Free Chaeto and fuzzy pink algae

[bromion]

My little 8-gal fuge is getting full of Chaeto and fuzzy red/pink algae (not sure what it is!). If you want some of this stuff for free, let me know. I'm in Brentwood.

If you can ID the fuzzy red/pink algae, that would be useful. It's dark pink and forms tight hairy cotton-ball-like structures, and tends to attach to the walls and Chaeto.

 

[bromion]

What the heck... pictures!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bromion/185936078/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/53/185936078_81e401f9c3.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="fuge1" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bromion/185936079/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/74/185936079_602d14c959.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="fuge2" /></a>

 

[orlenz]

I had some redish pink stuff that looked like that,
it was cyano.
I hope thats not what you have there.

 

[Bebo77]

lol yea that is cyno... you may want to scoop that stuff out and toss it... is it on your rocks?

 

[bromion]

Well, if it is cyano, it's doing wonders for my tank! It looks macro, though. Hard to see in the pics. It's also very pink, like the color of pink coralline algae.

 

[westin]

Its red turf algae. I have the same stuff but it was in my main tank. It caused a real problem and got out of control. I had to scrub it off the rocks and scoop it out with a fish net. It took a week to get under control. I also put in about 4 Mexican(turbo) snails they love the stuff. Now I just have it in the fuge all in my chaeto where the turbos cant get to it all, they still try and climb on the chaeto.
Just watch the stuff. If you put 1 or 2 turbos in the fuge after you remove most of it they will keeep it under control.

 

[bromion]

I see. Found an article on it, too. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/nftt/index.php

It does not seem to take hold in my display, even when some gets through. I do have a turbo snail in there, which might do the trick. I should get one or two more. Thanks!

 

[bromion]

Great suggestion on the turbo snails! In the span of under a week, three of them ate about 85% of the red algae in my fuge. They're working on sucking the rest from the Chaeto ball!

 

[migston]

How come your fuge wall has so many baffles? I wouldn't think that there'd be a lot of microbubbles coming from it (unless your skimmer water passes through it) and it makes it harder for pods to get into your display, especially because of that foam pad.

 

[bromion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7769980#post7769980 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by migston
How come your fuge wall has so many baffles? I wouldn't think that there'd be a lot of microbubbles coming from it (unless your skimmer water passes through it) and it makes it harder for pods to get into your display, especially because of that foam pad.

Well, it's my first fuge design, so it's surely not optimal. There are unfortunately bubbles that come through the pipe from the display tank, so the baffles help with that. I'm adding a bubble trap to the skimmer return, too. Pods don't really make it to the main display so much; they'd also have to go through the pump to get there.

 

[migston]

Ah I see so your overflow empties into the fuge? Personally I prefer to empty the overflow into the skimmer section and feed the fuge with a tee in my return. That way i can control the flow through it and not worry about micro bubbles.

Here's the blueprint I made up when I set up my old sump fuge in case you wanted some input. I have it set up basically the same now albeit the sump fuge is now combined into a bigger tank and my overflow pipe is more complicated since it directly feeds my skimmer, but the gist is the same.