Brown Wafer algae

[serval]

Dakota,That is really interesting. With fw planted tanks, changing the light regime (usually to lower rather than higher) also seems to de-favor certain pest algae. I also changed lights recently, about the same time I started with GFO. So, it is hard to say if the light change or the GFO (less PO4) started mine on the decline. FWIW, I went from a 13,000K Giesemann Megachrome 250 MH plus 4 actinics to a quite different 20,000K Elos Spectrachrome 250W MH plus actinics. (After the appropriate acclimation) I also lowered the light, effectively increasing the light in the tank.

 

[Argentiner]

Would you say my smaller pair of mandarins would be doomed with a sally lightfoot crab in the tank? One is 2", the male about 3". Also have a small 2" sunburst anthias

 

[serval]

That could be a question for the Fish forum. I don't know. I have the sally with several small gobies with no mishaps yet. However, crabs are omnivorous (though the sallys eat algae when they are young) and unpredictable.

 

[pammy]

Hello Argentiner. My friend just had very good luch getting rid of his Lobo using AlgaeFix. It worked within about 8 doses. I had it myself, and a Sally took care of mine, but I know you want to avoid the Sally because of your Mandarin. Pam

Has anyone ever tried the MB7 to get rid of the brown wafer algae? I dose vodka and just started this MB7 to try and really drive the phosphates down to starve it out. I have no reading on nitrate and 0.01 for phosphates. I have a 2" mandarin that I would be worried about with a sally lightfoot. I also have too many fish to add a naso tang. My tank is a 175gal.

 

[Argentiner]

thanks pammy. I'm going to look into that. Want to make sure it's good with corals.

 

[luther1200]

I just came across this thread. I had a brutal year long battle with BWA. I found that Naso Tangs eat it very well. But my tank was to small for that, so I finally founs that Sally Lightfoot crabs eat it like crazy. But what really did the trick for me was HC GFO from BRS. After 2 months of running the HC along with the SLF crabs it was totally gone. I have progression pictures if anybody is interested.

 

[luther1200]

Here are the pictures for the heck of it.

This is what the whole tank looked like before.

This is 1 month into the HC GFO and 2 SLF crabs

This is the final result, and what it still looks like many months after it ended.

I would really recommend at least trying the HC GFO. It is defenitly the best I have ever used. And I did the math 1 day and its about 2x-3x cheaper than ROWAphos which is what I used before the HC.

 

[serval]

luther1200, you are an inspiration to us all (with BWA). Thanks for posting the pictures!

 

[Argentiner]

I've also read that people are having luck with the HC GFO. I am using the "regular" GFO from bulk reef supply and am wondering what the difference is. Could I not just use more the the GFO I have, or maybe change it more often? Or is there something different about the HC that I don't have? Thanks for the pics by the way.

 

[fishtankdon]

Gl on this. Seems lots have this issue. We are lucky not to have it. Seems like a struggle if you do. Keep positive, and rebuild. Hopefully will get better.

 

[crvz]

I read this thread a while back, and wanted to share some of my experience. I've had lobophora for a long time, and while it's never been a big issue, it is still unsightly and a bit of a nuisance in my experience. I added a blonde naso, and while I didnt have really high expectations, I was hopefully. It's been 4 days, and I caught the fish eating the lobo today.

Hopefully in a few months I'll see a difference.

 

[chercm]

this is nuisance alage and very hard to get rid of even though po4 =0

 

[serval]

I am wondering if it is possible at all to get rid of it. I have had it in my tank at a low level (no shelving, just brown spots everywhere) since the tank started over one year ago. I have tried many things and nothing seems to control it. Perhaps my low PO4, frequent water changes, snail population and moderate bioload keeps it at a manageable level, but eliminating it seems impossible. My tank is too small for a Naso tang. I did employ the help of one Sally Lightfoot crab for several months, but then it grew larger and I removed if for fear that it would start eating my other tank residents. The crab seemed eat some, but not all of it, so it never really went away.

 

[mgould73]

I am wondering if it is possible at all to get rid of it. I have had it in my tank at a low level (no shelving, just brown spots everywhere) since the tank started over one year ago. I have tried many things and nothing seems to control it. Perhaps my low PO4, frequent water changes, snail population and moderate bioload keeps it at a manageable level, but eliminating it seems impossible. My tank is too small for a Naso tang. I did employ the help of one Sally Lightfoot crab for several months, but then it grew larger and I removed if for fear that it would start eating my other tank residents. The crab seemed eat some, but not all of it, so it never really went away.

I do believe I have this same algae in my tank... 5 months old. Started speading within weeks.

I know this is an OLD OLD thread but im digging for answers. Is your algae gone??? Mine is speading like crazy.

 

[serval]

Mine is gone, from what I can tell. I put in one Tuxedo urchin and a bunch of various snails, kept up on the PO4 reduction and the carbon replacement...and of course water changes, and some manual removal...and voila. Not to try to sound like this was EASY at all.

 

[mgould73]

Mine is gone, from what I can tell. I put in one Tuxedo urchin and a bunch of various snails, kept up on the PO4 reduction and the carbon replacement...and of course water changes, and some manual removal...and voila. Not to try to sound like this was EASY at all.

Ive got a tuxedo urchin in there now that really doesnt seem to eat it. I think even its disgusting for him to eat .

Im doing weekly water changes, run GFO in a reactor. Don't have any detectable nitrates/phosphates either.

How did you do manual removal? I was in the tank last night and scraped some off with my kent scraper. I may buy a (soft) stranded stainless steel brush to gently remove it. As a plastic toothbrush does nothing.

Fingernail works too, but at the rate its in the tank, my nail will be bleeding when I am done.

Did yours also grown this thin, almost grey like fuzz from it as well? I see other people with the type I have also have this clear like fuzz growing off it.

 

[serval]

Hmmm. Maybe I just "thought" the urchin had something to do with it then. Or maybe, mine liked the algae I had and yours doesn't like what you have....it's so hard to know.

For manual removal, I bought a set of "dental scrapers" on Amazon and used the bent ones a bit. But, my fingernails were most useful. I also used a wire brush that looks like a toothbrush that I got from the auto parts store (sold to clean battery terminals and such). I think that brush was/is pretty useful.

And, yes, it definitely had that greyish fuzz on it. I don't know what that's all about. Mine never went so far as to get to the "plating out" stage where it starts to really go to town. Just remained as an unsightly brown, slippery-with-grey-fuzz coating on the rocks for months and months.

 

[mgould73]

Hmmm. Maybe I just "thought" the urchin had something to do with it then. Or maybe, mine liked the algae I had and yours doesn't like what you have....it's so hard to know.

For manual removal, I bought a set of "dental scrapers" on Amazon and used the bent ones a bit. But, my fingernails were most useful. I also used a wire brush that looks like a toothbrush that I got from the auto parts store (sold to clean battery terminals and such). I think that brush was/is pretty useful.

And, yes, it definitely had that greyish fuzz on it. I don't know what that's all about. Mine never went so far as to get to the "plating out" stage where it starts to really go to town. Just remained as an unsightly brown, slippery-with-grey-fuzz coating on the rocks for months and months.

Thanks for the reply, and yes no plating here as well. Just spot, patches with fuzz. I was worried that if I did scrape it off, it would spread even more. But at this point doesnt really matter. It's on alot of my rock.

I still dont understand why it likes the man made rock better then my fiji? Im guessing it likes the smooth surface (easier to attach to?) no idea. Barely any of my fiji has it, and if it does its very light and barely noticeable. That goes without saying that it could possibly grow like it's been on the man made rocks down the road though.

I also have it now on the back overflow plastic, seems like it grew right over the corraline that was already covering it.

Strangest algae I've come accross since reefing.

Going to pickup the brush at auto zone after work today. Hopefully i can brush it to remove the algae and not scrape the entire surface of the rock off. Since these are the FHI man made rocks, they are dyed. Im assuming its completely safe if scratched off and not toxic.

I noticed when i scratched a few patches off last night underneath it was still the dark purple/pink dye-paint, whatever they use when they make the rocks.

Thanks again.

 

[serval]

Just fyi: I used only Fiji rocks in my smallish tank...no man made rocks. So, I cannot confirm your observation on that. I wouldn't think the man made rock people would put anything toxic on them, so scraping them should be ok. Maybe just don't go to town on it all at once (?). I also tend to renew my populations of snails every once in awhile...a mixture of Astraea (I know they don't last that long, but they do good work!), Nerites and Cerith (and others for the sand bed) usually.

I wonder if there are subtle competition things going on on the rock's surfaces that we can't see? So, maybe the Fiji rock has more potential (at least initially) to "head off" this alga, vs. the less well-endowed-with-natural-critters man-made rock? Maybe, the "good creatures" on my rocks finally overpowered the "bad?" I'm just glad it is gone as it really was ugly.

Good luck with the new scraping technique! That wire brush comes in an obnoxious pack of 3 usually...only the steel one is worth anything, just fyi.

 

[mgould73]

Just fyi: I used only Fiji rocks in my smallish tank...no man made rocks. So, I cannot confirm your observation on that. I wouldn't think the man made rock people would put anything toxic on them, so scraping them should be ok. Maybe just don't go to town on it all at once (?). I also tend to renew my populations of snails every once in awhile...a mixture of Astraea (I know they don't last that long, but they do good work!), Nerites and Cerith (and others for the sand bed) usually.

I wonder if there are subtle competition things going on on the rock's surfaces that we can't see? So, maybe the Fiji rock has more potential (at least initially) to "head off" this alga, vs. the less well-endowed-with-natural-critters man-made rock? Maybe, the "good creatures" on my rocks finally overpowered the "bad?" I'm just glad it is gone as it really was ugly.

Good luck with the new scraping technique! That wire brush comes in an obnoxious pack of 3 usually...only the steel one is worth anything, just fyi.

Yup, i bought the 3 pack of wire brushes from lowes. They had a hard nylon. brass and stainless steel. I first tried the hard nylon, didnt really make a dent. Then went straight for the stainless.

About 30 Minutes later.... a small patch was cleared. I cannot believe how hard this crap is to get off, its just as bad as purple corraline! Scraping this area turned my tank pretty much milky white. I am also guessing that has to do with the rocks being made out of calcium carbonate. I am going to pull out as many as I can, that are loose at the top. But this bottom one (the one mostly covered) is holding up both sides of my rock work. So i may just try to keep scrubbing this one so i dont have to remove it.

You can see the Purple/Pink colors below where i scaped off the nasty stuff. I tried not to scrub so hard as to dig into the rock.

Looks like I need to send the wife on a weekend vacation this week and get my handy steel brushes ready