Re: algae?    9/20/08
My last reply may not have sent, I will try again from here then through my work email.
<Okay... did you get my response? Oh, I see it below>
Live Stock= Regal Tang, Percula Clown, Flame Hawk, Mandarin, Scooter Dragonet, Yellow Blue Spot Goby, Two Pajama Cardinals, Long Tentacle Anemone, Christmas Tree Worm,? lost a Purple Tang and Royal Gramma that had been in there about a year.? About 10 each of Hermit Crabs and Snails.
One Acropora frag, Two Montipora frags, Two Small LPS - (Frog Spawn and Torch Coral), two tree? Sponge (not doing well at all now),
<Rarely do in such settings>
Coco Worm (Christmas Tree Worm), Purple Gorgonian, One small Ricordea mushroom coral, small amount of star polyps. All of this never seems to be growing very well either,
<Typical Cnidarian incompatibility issues...>
like not at all (just surviving).? Feeding it DT formula every third day, with pump off for 20-30 minutes.
I have a 10 mb video file of the tank and slime.? I will have to send that from home, here is an attached photo from that video.
<A mix of decomposers that are "best situated" to your present circumstances. Again, the best means of disrupting them is to alter the conditions in the system as stated ayer... Bob Fenner>

Diatoms?    9/20/08
Hello, and thank you for your time,
<Howdy, welcome>
As you can see from the photos, I have quite a bloom of some sort of algae.
I was initially suspecting that this is a diatom bloom.
<Mmm, nah>
However, there are a couple of characteristics that make me question my initial assumption.
This "bloom" seems to be completely light dependant. The sand is almost perfectly white every morning when I turn on the lights, and then within a couple of hours reaches this ugly brown color. The algae is somewhat filamentous, but does not appear to be "slimy" as I have seen Cyanobacteria appear to be. It seems to be acting like a glue to the sand (making is clump together); as you can see from the photos of the tank ornament, it is nasty stuff. The "clean" photo is immediately after a turbo grazer had a feast, and the other tank photo is only a few days later. I didn't think that diatoms were dependant on light,
<Mmm, yes they are>
but this stuff seems to be. My tank parameters are: ammonia: 0ppm, nitrites: 0ppm, nitrates: 5-10ppm, phosphates: 0ppm,
<Mmm, do consider that the algae et al. here can/does remove/concentrate nutrient, making it unavailable in the water for tests>
calcium: 300ppm (this is lower than I would like, but I have been battling high alkalinity from using tap water).
<See WWM re possible paths here... easily done>
The steps that I have taken to solve this problem are: switched from treated tap water to R/O water, started using Phosban (with the hopes of removing any silicates), water changes only seem to help for a day or so (and then they come back with a vengeance),
<Another clue>
and I have tried stirring the top layer of sand only to see the freshly exposed sand turn brown within a couple of hours. The lights are about 6 months old (260W of compact fluorescents)- do you believe that the age of these could be the problem?
<Mmm, likely secondarily>
The tank has been running for about 8 months without any of this algae, and now within the last month this stuff has taken control. I do weekly 20 gallon water changes, and my aquarium is 155 gallon with a 20 gallon sump.
<Do you grow macroalgae here? You should... or get another or larger sump/refugium to do so>
I, unfortunately, am using a SeaClone 100 skimmer (that never seems to function -maybe my entire problem?),
<A part of it at least. Again, see WWM, plan on, get a real skimmer>
a Fluval FX5 canister (cleaned weekly), and I am using Chemipure in the canister filter. My fish include: 1 hepatus tang, 1 Eibli mimic tang, 1 green chromis, 2 Ocellaris clowns, 1 marine Betta, 1 sleeper banded goby (he likes to spread this brown stuff all over the tank), 1 clown goby, 1 engineer goby, 4 large turbo grazers, countless Nassarius snails, 1 large brittle star, a colony of green star polyps, a colony of brown button polyps, and two stalks of pulsing xenia. I have the corals about halfway up the water column, and the algae hasn't made it that far yet, but now it is getting close and I need to act. Before this algae took over I was having great purple coralline growth, but now this stuff is over growing the coralline (as you can see in the photos of the tank ornament). I'm getting very frustrated because I can't seem to control this stuff. I have silicate and magnesium test kits coming in on Monday. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you again for your time,
~William Millis
<Well, very likely what you are seeing, battling is principally BGA/Cyanobacteria... can be "fought" in a few ways... enhanced RedOx (via the skimmer improvement partly/easily, the culture of macroalgae)... I would also look into making a DSB in the added sump space... At any length, all is recorded for your perusal here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/maintenance/maintindex.htm
the third to last tray. Enjoy the learning, empowerment of knowledge gain, practice. Bob Fenner>

Re: Diatoms?
I am truly sorry that I forgot to include my PH value: 8.4,
<Fine, not a factor>
and I have completely covered the entire aquarium with blankets to eliminate the chance of ambient light from the room. However, this had no effect on the growth.
<Won't. BobF>
Thank you again,
~William Millis

Good Versus Bad Algae  9/18/09
hey guys,
<Angela>
After what i consider to be a nearly total catastrophe...
<... where are the spaces...>
Quickly...I live in Phoenix AZ and my AC went out. before i knew it My water temp was over 100
<Yeeikes!>
( lesson learned) I now have a chiller. My 65g reef died...everything..corals, polyps, leathers, anemones, paired clowns snails...EVERYTHING all except for my Yellow tang..God bless him. Anyway....I broke it down and restarted using the same live rock. 10-15% water changes every couple days for a few weeks...everything seems to be going OK so far. Water parameters are good. PO4 = 0, NO4 = 0 NO3 = 0 Ca+ = 500 PH 8.3 temp 82 degrees .
The coralline is seeming to spread nicely however There is a new addition...the Dark green algae you see pictured.
<This is actually, likely BGA...>
At least I think that's what it is..there are several dime to quarter size spots scattered in the tank and if you look in the top right corner of the tank there is some lighter green growth. Is this something I should worry about? THANKS BUNCHES
<Mmm, I would read: http://wetwebmedia.com/algaeasfriend.htm
and the linked files above... till you understand what is going on, what your options (for control) are. Bob Fenner>

Purple Feather Weed? Could Be Feather Hydroids! 9/13/08
Hi Guys and Gals,
<Hi there, Andrew>
While snorkeling today (thank God it’s warm enough to get in the water again!) I came upon this fascinating (to me anyway) feather-like organism.
<it’s neat looking, that’s for sure.>
I couldn't help but lift a small piece off the rock for an experiment in my 20Gal.
<Were you wearing gloves at the time?>
Tank is currently about 2 months old, cycled with 6Kg semi-cured live rock, and live sand. Ammonia, Nitrite @ 0, and Nitrate is at about 10 at the moment,
<Just keep an eye on the nitrates, don’t let them get above 20ppm.>
temp steady at 26 Deg C, and salinity is 1.022
<Salinity’s a little on the low end, but okay.>
Stocking is 1 bicolour Dottyback, 2 tiny blue/green chromis, 1 even smaller yellow coral goby, 3 small hermits, and about 8 snails. All very happy in their current home.
<Good>
Which brings me to my actual question.... What the heck is it!?
<I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but those sure look like feather hydroids to me (Family: Plumulariidae). If so, they’re not the best addition to a system, to say the least. Also, after going in for a close-up, that red macro-algae on the right side of the rock looks very similar to a variety that can be invasive and very difficult to control.>
I found it in full sun at a depth of about 9' (growing on a football sized tunicate)
<Wow!>
..in a bed of sand held together with fine hair algae. It came away in a nice clump about 2" across. It now graces the front of a lightly stocked tank. Each "feather" is separate from the next, and grows just like a real bird feather would,
<Yep>
looking side on, you can see a single "tap" root about the length of the feather itself.
<That long “tap” root along with the unusual color is what’s keeping me from being absolutely sure those are hydroids.>
I'm pretty sure in between the main subject of the pic is some juvenile Dictyota,
<It looks like a Rhodophyta/red algae of some sort, but I can’t see it well enough to narrow it down further. Dictyota is a brown algae (Phaeophyte) that’s usually green, yellow/brown, or even blue. I’ve never seen red. It could be something like Scinaia.>
..but cannot find any reference to the feather like growth (which I find most attractive),
<I find it very attractive as well. By the way, I couldn’t find any similar looking macro-algae in that color either - and I was hoping I would!>
..but am a little cautious of!
<Good call! Hydroids can sting the living daylights out of you. Please see the information and species “Gymnangium” half-way down this link (as well as associated links at the top): http://www.wetwebmedia.com/hydrozoans.htm
Here’s a good close-up of a feather hydroid. Note the similar, almost bumpy/broken appearance of the “branches”. Those bumps are actually individual feeding polyps that have little stinging tentacles surrounding them: http://www.poppe-images.com/images/image_info.php?picid=929540 .>
If you could help identify it, I would be most appreciative.
<Well, I’m pretty sure those are hydroids, but I’m hoping Bob will confirm or deny.>
I make an effort to Identify everything I can myself,
<Good for you! Not only do you get the satisfaction of solving a mystery, you also learn quite a bit along the way.>
..but find it difficult to locate images on your site unless I know the name of the organism I am looking for.
<See below>
Is there an image library somewhere grouped in broad categories like fish, algae inverts etc. that I am yet to find on your site??
<Not a specific image library as yet, no, but it’s been discussed. In the meantime, Bob has the site organized/sectioned off into topics that include many terrific articles with photos of representative species in the most commonly seen genera. Usually that will give you enough information to help narrow things down a bit. Here’s the main page for marine topics: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/index.htm . Just pick a subject, start with the articles for an overview (with photos) and go from there.>
I would love to help myself in future where possible.
<I’d try the above and/or use our Google search engine: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/WWMAdminSubWebIndex/question_page.htm >
Thanks for your time. All the best.
Andrew.
<You’re very welcome, Andrew. Take care, -Lynn>