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What Brandon insists calling algae an "invader" is actually just a very basic part of the ocean and our captive reefs.
In a balanced natural reef the algae is predated upon by schools of fish and roaming inverts. The algae is there but it is kept mowed down.
There is no reasonable way to fully and permanently eradicate that same algae from our captive reefs. We don't have the living relative density of fish and inverts that the natural reef has, even if we are "overstocked". One piece of the reef the size if your 90 gallon tank may have many dozens or hundreds of fish and inverts that visit it daily. You captive reef has your handfull of snails and crabs and 5 fish (or whatever).
There are many mechanisms in the captive reef to control this algae and keep it at bay. Ignoring chemical removal and the side effects...
Mechanical removal is extremely efficient and important, especially for vanities that efficiently spread by growing outward in mat (turf), fragmentation or releasing spores. The less that there is, the less rapidly it can exponentially reproduce.
Things like lighting modification, nutrient control (both import and export) predation (CUC, fish) are secondary controls that can help prevent the algae from reaching a population level to where it becomes a nuisance. It is a balancing act.
The takeaway here is that manual mechanical remove must be followed by a change in practice or environment to remove what fueled the growth AND/OR let it go unchecked.
The puzzle is figuring out what or what combination of things went unchecked.
Was it overfeeding, lack of predation, poor water chemistry fueling fauna die off, overstocking, lack of maintenance (export), etc. The answer is likely a combination of things and changing any one of them may fix or slow the issue.
In a balanced natural reef the algae is predated upon by schools of fish and roaming inverts. The algae is there but it is kept mowed down.
There is no reasonable way to fully and permanently eradicate that same algae from our captive reefs. We don't have the living relative density of fish and inverts that the natural reef has, even if we are "overstocked". One piece of the reef the size if your 90 gallon tank may have many dozens or hundreds of fish and inverts that visit it daily. You captive reef has your handfull of snails and crabs and 5 fish (or whatever).
There are many mechanisms in the captive reef to control this algae and keep it at bay. Ignoring chemical removal and the side effects...
Mechanical removal is extremely efficient and important, especially for vanities that efficiently spread by growing outward in mat (turf), fragmentation or releasing spores. The less that there is, the less rapidly it can exponentially reproduce.
Things like lighting modification, nutrient control (both import and export) predation (CUC, fish) are secondary controls that can help prevent the algae from reaching a population level to where it becomes a nuisance. It is a balancing act.
The takeaway here is that manual mechanical remove must be followed by a change in practice or environment to remove what fueled the growth AND/OR let it go unchecked.
The puzzle is figuring out what or what combination of things went unchecked.
Was it overfeeding, lack of predation, poor water chemistry fueling fauna die off, overstocking, lack of maintenance (export), etc. The answer is likely a combination of things and changing any one of them may fix or slow the issue.
