JC Pollman
Premium Member
I have had a reddish colored cotton-like algae growing in my refugium for a while. I did not like the stuff, but it never grew in my tank, and since it grew quickly, I figured harvesting it was as good as harvesting the macro algae that was suppose to grow there. Tonight, I finally figured out why the stuff grew so well.
About six months ago I had a very well established refugium. Then, through my own fault, I cooked it with the heaters ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ I mean really cooked it as in: it was so hot I could not put my hands in. So I cleaned it out, cleaned off the rocks, and put in new sand. I then seeded it with new macro algae. After about 2 months, I started getting a reddish colored fuzzy algae, and no matter what I tried to do to get rid of it, it grew very well. At first it grew on the walls of the refugium, and then it started growing on the bottom.
Tonight, I turned off the water flow so I could really try to get all of it. And I noticed something: it only grew where the old coralline was. I should mention that when I cooked the refugium, it was covered with coralline, and I just left it in the refugium as I did not see any problem with it, and I was too lazy to chip it all off. Not only was the algae growing on the sides with the coralline, but some of the old coralline had finaly fallen off and the reddish algae was growing on it on the bottom.
So, I guess the reddish algae was leaching the elements (nitrates? phosphate?) out of the dead coralline. I have now removed all the old coralline and will see if that solves my problem.
About six months ago I had a very well established refugium. Then, through my own fault, I cooked it with the heaters ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ I mean really cooked it as in: it was so hot I could not put my hands in. So I cleaned it out, cleaned off the rocks, and put in new sand. I then seeded it with new macro algae. After about 2 months, I started getting a reddish colored fuzzy algae, and no matter what I tried to do to get rid of it, it grew very well. At first it grew on the walls of the refugium, and then it started growing on the bottom.
Tonight, I turned off the water flow so I could really try to get all of it. And I noticed something: it only grew where the old coralline was. I should mention that when I cooked the refugium, it was covered with coralline, and I just left it in the refugium as I did not see any problem with it, and I was too lazy to chip it all off. Not only was the algae growing on the sides with the coralline, but some of the old coralline had finaly fallen off and the reddish algae was growing on it on the bottom.
So, I guess the reddish algae was leaching the elements (nitrates? phosphate?) out of the dead coralline. I have now removed all the old coralline and will see if that solves my problem.
