Brown plating algae question...

[jade2122]

I am starting to get brown plating algae on some of my rock and want to remove it. doing it by hand just temporarily solves the issue, I'm looking for something to eat it. I know blonde naso's do but that isn't an option, already have a tang in a 65. What else eats it?

 

[lifesworksataol]

hermits - but i have had no luck with it. maybe trade your tang for one that does eat it? which one do you have?

 

[lifesworksataol]

also maybe a sea hare,but they eat all algae in one day and then have nothing to eat. can you take a pic of the algae so we can see what kind it is.

 

[jade2122]

I've got hermits, they don't seem to even notice it. I have a powder blue right now, love him too much to trade, plus a naso would outgrow a 65 in no time. I think i've heard that tuxedo urchins eat it but want someone with experience to say yes or no cause those aren't cheap

 

[lifesworksataol]

sea urchins in general eat it, but they ate all my coraline algae, so i got rid of mine

 

[dugg]

How old is the tank? If it's under a year, then it's just part of the normal cycle and will go away. If that's not the issue, then you need to increase the flow in your tank and do some water changes. Buying more critters is never the solution for algae IMO. If you actually get lucky and what you buy eats the algae, then they starve when it's gone. Most likely though, what you buy that is supposed to feed on the algae, will end up liking what you are feeding everyone else better and not touch the algae. Then all you have done is add even more to your bio load so more algae will grow.

Algae only grows if it has excess nutrients to feed on. Fix the problem, don't put a band-aid on it by getting something to eat it. Also, how old are your lights? I know that when PC lights start getting old they can cause the brown algae. I'm not sure if other lights do the same.

 

[djlmedic]

Sounds like you need to treat the Phosphates in your water if you're getting an algae problem. Phosban is an awesome product thats fairly cheap to fix the problem. In a 65g tank it will last about 9 months with one can of it.

 

[jade2122]

There is no phosphate in my tank, I have a phos-reactor running. No nitrates, and it isn't much in my tank just maybe three patches. Thanks for you thoughts!

 

[chrisstie]

Could it be this stuff?

http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/eng/47/980/Peyssonnellia/sp. 02.htm

It could be calcerous I think and not necessarily related to your water quality in the normal algae ways. This would be relying on Ca to grow

 

[WingnutSr]

If possible, maybe try moving the rock(s) in question to a lower light area, or turn them over so the algae is on the bottom.
Or, just leave it go. I have several colors of what seems to be the same stuff. I leave it go.
I too am running a phosban reactor, have chaeto growing and read 0 phosphate.
I do agree with Dugg, if you get a live critter to eat it, he will starve after it is gone. Just lost a lawnmower blenny to starvation. He would not eat anything I put in the tank.
JMO
John

 

[chrisstie]

I'm sorry to hear about the blenny John Sometimes they *can* be really picky and just stick to eating microalgae from your rock but the majority I have seen tend to be willing to accept some form of Formula 2, nori, or even the ORA brand pellets (like fish candy, have found very few fish who can resist these treats)

I have one that will eat nori but his belly is so fat (dusky blenny) it looks like he swallowed a marble so I just monitor him and when he starts to thin out I introduce more nori again.

 

[GreyHawk1968]

I had a Lawnmower and he ate any and everything I dropped in. Have a Stary Blenny now and he's the same way.

 

[WingnutSr]

Back to the topic at hand........
Did not mean to hi-jack your thread.