Kessil

What eats this type of algae?

I'm having a minor algae outbreak. This stuff is starting to pop up everywhere. It's on my frag plugs and even growing on the base of my dead sps (I have had some sps start STN'ing from the base up but it seems to have stabilized somewhat).

My water parameters seem to check out:

SG = 1.026
Nitrates, Nitrites and Ammonia = 0
Ca = 440ppm
Alk = 8-10dKh (swings a lot during the day so waiting for my controller to arrive so I can dose over the course of the day)
PO4 = 0
Mg = 1400

Fishtank699.jpg
 
welcome to bryopsis hell :p Some people report having luck wiping it out with magnesium. The only thing I succeeded in doing was wiping out (nearly) my snails. You aren't alone with that one Charles :p
 
Elevated levels seem to work (for some. ymmv).
Speculation is that it isn't the elevated magnesium, but the elevation of a contamination in Tech-M.
Bad? It can be. too high and your inverts (snails especially) go splat. It also can spike your salinity if you don't pay attention to it.
 
Dwarf seahares eat that stuff like candy. You just gotta make sure you can keep it afterwards since they can starve if there isn't enough algae.
 
Someone should buy one and pass it around and cycle it in each other's tank. I gave mine away after it was done since I ran out of algae.
 
Interesting. Aren't seahorses pretty tough to care for?

It's weird because I think something occasionally eats it and trims it back. But then after a while, it just comes back.
 
i have a dwarf sea hare, who just finished polishing some new rocks i got before they go in to my new tank.
they do not do well on eggcrate though, i think its becasue they do not stick there head through the holes.

mines maby 2.5"??
 
Gomer said:
Elevated levels seem to work (for some. ymmv).
Speculation is that it isn't the elevated magnesium, but the elevation of a contamination in Tech-M.
Bad? It can be. too high and your inverts (snails especially) go splat. It also can spike your salinity if you don't pay attention to it.

Don't quote me on this but I spoke to our Phycologist about his a few months ago and from what I remember he felt the MG was the actual part effecting the algal growth. Now I need to go ask him again and write it down this time :lol:
 
And is there a difference between "dwarf sea hares" and "sea hares"? Wasn't sure if it was an actual dwarf or just small by age.
 
Are you sure that is bryopsis? I have the same agae in the picture and its soft and easy to pull out by hand, althought it does grow back really fast. The bryopsis had in my tank at work is a hard tuff algae, the only thing that worked on it was a good old sea urchin ( rock urchin),,,, but they do eat down the the coralline on the rock to. I figure its a small price to pay.
 
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