ever get involved in all of this again. However, I am back. As I proceed, I am taking the greatest precautions to avoid another such disaster.

 

[Acrononomus]

Coralline will grow on your rocks in time, without an introduction of an outside source.....

 

[macon77]

Coralline will grow on your rocks in time, without an introduction of an outside source.....

With all due respect, I do not believe this an accurate statement.

 

[NanaReefer]

It must be introduced in some form. It just doesn't appear. Thus the need to seed [emoji12]

 

[Acrononomus]

Well looks like u need to do some more research then brotha, my last system I set up was all from scratch. I used muratic acid and bleach to cleans the Rock and entire system. No new rock or frag plugs or anything with coralline was added .... A year later and I have so much it's insane... So much I don't want it... I can scrape some of the front of my glass and give u a bag full lol ... It's all about having your cal all and mag in the right place ... I kid u not I clean my front glass and if I go more than a week without cleaning it it pops up on the front pane....

 

[NanaReefer]

You introduced it into your tank somehow. Even on a snail shell, brotha!

 

[Acrononomus]

Maybe .... I did buy some snails. They were all white tho from what I could tell .

 

[chefjpaul]

Your going to be totally fine buying a couple live rocks from LFS. Maybe 1/4 -1/2#.

Don't even put them in your system, literally just scrape the coralline off into the tank with high flow.

Make sure you CA & MG are appropriate levels, good lights it will take off.

Then just dry the rocks out, clean well, break them up and use for new frag plugs.

That's what I do anyway, for what it's worth

 

[macon77]

Well looks like u need to do some more research then brotha, my last system I set up was all from scratch. I used muratic acid and bleach to cleans the Rock and entire system. No new rock or frag plugs or anything with coralline was added .... A year later and I have so much it's insane... So much I don't want it... I can scrape some of the front of my glass and give u a bag full lol ... It's all about having your cal all and mag in the right place ... I kid u not I clean my front glass and if I go more than a week without cleaning it it pops up on the front pane....

In the spirit of friendship, and for my love of the hobby, I will overlook the tone of your first sentence.

I don't typically post a lot on forums. However, I spend countless hours scouring their pages for information, and for entertainment purposes. I guess that makes me a pretty selfish individual. My apologies for that. Given that I somehow started this conversation, I will add a bit of my personal experience. I do not add this to attempt a rebuttal. My only aim is to aid someone who might come along looking for information. So, take my isolated experience for what it might be worth.

I once started a system using Fiji rocks that I had purchased from an individual locally. The system they had been in was contaminated by bryposis (among other nuisance algae species). I set out to "reincarnate" the rocks. I first soaked them in muriatic acid, for literally an hour (Yes, I have always been overly-ambitious. My wife likes to call it "OCD."). Note that the acid is not expected to "kill" anything, but to remove a bit of organics. Then, I soaked the rocks in 20% bleach solution, which I suspected would oxidize any remaining algae/spores. There was a single pump, which was the only equipment which entered the tank. It had been treated in the acid/bleach baths. I finally got the rocks in a tank, added a shrimp, and proceeded to let the tank cycle using a "lights-on" approach. Two weeks later, to my astonishment, bryopsis started growing in the tank. I simply could not believe my eyes.

I perused a number of threads on a number of reef-keeping forums, to determine where things had gone wrong. A well-respected member of one of the sites noted that "bleach is not likely to kill algae spores." Beyond that simple statement, I was at a loss in my efforts to determine what had gone wrong. Neither, could I easily find verification that his statement was accurate. So, I began a search for a tried-and-true method of destroying algae spores. I expanded my search beyond reef-keeping forums. I visited freshwater aquarium-keeping forums, swimming pool maintenance forums, DIY home repair websites (think: removing algae growth from rooftops), gardening websites, and medical/veterinary issue (read: sterilization) forums. I found a few possible solutions. What I found was that medical/veterinary sterilization supplies are EXTREMELY costly. Alcohol could be a viable solution, but also cost-prohibitive. Microwave/dry heat exposure is probably a viable solution, if you do not mind exploding rocks inside your microwave/oven. Some reasonably priced solutions will likely leave toxic residue, which leaves them unviable solutions. Submersing rocks in boiling water turns out to be a possible solution. I did not attempt this, nor have I, to date. It is not an unreasonable solution, if one is certain that palythoa toxins are not present in the rocks. During my searches, one possible solution stood out to me...hydrogen peroxide. There was support for the hydrogen peroxide idea everywhere I looked, excepting in the swimming pool maintenance arena. So, I gave that a shot.

Once again, I soaked the rocks (and pump) in muriatic acid. I only soaked them for about a half of an hour that time. I then soaked the rocks in a 20% bleach solution for 2 days (note that bleach in solution reportedly degrades very quickly). I then soaked the rocks in a potent hydrogen peroxide solution for two days (I am old and can not, for the life of me, remember the percentage which was recommended to me. It was a LOT of hydrogen peroxide. In this application, it is thought that hydrogen peroxide loses its potency pretty quickly.) I then soaked the rocks in a 20% bleach solution for another couple of days. After a week of this treatment, I got the rocks to "cycling" again, using the same "lights-on" approach. To my relief, the bryopsis did not return, even after a few months!!!

What does all of this mean? I honestly do not know. Would the bryopsis return, if I had waited another few months? I do not know. Did all of the bryopsis spores "bloom" during the first attempt at cycling the system, and the bleach was then able to eradicate it? I do not know. Did the second muriatic acid bath remove any remaining spores? I do not know. Did the extended duration of the bleach baths during my second attempt eradicate the bryopsis. I do not know. Did the hydrogen peroxide eradicate the bryopsis? Again, I do not know. Surely, I could conduct an experiment to investigate the impact these individual variables might have had. Unfortunately, I try to stay as far away as I can from bryopsis. So, someone else would need to conduct this experiment.

Again, my only intention in posting all of this is to describe one experience I have had concerning the possible eradication of algae spores. If this helps someone who is considering attempting to eradicate a nuisance algae, then so be it.

 

[Acrononomus]

Txt can sometimes be misleading, I didn't use any punctuation or "tone" maybe brotha, instead of brother was misleading but I assure u nothing derogatory was meant by it, I like u spent a lot of Kate nights on here and some things I post I may be half asleep, so orrery if it was misleading... I was just just sharing my personal experience in this hobby, everything doesn't work the same for everybody there's just too many factors involved. Like u stated who knows what actually eradicated the bypropsis... I'm just here to share my experience , I'm not a scientist or biologist like I seem to think from time to time.... Nothing negative was meant to come from my comments I assure u... Best of luck, and on a last note I have had great success using 35% hydrogen peroxide from hydroponics stores to eradicate aiptaisa and kill bacteria on pumps and equitment .... Who knows how well it would work on bypropsis, maybe someone here will try it out... I used a spray bottle and a respirator tho....

 

[macon77]

Txt can sometimes be misleading, I didn't use any punctuation or "tone" maybe brotha, instead of brother was misleading but I assure u nothing derogatory was meant by it, I like u spent a lot of Kate nights on here and some things I post I may be half asleep, so orrery if it was misleading... I was just just sharing my personal experience in this hobby, everything doesn't work the same for everybody there's just too many factors involved. Like u stated who knows what actually eradicated the bypropsis... I'm just here to share my experience , I'm not a scientist or biologist like I seem to think from time to time.... Nothing negative was meant to come from my comments I assure u... Best of luck, and on a last note I have had great success using 35% hydrogen peroxide from hydroponics stores to eradicate aiptaisa and kill bacteria on pumps and equitment .... Who knows how well it would work on bypropsis, maybe someone here will try it out... I used a spray bottle and a respirator tho....

No worries, at all. I am glad you took the time to post a response to this thread. Even if I fail to find the "holy grail" pure corralling algae I am looking for, at least this has temporarily pulled me out of my selfish habit of "stealing" everyone else's insights, but not posting any of my own.

Take care,
My Friend

 

[macon77]

Your going to be totally fine buying a couple live rocks from LFS. Maybe 1/4 -1/2#.

Don't even put them in your system, literally just scrape the coralline off into the tank with high flow.

Make sure you CA & MG are appropriate levels, good lights it will take off.

Then just dry the rocks out, clean well, break them up and use for new frag plugs.

That's what I do anyway, for what it's worth

Hello,

Thank you for posting.

This is actually not a terrible idea. I recently purchased a few seed rocks from an individual on ebay. Of course, I asked him about the particulars I was concerned about, before purchasing them. He assured me that there were no contaminants in his system. However, when I received the rocks, there were turf algae and vermetid snails present. I was none too happy. Fortunately, I had placed them in the observation tank, and not in the display or quarantine tank. I thought for a week, or so, about how to proceed. I had considered doing exactly what you are suggesting (removing the rocks, sterilizing the system, adding fresh rock, and scraping coralline off of the purchased rocks and into the tank). In frustration/irritation, I "sterilized" the system and threw the rocks away, instead. I began the search for my current "holy grail" again, which has led to my posting this thread.

I will absolutely keep this post in mind, if I am unable to source the algae otherwise.

Thank you, again.

 

[deerhunter06]

I'll just mail u some in a baggy