125g 2 in 1 Seagrass Reef

[ThePurple12]

The one in the picture is Polysiphonia pacifica, shown growing on some kind of seagrass.

The algaebase picture looks longer/more developed, but if I let it grow for a while it eventually becomes much longer.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I forgot you had a scrubber, providing competition and nutrient reduction. So you're all set there. I think you'll have to figure out a long game strategy.

 

[ThePurple12]

not much of a strategy, but I'm hoping it will work!

 

[ThePurple12]

After some more research, it's most likely that I have Polysiphonia denudata, which was listed in this paper as one of the top shoal grass epiphytes.
https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.4319/lo.1984.29.5.1066

The paper also said the top epiphyte eaters are cerith snails, arrow shrimp (not crabs), grass shrimp, amphipods, and anachis snails, which I don't know anything about.

I have a few cerith snails but couldn't find any of them, so I put a trochus snail in a small bowl of water with a blade of seagrass with some Polysiphonia (I think). We'll see if it eats it...

 

[vlangel]

Wow, I'm both sorry to hear that and glad I'm not the only one fighting it! I'm hoping a fighting conch will clean it up, because manual removal has no chance of success.

I also ordered a fighting conch so also am hoping that can help. Yes, it's always comforting to know you are not alone!

 

[vlangel]

That's weird. Dawn's grasses came from me, and I don't recall seeing that on the grasses in my tank.

I would snip two thirds of the blade off to export most of it, then cut the rest off when they grow back.

It was not on the grasses that you sent me, it appeared later after the grasses experienced some die back.

I was thinking of snipping the top portion with the algae on it but was afraid that the bottom of the blade would begin to die back too.

 

[vlangel]

That's weird. Dawn's grasses came from me, and I don't recall seeing that on the grasses in my tank.

I would snip two thirds of the blade off to export most of it, then cut the rest off when they grow back.

It was not on the grasses that you sent me. It developed as the grasses began to die back.

I thought about snipping the algae portion of the grass off but was afraid that more of the blade would die.

 

[vlangel]

After some more research, it's most likely that I have Polysiphonia denudata, which was listed in this paper as one of the top shoal grass epiphytes.
https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.4319/lo.1984.29.5.1066

The paper also said the top epiphyte eaters are cerith snails, arrow shrimp (not crabs), grass shrimp, amphipods, and anachis snails, which I don't know anything about.

I have a few cerith snails but couldn't find any of them, so I put a trochus snail in a small bowl of water with a blade of seagrass with some Polysiphonia (I think). We'll see if it eats it...

I have seen my grass shrimp eating the algae on mine!

 

[vlangel]

After some more research, it's most likely that I have Polysiphonia denudata, which was listed in this paper as one of the top shoal grass epiphytes.
https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.4319/lo.1984.29.5.1066

The paper also said the top epiphyte eaters are cerith snails, arrow shrimp (not crabs), grass shrimp, amphipods, and anachis snails, which I don't know anything about.

I have a few cerith snails but couldn't find any of them, so I put a trochus snail in a small bowl of water with a blade of seagrass with some Polysiphonia (I think). We'll see if it eats it...

I have seen my grass shrimp on the blades eating the algae off of them. Yippee!

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Ooh, that's good news. I was just typing that I'm pretty sure snipping is the only option for those epiphytes. I think its okay, as long as the plant still has some blade(s) left to photosynthesize. I would think that even a small portion left of the blade would be enough. Remember they have stored energy as well. The key is to get as much as you can out of the tank asap to slow the spread. As you have less and less, it spreads less and less.

I don't know why, but the only thing that shows up on my shoal grass is the calcium precipitate and coralline algae. I pull the whole blade. But I have an abundance, so I can be more destructive/heavy handed.

When thinking about the differences between our tanks, I wonder if the mini strombus snails I have are what's taking care of it. When my lights go out, hundreds of them climb the grasses, top to bottom. I'm not exaggerating! Maybe when the weather gets warmer, we can work something out and I can get y'all some of these lil' monsters.

I don't think the fighting conches are going to help that much, since they can't get to the whole blade, and they seem to prefer micro algae. They are great for sand beds though. Also the grass shrimp sound promising.

 

[ThePurple12]

I believe you on those strombus snails! You may be right about the fighting conchs, but they should at least take care of the diatoms and hair algae on the sand. I would love to add some grass shrimp, but I’m afraid the copperband butterfly and others will be a problem. Thoughts on this Michael/Dawn?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

The fighting conchs are great. They will definitely help out with algae in the lower few inches of your tank. I think they have a big impact. It sounds like you could use more snail diversity. There are several snails that reproduce in aquariums. Get more!

I've never kept a Copperband, so I don't know. It seems like they would rather eat nems and corals. Is their mouth even big enough?

However, in my experience with small shrimp like that, they have a better chance if they are added before the fish. Shrimp added afterwards are often considered food.

 

[ThePurple12]

Yes, I need more snails! For some reason I just didn't add a clean up crew when I started the tank. The only thing stopping me right now is the dinos. I heard they take a toll on snails, which would make sense, as my 3 trochus snails have been sitting in the same spots without moving for days. Which means I should probably hold off on a fighting conch now that I think about it.

The copperband leaves the corals alone, I think sponges and bugs are more their natural diet. And Aiptasia, of course. I'm not worried that it'll eat the shrimp, just that it would attack them and force them into hiding or injure them. Same with the coral beauty angel.

 

[vlangel]

I have never had a copperband butterfly either. Since my grass shrimp are in the refugium there are not any other fish there except the salt acclimated mollies and they don't harass the shrimp at all. I definitely could use more snails in the fuge too since all I have are nassarius.

I still have not been able to get strombus.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

There are dinos that are toxic, but not all are. The ones I had were not, and my snails and mollies ate them without harming them.

 

[ThePurple12]

Right. I ordered a microscope to identify the dinos I have and whether or not they're toxic.

 

[ThePurple12]

Not too much progress on the tank, but today I got some blue Hypnea from Ebay! It arrived late and isn't looking good, but I'm guessing it'll recover. I put it in the seahorse tank, and if it grows I'll put some frags in the 125. I'll upload some pics

 

[ThePurple12]

here we go

 

[ThePurple12]

Aaugh, the quality is so low! I'll get a FTS of the seahorse tank as well.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I think it'll recover. I still have little frags pop up. Hard to kill apparently. I stuck a couple in my patch reef a few weeks ago and their growing, but not very colorful.