wafer algae
- Thread starter KLBJR
- Start date
kmk2307
Active member
KLBJR,
Try looking up Padina. Is that the algae? Do you test your nitrates and phosphates? If they are undetectable that will help prevent its growth. I would manually remove as much of it as possible. Adding another algae that is easily removed like Chaetomorpha might prevent its growth by out-competing it. I think pretty much any herbivore sea urchin like Diadema or the tuxedo urchin would like to eat this algae.
HTH,
Kevin
Try looking up Padina. Is that the algae? Do you test your nitrates and phosphates? If they are undetectable that will help prevent its growth. I would manually remove as much of it as possible. Adding another algae that is easily removed like Chaetomorpha might prevent its growth by out-competing it. I think pretty much any herbivore sea urchin like Diadema or the tuxedo urchin would like to eat this algae.
HTH,
Kevin
wee-reefer
In Memoriam
Lobophora variegata is not good for tanks then? Because I thought it was pretty neat. Will it spread in plague proportions? I just have two spots in my tank where it is growing.
Frick-n-Frags
New member
I have some of that what I believe to be Lobophora also. It can grow like a sheet on my zooanthid prop CD cases and I have to peel it off, but other than that, it just grows here and there. It is really easy to remove and isn't my fastest grower.
Caveat: I have other types of algae which may be giving it competition, so I don't know what it would do by itself. Here's a pic of my stuff(on the left
)
<img src="http://www.rusynyk.com/coral/brnandgreenmacro.jpg">
Caveat: I have other types of algae which may be giving it competition, so I don't know what it would do by itself. Here's a pic of my stuff(on the left
)<img src="http://www.rusynyk.com/coral/brnandgreenmacro.jpg">
RicksReefs
New member
it's easier to pull off of glass & fricks CD cases than it is rock.
& it can smother the good stuff. even with a thriving fuge
full of chaeto & C. serrulata & halimeda in the reef, it still
grows. i wish i had gotten a pic of a protopalythoa polyp
racing to outcompete this stuff. the wafer grew around the
polyp, the polyp released from the rock & climbed the tube of
wafer created. it was about 4" tall before it fell of the rock.
it will make shrooms n' such bail from the rock to get away.
those that can't run, get overrun. i thought it looked cool to
when it started too, kinda like a monti cap without the polyps.
that was a decision i regret (still fighting the stuff).
& it can smother the good stuff. even with a thriving fuge
full of chaeto & C. serrulata & halimeda in the reef, it still
grows. i wish i had gotten a pic of a protopalythoa polyp
racing to outcompete this stuff. the wafer grew around the
polyp, the polyp released from the rock & climbed the tube of
wafer created. it was about 4" tall before it fell of the rock.
it will make shrooms n' such bail from the rock to get away.
those that can't run, get overrun. i thought it looked cool to
when it started too, kinda like a monti cap without the polyps.
that was a decision i regret (still fighting the stuff).
wee-reefer
In Memoriam
Sheesh, thanks guys, I'll try to remove it. I also have some Neomeris annulata in there, and some red kelp looking algae that I put in a small tank by my bedroom window. I like macros but if they're going to take over, I'll get them out as well. -Jen
Frick-n-Frags
New member
I also have a thicker brown sheeting type of algae that grows out from its place of attachment and almost is fuzzy. I think that is Lobophorum too but it grows off the substrate it starts on. I find chunks of that floating around every now and then.
I really believe the bottom line to having algae is that every algae's purpose in life is to totally dominate its surroundings. I am even having trouble with Chaeto strings starting up everywhere in my main tanks and I only let it grow in the algae sump. So once you know your players, they are easier to deal with. Some people have horrible Dictyota plagues too, and Caulerpa and Valonia and Sargassum and and and....
Oh, but don't worry Rick, it can't stop Xenia and it will overgrow Valonia and hair algae
I really believe the bottom line to having algae is that every algae's purpose in life is to totally dominate its surroundings. I am even having trouble with Chaeto strings starting up everywhere in my main tanks and I only let it grow in the algae sump. So once you know your players, they are easier to deal with. Some people have horrible Dictyota plagues too, and Caulerpa and Valonia and Sargassum and and and....
Oh, but don't worry Rick, it can't stop Xenia
and it will overgrow Valonia and hair algae 
