Bright Red algae in my BB reef

[Zoom]

Here is the picture of the reef you can see all of the dark red spots all over the tank look close.
You can see the Turbos working on it in the back of the tank.
Yes that is 1/4" of Coralline algae in the back glass but the Red algae grows right over it.

 

[Travis]

argh! i've got this stuff too! does anyone here using zeovit have it? i'm just kinda curious.

Besides MSHUR, I've also read about other zeovit users over on zeovit.com who have the same problem with this stuff.

 

[Znut Reefer]

I use Zeovit and have this algae also. I don't use all the Zeovit additives, only 3 and some supplements. I don't use the start 1 or start 2. It has not made the algae go away, but it has kept it at bay. As far as my sps goes they are growing like crazy, so the red turf does not affect them at all. I don't believe the growth is from Zeo, I believe it's the water quality and 400 MH. I have been told Zeo may or may not get rid of the algae. I'll have to say I did add a rabbit fish and at least 12 Mex turbos and 100 trocus snails.

 

[arconom]

Travis you have a pm

Beautiful tank Zoom.

I doubt Zeo increases or decreases it's growth. First it has to be introduced into the tank, then it may or may not favor a specific element in the tank water itself.

 

[tfp]

OMG It is the devil....

Has it effected yours corals at all? From the looks of it no way. Awesome corals BTW.

What have you tried, and what are you currently doing to take care of this algae?

its the devil...and then some! :mad2:
honestly, i think it has effected some corals more than others. many of my frags would encrust and then this stuff (or whatever fed them) may have caused them to stn at their bases. i think some corals are just more resilient than others.

all i know, is that when i was redoing the tank with zero LR and just eggcrate and skimming, all my corals began to recover

what have i tried? a total tank breakdown/restart, cooking all my LR, using only 20lbs of lr (rest is all arag), wetter skimming, ozone, carbon, purigen, approx 80ml of rowaphos and different lights.

when i had a magnif. foxface and red sea sailfin, it didn't really notice it. but its been a couple months since i got rid of them and its quite noticeable now.

whats next...gonna try a trio of small/medium yellow tangs *fingers crossed* :mixed:

 

[MSHUR]

whats next...gonna try a trio of small/medium yellow tangs *fingers crossed
yellow tang will not touch this thing(( at least mine didnt

mike

 

[Travis]

honestly, i think it has effected some corals more than others. many of my frags would encrust and then this stuff (or whatever fed them) may have caused them to stn at their bases. i think some corals are just more resilient than others.

I've noticed this also but it seems to only affect new frags or unhealthy frags. I've had a couple frags that were not able to fend off the encroaching algae and the algae would work its way up the frag from the base eventually killing the frag. I've not noticed this with healthy or established sps and frags. The healthy ones are able to send out filaments that will kill this algae.

What works for me is taking fresh rubble that has no algae on it and mounting new frags to that. This allows the frag to acclimate and start encrusting before the red algae even starts to grow on the rubble. By that time, the frag is healthy enough to kill of the algae that gets too close.

 

[myusername]

Looking for a cure

Looking for a cure

I've sat down and read this whole entire thread and I'm glad to see everyone so concerned on how to get rid of this red algae. I also have this red algae in my 80 gallon sps tank. I have had two emeralds in it and they have kept it down but recently they both died. Have no reason for their death. On the snail issue my have bred and I am overwhelmed with all of the baby snails and I have two sea hairs and one fox face and two tangs. The fish do most of the work keeping the algae down but it still spreads. It looks like it has runners and then spreads. Out of all of this no one has really put a lot of focus on what might start it like what salt is everyone using or I notice when I started getting signs of this red algae I was using Kalkwasser mix. Now I have been using a calcium reactor and it is still spreading. I do water changes weekly five gallons and the salt I am using is Oceanic. The algea isn't long because the fish keep it down but it is still spreading. I wish we could figure out a way of getting rid of this because with all these great minds we still haven't been able to find a cure for this.

 

[IanJ]

I have it all over my tank here in Singapore. It seems to have peaked and receeded in some areas. I have pulled clumps out by the handful. A combo of snails, urchins and tangs seem to keep it under a little more control than earlier. I also improved the skimmer which certainly has not had a negative effect.
My efforts have like everyone else's failed to find a cure as yet.

 

[IanJ]

I have it all over my tank here in Singapore. It seems to have peaked and receeded in some areas. I have pulled clumps out by the handful. A combo of snails, urchins and tangs seem to keep it under a little more control than earlier. I also improved the skimmer which certainly has not had a negative effect.
My efforts have like everyone else's failed to find a cure as yet.

 

[pedalpower]

I've had some success with a Salley Lightfoot. The red algae started taking over the coralline algae on the glass. Huge chunck of coralline started falling off. But, now the crab is cleaning the glass constantly, the coralline algae has recovered, and and there is no red algae/roots to be seen. I did have an emerald crab in there at one point but it seemed more interesting in nipping the tips of my milli then doing any good. I would add another Salley lightfoot but I just don't think my tank is big enough. So, I'm going to add mexican hermit crabs and a few more snails. Hopefully, with the added help my rocks will be cleared too. But, I'm not really too worried because none of my corals have had any problem over taking the algae.

 

[MrPike]

I believe I had this algae come in on a shipment of Astrea's. All their shells were covered in this, and my red leg and blue leg hermits would literally stay on their backs picking this stuff off. I have no sign of it in my tank now, so maybe hermits, as bomber suggsted, may be the answer?

 

[toonces]

fwiw, i think it's pretty.
sorry, i know that's not much help.

 

[rocknut]

Wow, glad I ran into this thread. I thought it was just me who had this stuff. I had been reading every thread about "red algae" I could find, but up until this one it always seemed end up being cyano or something. By the way, my tank is a BB as well, and all my rock was cooked minimum of about 3 months. I had a similar observation with this in my previous (and seriously unhealthy) tank. If I had a frag that was not doing well, this stuff would just grow right up it.
I currently have about 20 astreas, and 10 ceriths, and just added an emerald crab. Haven't noticed a real difference yet, but we'll see.

 

[tfp]

travis, thats a good call on small or weakened frags. my big acros continue to grow uneffected but anything under 1.5" is fair game also, montipora sp. in my tank have gone totally uneffected.

i wonder if this stuff is emitting some kind of toxin/chemical that weakened/stressed frags cannot fend off.

i did add a pair of 2" yellow tangs and they are picking at it but i seriously doubt they can make a dent in it. might try a small naso next and a few mexican turbos if i can find them.

anyone out there running a large fuge with chaeto have this stuff?

tim

edit: might try a sally lightfoot crab too.

 

[Travis]

tfp, I had the stuff when I ran a 75 gallon with dsb, a 20 gallon fuge with chaeto, and a 20 gallon fuge with xenia also for nutrient export.

I have thought about a sally lightfoot also but they get soooo big.

 

[bluebentgrass]

what kind of reactor media do you use. I had this when i used korallith.
Its gone now that i use korallin. I changed to 20k ab bulbs too.
Reactor media could be the culprit

 

[NoSchwag]

Is this it???

Is this it???

Is this the stuff??

This is the only snail I see it on..

Should I huck it across the street?

 

[tfp]

bluebentgrass, i'm using ARM. but you may be onto something with it being fueled by reactors/phosphate. my alk runs 9-10dkh and ph 8.05 low to 8.18 high.

NoSchwag, looks to me like thats the shizzle!

 

[bluebentgrass]

schwag
what kind of reactor media are you using?

I not sure it has to do with phosphates in the media perhaps something is missing in the arm,koralith media.

Do you folks using arm have OUTSTANDING coralline algae growth?