ready to tear it down...green plague!!

[scbadiver]

Ok I've been battling this for about 14 months. Its called Neomeris Annulata. It is a calcium based algae, similar to Halimeda. It seems to prefer shady areas but grows in bright light too. The rock has been in my other tank for about 12 years with no signs of this plague. I had it in this tank for about 1 year with minimal lighting due to construction of the hood. Almost immediately when the new hood was installed this started to grow, all over everything. I have tried to drop the calcium levels, raise calcium levels, light depravation, etc. At the end of march, this year, I removed and scrubbed evey rock and put it back in. it is now back and thicker than it was then. All these efforts were to no avail. The Po4 is at 0, calcium is now running about 460ppm as of last night. alk is at 9.6dkh, Ph around 8 give or take, salinity 1.025, temp 79. These pics will give you an idea of what is looks like over all and close up. sorry for long post but I am at my wits end (which wasn't a long trip LOL) and I don't have anymore ideas....do you? Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[Letmegrow]

See if you can get a different type of Algae to out compete it.

Try switching salt brands ?

UV sterilizer ?

 

[Fade]

Chad and I talked about this last night I think you ought to cook the rock or get new rock 100% water change start from scratch.

 

[scbadiver]

The bulk of that rocked cooked for about a year prior to going back in the tank and thats when it started. The other algeas wont grow, I think due to competition. my grape stuff in the sump has turned to string and never grows. I'm afraid starting over is really not much of an option due to expenses. What would UV do to help?

 

[Letmegrow]

If the algae spreads by spores it will kill the spores before settleing onto the rocks.

 

[scbadiver]

Ok, thanks. I don't really know how it grows. My concern is although that may prevent spread, what about what's already "rooted" so to speak? I have to missing something here I just don't know what.

 

[toastman]

Holy crap batman....looks like a mess....in my opinion all algea problems come from nutrients....I would cut all dosing, fish feeding way back to one time every 2 days, and start regular waterchanges of 15% every week, with RODI water, and see if that helps, lighting comes to mind, what kind of bulbs, are they old? More information would help, cranking up a skimmer will help get out the nutrients...there has to be a nutrient imbalance, what salt are you using?

 

[scbadiver]

Well, not to smart but, been there down that. Starved tank for weeks, problem started when bulbs were brand new, still exists with same bulbs 14 months later. Using RODI wate from the start, checked it for Po4 at RODI, it was 0. When this started growing I was using Coralife salt. I switched to IO in march when I did the big clean out. At that time I did a 120 gallon water changed followed by 30 gallon changes about evey other day for several weeks, during that time is when it all started to come back. My skimmer has been pulling out about the same amount of stuff thru out. As a side note, there is not a spec of any hair algea or cyano in the tank. I agree it has to be growing from some kind of neutrient but what?

 

[ol'saltybastage]

man, i'd cook that stuff. if it spreads via spores i'd get a UV and cook part of it at a time. but you risk re-infection by doing that.

get new LR then cook that stuff and sell it. you could probably win the battle by starving it. its just a matter of how patient you are.

 

[DARKSILENTTYPE]

You have PM

DST

 

[Sk8r]

Have you tried urchins? Since they will nosh a bit on coralline, calcite based stuff may not totally daunt them.

 

[Spiffyguy]

I had some of that stuff. I was told it was called Spindleweed. It disappeared from my tank. I had maybe 4-5 stalks. In my tank I had some blue leg hermits, a few astrea snails and a pencil urchin. My bet was that urchin took it out. I have seen it eat some of my halimeda too. When is chomped down on my xenia it went back to the fish store. He is at Marine Solutions right now. Middle aisle, 2nd tank on the top I believe. Was still there yesterday lol. I think they sell for 10 bucks. Might help you out.

 

[scbadiver]

Put 4 BIG urchins, and one small one. They wandered around and knocked stuff over for about 6 weeeks before the became the property of MS too! They would only munch around the edges. The little urchin was lost so I kept him. I saw him the other day. he's grown a little but leaves no marks on the rocks. he only seems to eat on the bottoms of the rock. But, thanks for the idea.

 

[Divedog]

Does anyone know what a 3 blackout is? This article referenced this to eliminate this algae problem in an article on invasive neomeris annulata in LA.

http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200501/msg00167.html

 

[hagfish]

A rabbit fish of some sort might eat it.

Hey, it looks better than hair algae!

 

[Letmegrow]

Have you ever tried to eat it ? Might be like bean sprouts.

 

[DARKSILENTTYPE]

I think ( not sure though ) they are referring to 3 days of no light .

Complete darkness so covering the tank to make sure NO LIGHT comes through .

DST

 

[scbadiver]

Divedog, thats an interesting article. Why add potasium nitrate? I'm not familiar with it or its use. Thanks for the research Jeff.

 

[scbadiver]

Bean sprouts! LOL...perhaps with a little vinegar and oil tossed in?

 

[Letmegrow]

Potassium Nitrate is an oxidizer. Kind of like Chemiclean.