The Misconception of Algae & Nutrients + a Solution - Article

[Miami Reef]

Algae needs more than just phosphate to grow. In fact, they need: Light, phosphate, nitrate, trace elements, room (no competition from coralline/bacteria/corals, and a lack of herbivores to grow.

If even one of these is not there, algae will become limited by it.

This is basic stoichiometry. Kind of like making a cake that needs eggs and flour. I can give you 1,000 eggs but if you don’t have any flour you can’t make the cake. The recipe will be limited by the flour. This is the same with algae. So the mere presence of algae implies you have enough of everything.

Despite having 0.00 showing on test kits, the algae is either directly consuming the nutrients from the substrate from which they are growing from, or they are consuming the nutrients as soon as it is available. The test kits only test for inorganic nutrients that are in the water column, not what is available as biomass.

Another misconception is not understanding how much phosphate will limit algae. At around 0.03ppm you will start seeing algae become limited. Having 0.10ppm phosphates likely won’t limit algae any more than having phosphates at 2.0ppm.

If you are growing corals, you are providing the perfect opportunity for algae to flourish. How do you assume natural reefs don’t have algae everywhere? Herbivores.

In fact, Lewis (1986) found:

“After 10 wk of reduced herbivory, total macroalgal abundance increased significantly in herbivore exclusion areas relative to unmanipulated controls, and was correlated with decreased percent cover of available space, several algal turf species, crustose coralline algae, and Porites. Some macroalgal species were able to directly overgrow and kill portions of Porites colonies within herbivore exclusion treatments.”
​

The importance of herbivores are undoubtedly important in the natural reefs. While lowering phosphates may slow the growth of algae at a certain level, it should be used as a secondary mean to help the herbivores gain the upper hand on the algae. Herbivores become even more important in higher nutrients systems housing soft and low demanding stony corals.

References:

Lewis, S. M. (1986). The role of herbivorous fishes in the organization of a Caribbean ... - wiley. The role of herbivorous fishes in the organization of a Caribbean reef community. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2307/2937073

 

[CoralB]

Nice work!!! , do you think UV from the sun plays a part in control in inhibiting algae spore growth ? And in deeper water the lack of sun keeps algae at bay ? . Just a thought !

 

[paintman]

Ok, so it looks like this study was done on a reef in the ocean. I don't think you can make a corelation to a closed system in our home. If so how is it that whenever someone comes on R2R and wants solutions to GHA, you always get the usual bla bla bla about CUC's and tangs. Then said person goes out and spends hundreds of $ only to watch the tang gang and CUC ignore the algae. Further more watch all his turbo snails topple over and die. So sad! I think it is not only recckless but ignorant to think that the same exact mechnisms will work in our tanks as they do in the ocean.

There are far more posts on the internet about failures with tangs, mollies, CUC's, and urchin's then there are sucesses. This hobby has done so much damage to the ocean's natural environment by taking cht because of bad advice and down right lazziness on our part to do proper hubandry in our tanks.

To any newbie just getting into this hobby and is reading all this crap about Tang Gangs and CUC's. DON'T BE LURED INTO FOXFACES, KOLE TANGS, URCHINS, TURBOS ETC. ETC. It's only a b.s. gimmick to seperate you from your money by fish stores and Reefcleaners.org. I'm not saying they won't add interest and do some basic help with your tank but they are not a cure all!

Save yourself alot of money and start with a simple turkey baster or nano powerhead, build yourself a simple power filter and do your weekly maintenance! Blow the rocks off, twist the tick out of your tank, and suck it all up with a power filter or filter socks. Please don't just run out and spend $400 on a CUC because you are starting to see GHA in your tank and you read some dumb post on R2R!

Go ahead and flame me if you like. I could care less if you shot the messenger. LOL!

 

[Miami Reef]

Then said person goes out and spends hundreds of $ only to watch the tang gang and CUC ignore the algae.

This has not been my experience nor the majority’s.

Please don't just run out and spend $400 on a CUC because you are starting to see GHA in your tank and you read some dumb post on R2R!

CUC does not cost nearly as much as $400. They are relatively inexpensive.

Tank maintenance is important regardless, but there needs to be active algae removal.

Whether a person wants to do the manual work themselves or if they’d like a group of herbivores to do it for them is the reefer’s decision.

 

[CoralB]

Wow !!! Reefcleaners.org looks like a good site for CUC . Decent prices

 

[ninjamyst]

Ok, so it looks like this study was done on a reef in the ocean. I don't think you can make a corelation to a closed system in our home. If so how is it that whenever someone comes on R2R and wants solutions to GHA, you always get the usual bla bla bla about CUC's and tangs. Then said person goes out and spends hundreds of $ only to watch the tang gang and CUC ignore the algae. Further more watch all his turbo snails topple over and die. So sad! I think it is not only recckless but ignorant to think that the same exact mechnisms will work in our tanks as they do in the ocean.

There are far more posts on the internet about failures with tangs, mollies, CUC's, and urchin's then there are sucesses. This hobby has done so much damage to the ocean's natural environment by taking cht because of bad advice and down right lazziness on our part to do proper hubandry in our tanks.

To any newbie just getting into this hobby and is reading all this crap about Tang Gangs and CUC's. DON'T BE LURED INTO FOXFACES, KOLE TANGS, URCHINS, TURBOS ETC. ETC. It's only a b.s. gimmick to seperate you from your money by fish stores and Reefcleaners.org. I'm not saying they won't add interest and do some basic help with your tank but they are not a cure all!

Save yourself alot of money and start with a simple turkey baster or nano powerhead, build yourself a simple power filter and do your weekly maintenance! Blow the rocks off, twist the tick out of your tank, and suck it all up with a power filter or filter socks. Please don't just run out and spend $400 on a CUC because you are starting to see GHA in your tank and you read some dumb post on R2R!

Go ahead and flame me if you like. I could care less if you shot the messenger. LOL!

Tangs and CUC do eat algae. That's a proven fact that thousands of us see everyday... But like the OP says, algae control is a combination of things. That's why we also have skimmer, refugium, etc.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I always shake my head when people say that their parameters are perfect but I have a gha outbreak. Because, they are feeding the algae so parameters are falsely low.
Reef are a balance! The algae is there for excess nutrients (lagoons and kelp), sand is a great reducer (lagoons), fish and inverts are everywhere. I mean the number of urchins you see on a reef is crazy!