macroalgae control

[Capt_Cully]

I know about halmeda, all too well. Prune it, live with it.

Bryopsis, prune it, Kent Tech M magnesium for target 1500.

Suction cup (?genus and species) and grape cauleurpa , what to do, what to do?

I have a 40B in the basement which I'm tuning up to hold some of my softies, zoos, and frags, but it's quite over run by various macros.

Any help?

 

[NirvanaFan]

I know I'm not too much help, but I used to have a powder blue tang that ate everything. I had a small tank crash that took a few corals and fish. Since then, I've noticed some caulerpa and another type of macro growing. It is growing from a few different rocks. I started noticing it about a month after the tang passed. I'm thinking that it was eating it as soon as it started to grow through the rocks.

I know getting a tang for your 40 is out of the question, but there are fish out there that will eat it.

 

[tmz]

Low PO4 <.03 will limit it but with a softie tank you may not care to do that . It wouldn't hurt if done gradually. Dosing a little vodka or vinegar might be worth exploring if you have a good skimmer on that tank and want to run gac too and run tests for NO3 and PO4.. The zoanthus if any will benefit from the carbon dosing ,ime, and definitely like the cleaner water.

All in all , for a 40 g not integrated into a larger system with that much algae I'd probably try a lawnmower blenny and a few turbos first,
if the corals are doing well.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

The only thing I've found to take care of Caulerpa sp. is manual removal. I've heard of decent results using Sea Hares for HA, as well as lawnmower blennies. It sounds like this tank has been a "B" tank for you, I'm guessing it hasn't been on top of your maintenance routine; stepping up the attention it gets may be all it takes to get your algae more under control. I'm also a fan of chemical filtration. GAC, GFO, and perhaps Purigen 24/7 may be of benefit.

 

[Capt_Cully]

Definitely an experimental tank.

I just manually removed what I could. I cleaned out the refugium, completely. I'm going to start with dosing some B-Ionic and it'll bet more routine care, now that the 180 is coming down.

A couple of Turbos might just be all it needs to get things stirred up.

 

[tmz]

Whoa. What's up with the 180?

 

[Capt_Cully]

Tom, I know you were probably busy with your RC Awards dinner this weekend with johnnyc, but yes, 180 is coming down. Moving to a new house and moving the tank isn't really a feasable option. So, I've been selling off frags and colonies.

In planning stages for new tank. Measuring tomorrow evening. That will ultimately determine the size of the new tank. Hoping for a Marineland 200DD 4x3x2+.

It's been super hard tearing the old tub down, but it is muted by the excitement of building a new reef. Bitter sweet. Circle of life kind of stuff happening.

 

[tmz]

Good luck with it all, I like the sound of a 4x3x2. No awards dinner but the barbeque at ARC's frag swap fed me for a week The RC thing came out of the blue; just got a nice unexpected invitation via pm. . If we were closer I'd take a few frags..

Tom