What will eat my plants?

[NowasReef]

My tank is a 70 gallon that has been up and running about 6 months.
I have about 100 lbs of live rock that I got from an established tank.
After about 2 months I started to see plant growth coming out of about half the rock. As it gets long I have been pruning it.
It's now to the point where I can't really keep up on it and it's starting to irritate my corals.
I don't necessarily want to eradicate it as it has been a haven for pod growth but is their anything that will eat it to more keep it in check?

Fish wise I have a royal gramma, 2 occ clowns, a black blenny, and a tomini tang along with various snails and crabs

trying to add a pic

Thanks

 

[Dmorty217]

Look into a urchin

 

[Daddi0]

I had Caulerpa growing in my reef. It was good looking for a bit, then its growth got to the point it was covering corals and out of control. Like you I tried to prune it but I could never get ahead. I ended up pulling the rocks out in stages and soaking for 24 hours in vinegar followed by 1 week in R/O followed by a week in the sun. Finally got rid of it. the pods will find other places to hang out.
Cheers! Mark

 

[NowasReef]

Thanks! The tank is doing well so I really don't want to pull everything apart. And I'm in Michigan so we won't see the sun for about 6 months from now so baking it isn't really an option.
Maybe I'll try the urchin route and see what happens. My hermits already knock everything over so it'll maybe force me to glue some things in place

 

[lifeoffaith]

Definitely go with an urchin. I'd recommend a pencil urchin. Mine has done a great job keeping things under control.

 

[NowasReef]

Here's a pic

 

[D-Nak]

Hard to tell in the photo but that might be bryopsis. If it is, look up Fluconazole as a removal option.

 

[NowasReef]

The photos I find of bryopsis look much more feathery. Are there different kinds?
Ive attatched maybe a little better pic of it

 

[jlmawp]

Is it red? Looks like a species of dictyota. I have this as well. It can take over relatively quickly if left unchecked, in my experience. It's possible to fight with effort, though. I've been able to localize it to a couple more secluded rocks in my tank. I don't have a refugium, so I keep it around to accomplish nutrient reduction.

 

[NowasReef]

Thanks. That sounds like its along the right track. I think i will relocate the candy cane that it seems to be bothering. It is "contained" on one side of the tank...other than the constant pieces I have to pick out of my pumps. It does seem to be very effective at nutrient reduction and the tank stays very stable

 

[D-Nak]

Yes, in the new photo I see dictyota as well as codium (green bush right behind the gramma).

I hear that AlgaeFix can get rid of it, but I try to stay away from chemicals. In my 60 gallon flat I had a purple and maculiceps tang -- one or both were eating all of the algae. Now that they're out I have all sorts of algae growing including bubble, dictyota, and codium.

 

[jlmawp]

That's good to hear. Every once in a while, I'll go through and just pull out as much as possible with tongs, and then do some turkey basting around the tank to knock free the loose piece during extraction, and just siphon them up. I'm pretty careful about let those pieces float around because they will grow wherever they land.

 

[lifeoffaith]

Would love to get my hands on some of that if you feel like shipping! I hear it can be invasive, but since one of my tanks is a macroalgae tank, I'd love to get some.

 

[NowasReef]

Yea I have codium in a few places as well but that isn't a problem.
Its amazing what "pops" out of the rock.
I think I will just stay with the manual removal route. I don't really want to try and treat chemically if I don't have to. And like i said the tank is really healthy.
My tomini tang and blenny seem to snack on it occasionally, but not enough to keep in in check

 

[steallife904]

give an urchin a try, they will eat about anything so its a toss up but they are cool either way. I have a blue tux urchin I think its a super cool member of the tank regardless of what he does. So far I can say he keeps my rocks clean.

 

[steallife904]

Also maybe a sea hare????