rickh
New member
The forms are full of people waging war on algae. In most cases the algae is winning.
We change water, skim, feed the minimum amount, change more water, run a PO4 reactor, rinse the food, get a bigger skimmer and add a refugium. I am losing the hair on my head, but the hair algae in my tank is doing fine.
I have tried about every creature that is supposed to eat algae with little success. My tanks are too small for any herbivorous fish and invertebrates just don't seem to do it for me.
I am not overrun with algae, just enough to aggravate me. It's a diverse population of red and green hair, red and green bubble and Byropisis. Something for everyone.
My latest observation is even more troubling. Maybe all this "prevention" really has little effect on the algae. My quarantine tank will grow a golf ball sized mass of Cheato to vollyball size in a month. There are also some world record size green bubble algae in there. The tank is a simple 20 gallon with HOB filter, PH and PC lights. There are several Leather and Zoa frags attached to LR that have been long forgotten, but they are doing fine. The tank gets a water change every few months, no feeding and no dosing. Only light and sea water.
Bottom line: If your phosphates/nitrates are high you will have increased the growth, but the algae, like the weeds in your yard will always be there in spite of your efforts. R
We change water, skim, feed the minimum amount, change more water, run a PO4 reactor, rinse the food, get a bigger skimmer and add a refugium. I am losing the hair on my head, but the hair algae in my tank is doing fine.
I have tried about every creature that is supposed to eat algae with little success. My tanks are too small for any herbivorous fish and invertebrates just don't seem to do it for me.
I am not overrun with algae, just enough to aggravate me. It's a diverse population of red and green hair, red and green bubble and Byropisis. Something for everyone.
My latest observation is even more troubling. Maybe all this "prevention" really has little effect on the algae. My quarantine tank will grow a golf ball sized mass of Cheato to vollyball size in a month. There are also some world record size green bubble algae in there. The tank is a simple 20 gallon with HOB filter, PH and PC lights. There are several Leather and Zoa frags attached to LR that have been long forgotten, but they are doing fine. The tank gets a water change every few months, no feeding and no dosing. Only light and sea water.
Bottom line: If your phosphates/nitrates are high you will have increased the growth, but the algae, like the weeds in your yard will always be there in spite of your efforts. R
