Having Pest algaes doesn’t mean your tank is doing bad.

[sixty_reefer]

Having pest algae’s in aquaria doesn’t necessarily means your tank is doing bad, in fact it may mean all your parameters are just spot on to sustain life. The reason pest algae’s are present is mainly because at some point they were introduced unknowingly to your system, there isn’t any algae that grows out of thin air. In addition there are out there amazing reefs full of pest algae’s that look awesome. The reason they not struggle is that the algae they got it’s actually loved by most in the hobby (coralline algae).
IMO people that suffer from the most common undesirable pests algae’s ex. GHA and bryopsis, things only start to go dawn hill wend start messing with the tank parameters, it’s unheard to to me for someone to be successful at eradicating algae from a system by removing no3 and po4 altogether, the parameters where fine before and by messing with them a chain reaction of bad things will star to take place.

imo if anyone is affected by this you should take a step back and formulate a plan that doesn’t involve starving your tank from nutrients, take your time to do an informative decision. Look at preventing outbreaks by doing a few preventative methods of introducing pest to your system some of them could be:

1. Keep all new corals that have plugs or LR under observation in a separate system, spores could be present and develop over time.

2. Remove the frag plug or LR whenever possible

3. Hydrogen peroxide dip on corals that can’t be removed from LR or frag plugs before adding it to your tank. (Some coral may be sensitive to exposure)

4. If you starting with dry LR rock, consider bleaching the rock before starting the curing process

5. second had wet dry goods, always give them a good scrubbing and dip in hydrogen peroxide.

 

[MBruun]

I think you are perfectly right that preventing the nurserous algeas from getting into your system would be prefferable and that one could easily start a chain reaction of more or less bad things by try to starve the bad algeas out. anything will starve then.
But getting rid of an outbreak of eg. bubble algeas,GHA, bryopsis or.... can be super complicated to make a plan for.
IMO
Most nurserous algeas are more effecient than corals and corraline algeas to get N and P from the water column and substrate.
Algea grassers return aroung 90% from the other end feeding the remaining algeas.
Lots of recommendations of how to get rid of nurserous algeas focus on reducing no3 and po4.
Vibrant and similar algea killers seems to be out of the picture when you already have corals, especially sps corals.

 

[Bpb]

I'm glad someone said this. I've felt the same for many years. If your tank is fit to grow happy corals, it is fit to grow algae as well. Doesn't necessarily work the other way around, in the fact that if it is fit to grow algae, doesnt necessarily mean it is ready for coral. Either way. The best way to reduce nuisance algae is to increase the amount of correctly chosen herbivores. I'm strongly against running a tank in any way, parameter or lighting wise, with the explicit goal of reducing algae growth, because you'll be limiting the corals potential as well

 

[sixty_reefer]

I think you are perfectly right that preventing the nurserous algeas from getting into your system would be prefferable and that one could easily start a chain reaction of more or less bad things by try to starve the bad algeas out. anything will starve then.
But getting rid of an outbreak of eg. bubble algeas,GHA, bryopsis or.... can be super complicated to make a plan for.
IMO
Most nurserous algeas are more effecient than corals and corraline algeas to get N and P from the water column and substrate.
Algea grassers return aroung 90% from the other end feeding the remaining algeas.
Lots of recommendations of how to get rid of nurserous algeas focus on reducing no3 and po4.
Vibrant and similar algea killers seems to be out of the picture when you already have corals, especially sps corals.

There is several ways to deal with problems, I just feel that sometimes the decision is rushed or just focus on no3 and po4, especially wend it’s not a parameters issue. Maybe we should have more info out there in how to tackle issues using natural predators, they can be used in any system size and it works of well implemented. One of the common mistakes I see for example is the battle with bryopsis using Elysia crispata, imo if using Nudibranch to tackle something they can’t be placed in single numbers, a minimum of two, ideally 3 need to be placed to start multiplying, once they deal with the problem they can be sent back to LFS for credit, traded with friends etc…

 

[sixty_reefer]

I'm glad someone said this. I've felt the same for many years. If your tank is fit to grow happy corals, it is fit to grow algae as well. Doesn't necessarily work the other way around, in the fact that if it is fit to grow algae, doesnt necessarily mean it is ready for coral. Either way. The best way to reduce nuisance algae is to increase the amount of correctly chosen herbivores. I'm strongly against running a tank in any way, parameter or lighting wise, with the explicit goal of reducing algae growth, because you'll be limiting the corals potential as well

Spot on. Imo not just starving coral, reducing nutrients to zero as it’s very common to see can cause dinoflagellates to develop and beneficial bacteria to go dormant also bringing the hole system to an imbalance that will take a lot of time to recover.

 

[Garf]

Pests are just better at life. If you can’t grow algae, there’s something really wrong.

 

[Dburr1014]

The reason pest algae’s are present is mainly because at some point they were introduced unknowingly to your system, there isn’t any algae that grows out of thin air.

I agree with 99% of this post but this. Sometimes, it does come from the air.

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/AEM.03333-15

 

[sixty_reefer]

I agree with 99% of this post but this. Sometimes, it does come from the air.

https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/AEM.03333-15

My mind is blown, ordering a glass top for the tank as I type.

 

[Garf]

Anyone on this forum think their tank has no pest algae? Get a plastic mesh screen and rough it up, get tank water to flow over it, add light, don’t allow herbivores near it, come back in 4 weeks and tell me they have no algae in the tank, lol

 

[sixty_reefer]

Anyone on this forum think their tank has no pest algae? Get a plastic mesh screen and rough it up, get tank water to flow over it, add light, don’t allow herbivores near it, come back in 4 weeks and tell me they have no algae in the tank, lol

That’s probably how some algae scrubbers get going lol

 

[sixty_reefer]

This article makes me nervous, definitely written in 2009

Nuisance Algae Identification and Removal Guide

Nuisance Algae Identification and Removal Guide by John Maloney (2009) Okay, so unless you have a nuisance macro algae that is complex and not normal, we hopefully got you covered. We need photos to continue the thread, send them in. The...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Jubei2006]

Im having a little trouble growing ulva lactuca in my refugium. It's present, but just existing. Think it's a nitrate issue (0.7ppm) and phosphates are high (0.3ppm). So I started dosing a small amount of nitrate, and am feeding the same. Phosphates are coming down. But you know what is growing fairly well in the refugium? Hair algae. Do I care......not so much because my trochus snails, tangs, and tuxedo urchins keep hair algae out of the display tank. So if hair algae is going to be my method of nutrient export, so be it. Works just as well or better than chaeto and other ornamental algaes. Plus nobody but me sees it anyway. And the copepods seem to like it too.

 

[Paul B]

For the last 4 years My water came directly from here with no fanfare. Right into my tank......
OK..I do heat it up a little

But whatever pests, parasites or algae is welcome and so far, it is all good.

Of course I also filter out the tuna, barracuda, crabs, bikinis and Oldsmobile parts, especially the engines.

 

[Dburr1014]

For the last 4 years My water came directly from here with no fanfare. Right into my tank......
OK..I do heat it up a little

But whatever pests, parasites or algae is welcome and so far, it is all good.

Of course I also filter out the tuna, barracuda, crabs, bikinis and Oldsmobile parts, especially the engines.

They stopped making Olds, you could probably make some cash on that.

 

[Paul B]

LOL. I was an Oldsmobile mechanic in the late 60s when Toronado came out which was the first front wheel drive American car.

 

[Dburr1014]

LOL. I was an Oldsmobile mechanic in the late 60s when Toronado came out which was the first front wheel drive American car.

Wow, brings back memories.
My first car was my parents. 1980 cutlass.
I moved on to a 197* something starfire, but I really loved my 69 cutlass. 350 with a 12 volt 1 legger. Oh the burnouts that would do...

 

[Paul B]

1980 was a cool looking Cutlass. I had a 64 Cutless convertible.

 

[MaxTremors]

Having pest algae’s in aquaria doesn’t necessarily means your tank is doing bad, in fact it may mean all your parameters are just spot on to sustain life. The reason pest algae’s are present is mainly because at some point they were introduced unknowingly to your system, there isn’t any algae that grows out of thin air. In addition there are out there amazing reefs full of pest algae’s that look awesome. The reason they not struggle is that the algae they got it’s actually loved by most in the hobby (coralline algae).
IMO people that suffer from the most common undesirable pests algae’s ex. GHA and bryopsis, things only start to go dawn hill wend start messing with the tank parameters, it’s unheard to to me for someone to be successful at eradicating algae from a system by removing no3 and po4 altogether, the parameters where fine before and by messing with them a chain reaction of bad things will star to take place.

imo if anyone is affected by this you should take a step back and formulate a plan that doesn’t involve starving your tank from nutrients, take your time to do an informative decision. Look at preventing outbreaks by doing a few preventative methods of introducing pest to your system some of them could be:

1. Keep all new corals that have plugs or LR under observation in a separate system, spores could be present and develop over time.

2. Remove the frag plug or LR whenever possible

3. Hydrogen peroxide dip on corals that can’t be removed from LR or frag plugs before adding it to your tank. (Some coral may be sensitive to exposure)

4. If you starting with dry LR rock, consider bleaching the rock before starting the curing process

5. second had wet dry goods, always give them a good scrubbing and dip in hydrogen peroxide.

There are absolutely nuisance algae that ‘appears out of thin air’. You can have a tub of saltwater with nothing in it, never introduce anything, and it will still grow algae. Marine algae spores are carried thousands of miles inland on the wind, that couple with some dust as a food source and some light and you’ve got algae. There have been studies that have shown marine birds get algae spores in their feathers while diving and then when they’re flying the spores dry out and are then airborne, I read another study where thousands of miles inland they were able to detect 187 species of marine algae and protozoa. So the assertion that you have to introduce algae on a frag plug or live rock for algae to appear in your tank just isn’t true. Unless you’re taking great care to use RODI water that is put into a sterile aquarium that is sealed, you’ll end up with algae in your aquarium. Algae can also be introduced to the aquarium from livestock and equipment, but even with the most meticulous quarantining and cleaning of frag plugs, you’ll still end up with algae.

I do agree with you that algae is just part of a healthy tank.

 

[Dburr1014]

There are absolutely nuisance algae that ‘appears out of thin air’. You can have a tub of saltwater with nothing in it, never introduce anything, and it will still grow algae. Marine algae spores are carried thousands of miles inland on the wind, that couple with some dust as a food source and some light and you’ve got algae. There have been studies that have shown marine birds get algae spores in their feathers while diving and then when they’re flying the spores dry out and are then airborne, I read another study where thousands of miles inland they were able to detect 187 species of marine algae and protozoa. So the assertion that you have to introduce algae on a frag plug or live rock for algae to appear in your tank just isn’t true. Unless you’re taking great care to use RODI water that is put into a sterile aquarium that is sealed, you’ll end up with algae in your aquarium. Algae can also be introduced to the aquarium from livestock and equipment, but even with the most meticulous quarantining and cleaning of frag plugs, you’ll still end up with algae.

I do agree with you that algae is just part of a healthy tank.

Totally agree and have read studies on this also.

 

[sixty_reefer]

There are absolutely nuisance algae that ‘appears out of thin air’. You can have a tub of saltwater with nothing in it, never introduce anything, and it will still grow algae. Marine algae spores are carried thousands of miles inland on the wind, that couple with some dust as a food source and some light and you’ve got algae. There have been studies that have shown marine birds get algae spores in their feathers while diving and then when they’re flying the spores dry out and are then airborne, I read another study where thousands of miles inland they were able to detect 187 species of marine algae and protozoa. So the assertion that you have to introduce algae on a frag plug or live rock for algae to appear in your tank just isn’t true. Unless you’re taking great care to use RODI water that is put into a sterile aquarium that is sealed, you’ll end up with algae in your aquarium. Algae can also be introduced to the aquarium from livestock and equipment, but even with the most meticulous quarantining and cleaning of frag plugs, you’ll still end up with algae.

I do agree with you that algae is just part of a healthy tank.

I believe someone linked a article in support of what you mentioned also, I still don’t think we should destroy our tanks and create more problems by depleting a tank from nutrients to try and eradicate pest algaes.