Maco-alge taking over tank

[Surf Hunter]

Can anyone identify this algae? I thought at first it was Bryopsis sp and hit the tank with Tech M to close 2000 per a red sea pro kit for a week and nothing. Had a few corals bleach but the algae still grows like a weed.
40 gallon tank, SG 1.025, nitrite and ammonia 0, nitrate 0 phosphate .025 (putting on a GFO reactor this week).

If anyone can help identify this it would be great. BTW, pic not mine but from this site.

 

[brandon429]

if you want it gone come over to my thread. about 8 pages ago we fixed a tank just like that, w pics, and about 20 others too

pico reef pest algae problem challenge thread

page 2 nanos forum

 

[brandon429]

it can grow in phosphate managed tanks as well the thread will show, they get it from other places not always the water column. direct liberation from the substrate is another source and that doesnt even mean the tank is saturated with p, its just a natural sink for it. trying to starve it out is futile about 50% of the time or better.

 

[Surf Hunter]

it can grow in phosphate managed tanks as well the thread will show, they get it from other places not always the water column. direct liberation from the substrate is another source and that doesnt even mean the tank is saturated with p, its just a natural sink for it. trying to starve it out is futile about 50% of the time or better.

Thanks Brandon,
I was actually following that thread and started doing a H2O2 treatment outside the tank to see what happens. I was really looking for an ID on the algae as I have never run into this type before.

 

[brandon429]

yep me too I am always trying to learn more about id. plantbrain could prolly id it lol

my old standby is tank wrecker nos but that wont work for the avg botanist heh

 

[Surf Hunter]

my old standby is tank wrecker nos but that wont work for the avg botanist heh

I like that.

I'll send maybe send an email to the Steinhart Aquarium and see if they could help me out. We once had a freshwater puffer we could not positively identify and they let us come down and talk to a biologist. It was awesome, he gave us a behind the scenes tour and i got to touch one of the dead celocanth specimens that they have. they have really sharp teeth.

 

[Epicreefer]

Don't know what kind of algae that is but it's common on Florida aqua cultured live rock so it's present in S Florida and probably the carabian to give you a start on ID. It always looked tasty to me so I would expect most herbivores would eat it (connected systems same rock in one tank with tangs its not there, another without tangs/herbivores it is)not sure on that though. Doesn't seem to be aggressive grower like hair algae and in a 40g a toothbrush might keep it at bay.

 

[Surf Hunter]

Don't know what kind of algae that is but it's common on Florida aqua cultured live rock so it's present in S Florida and probably the carabian to give you a start on ID. It always looked tasty to me so I would expect most herbivores would eat it (connected systems same rock in one tank with tangs its not there, another without tangs/herbivores it is)not sure on that though. Doesn't seem to be aggressive grower like hair algae and in a 40g a toothbrush might keep it at bay.

Thanks for the tip on the location, that helps.

Actually, the stuff moves fast and is all that is evil choking out anything in it's pass. It's hard to manually remove as it just breaks up in your hand and the small pieces grow fast as well. I thought about a tang but with the small size of the tank I didn't want to stress the fish. I did start spot treating with the H2O2 and its working incredibly fast. Doing another large water change tomorrow, adding more oto the CUC and will also be running Phosban in a reactor.

 

[Lateralus]

It's caulerpa verticillata. Its a great macro, too great imo since it can go asexual and go system wide. It can and will wreak havoc in your display. It comes in waves and was always a good indication of when I needed to change my bulbs. Once I changed my bulbs it would retreat back to my fuge.

 

[Lateralus]

Ill also add sometimes my cheato would out compete it, sometimes not...

 

[Surf Hunter]

It's caulerpa verticillata. Its a great macro, too great imo since it can go asexual and go system wide. It can and will wreak havoc in your display. It comes in waves and was always a good indication of when I needed to change my bulbs. Once I changed my bulbs it would retreat back to my fuge.

Thanks for the ID, it really hleps.
Odd, on the lamps as they are less then 3 months old on my MH and my 4 VHO actinics. The stuff was evil and took over the display so fast it was not funny. it is under control now via spot treatments with H2O2 but man that stuff took off like nobodies business. I don't have a sump or fuge so cheto won't work. This is an old tank, literally going now close to 20 years. i will probably add a sump in the near future though just for pure convenience.

 

[Lateralus]

Yea that stuff will defiantly carpet anything in its path and if left alone will grow tall and block out all light.

 

[brandon429]

Wait a minute here people. Its blasphemous to treat any algae invasion with any bandaid other than phosphate management.

how's that working out for the general public

I figure once that becomes true, our peroxide work will cease to be necessary. Until that time where gfo cures everything, I consider all books written on algae management a bunch of guesswork 20 yrs dated knowledge and pretty entertaining as long as your tank gets the easy stuff, say a little gha. You get a macro invasion, or neomeris, or red brush algae, we got a bandaid for ya but by all means go down the po4 road first so you will be sure there was no other option.

Hopefully the authors will ignore peroxide as both an in tank and external treatment option another 20 years. Their readers are keeping peroxide threads very active. About 40% of all entrants into the peroxide thread were using gfo and reported phosphates in line with numbers that should translate into no algae. Taking direct action on a target, independent of nutrient levels and not action by that of an animal but by that of a set of human hands (and whatever the tool du jour may be) is the nu metal wave of algae management. #wefixtanks

 

[gerds77]

I had that same algae on the live rock I got from a supplier in Florida when I set up my 65g tank. I added a emerald crab along with my clean up crew after the tank had cycled. The emerald crab devoured the algae over the course of a few days.

 

[brandon429]

Yes I believe that and kole tangs too. There are natural methods to counter any Chem one if they do work they function as a nice preventative as well