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kaledrina

I'm guessing this is just the second mutation of my algae from outer space (its going to be a downhill battle if I can help it!)... The 6 month mark, new lighting, and addition of invert food has been a real smart decision. Note my sarcasm...

Anywho. I've been noticing little guys like this here and there on the rocks and was wondering what it was. It took over 10min to just get this picture of it, they're like little itty bitty bushes or those little filler plants you put with bouquets. They're really cute but I just wanted to know what kind of evils it would bring to my tank. You know, reach out and suck the souls out of my fishes or something crazy.

Its the green blob in the middle, looks kind of like a little fern/bush/thing. Growing on everything.
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I also found my first bristleworm today! W00t. I found it in the water I was siphoning out from my waterchange and promptly destroyed him. Saltwater tanks are just so full of surprises...

That is such a cruddy picture. Sorry folks, but its so small that its hard to get a picture of just that thing...
 
bristleworms are not bad they eat detritus, they are kind of getting a bad rap for being evil but in my opinion they are beneficial to your tank as scavenger
 
I get really bad allergies to things... I had a rash for days after putting my 'nem in the tank and handling him. Definitely don't want to find out the hard way how bristley the worms can get.
 
Looks almost like maidens hair or some sort of turf algae. As far as bristle worms go.. killing one won't hurt, but don't go wholesale slaughtering them as they are very important for your tank. If you are concerned about allergic reactions, invest in some reef gloves. You don't want to kill stuff off that is there to help you, but yes, you can get some nasty surprises from some critters. Invest in the gloves.... you'll have no worries then.
 
That appears to be bryopsis which can prove very difficult to get rid of. Some have had success with lettuce nudibranches eating the stuff. I have found that improving skimming along with better water change schedules have all but choked mine out of the tank. I also manually remove as much as possible. I have recently added a yellow tang that has really grown fond of the bryopsis and it is almost gone now!! Really have to get lucky with a tang that likes the stuff as I have heard from people who have no luck with tangs eating it....
 
I don't think I could get a tang without the tang police arresting me for something... I do 10-15g water changes religiously once a week but for some reason I have some slime algae from Hell that I'm trying to get rid of. Water changes will soon become more frequent as I see a speck of that algae multiply into 2 specks. Its hard to get all of it under the rocks, thank goodness theres not a lot of liverock yet, but I've done my research and the only thing that will help is pristine water quality. My crabs and snails won't touch it. A 45g with a Green Spotted Puffer, 2 Clownfish, 1 Wrasse, 1 Clown Goby... I'm not sure if theres enough room for a tang.
 
I would not subject a tang to a small tank like that as it would not be fair to him. :sad: You may want to give a lettuce nudi a try and see if it will eat on it. I had no luck with them but there were so many types of algae in my system at that time they found other more desirable meals. If you do not get under controll it will cover your entire liverock and then it will be time to give the rock a good cooking...
 
Worried about puffer nipping at him, however I've witnessed the puffer bumping into crabs without any attempt to eat them. I guess thats next on my list of things to buy...
 
good news is that they are cheap. I got 2 of them about 6 months ago for 15 total from Franks Tanks...
 
Would the nudibranches eat other types of algae? I've got this nasty slimy algae that starts as one dot and quickly turns into a carpet of gross if I'm not quick enough with the water changes.
 
All of my research shows that the lettuce nudis solely eat bryopsis. I did not find this to be the case. I had some turf algae as well and they seem to munch on that before they go after the bryopsis. That being said they did eat on the bryopsis as advertised but seemed to only eat the taller pieces down to a nub and then it would grow back. They were able to controll the spread of bryopsis until I found my yellow tang that has gotten extremely fat eating all the stuff...HTH
 
Well this algae is what I'm worried about the most... Its starting to choke out my little zoa frag! It's also starting to creep up and around some of the button polyps and xenias I have on the opposite side of the tank. Some of the polyps have simply started to fall off so I need some way to get that algae off without sucking up the xenias/buttons at the same time. Its maddening! Its only been 2 days since the water change and its coming back. I can't afford an ro/di system at all, so would you think just some plain old distilled/purified water from water dispensers at a grocery store would be decent enough? I mean, if I think of it one way I'd be spending roughly $10-15 a week for ro/di from the petstore so after a while an ro/di would pay for itself. Minus the fact that its a whole paycheck for me.

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(Its a fake clam hehe) I love saltwater tanks, but my goodness does the pricetag suddenly start increasing after a while. I thought I was good to go a couple hundred dollars ago! :cry:
 
What type of clean up crew do you currently have in your tank? It appears that you could use more flow to clear up the algae in the sand bed. Do you have a fuge/sump?
 
Cleanup crew includes 3 turbo snails and 2 hermit crabs (many hermits have suffered under the watchful eye of my puffer). Filtration is a Berlin 90 skimmer and a Biowheel filter system, which is providing the only water movement. My budget is tight as I'm trying to actually save some money for other things but this week and next week I'm going to start work on making my own sump out of a rubbermade container. cI got one to premix my saltwater, we'll see what happens with that. An RO/DI system is really out of my budget, the lighting alone took a whole paycheck, so right now I'm just going with tapwater conditioner. I think the problem with the algae is the lighting, but I can't leave that off in case my 'nem decides to commit suicide over that trauma...
 
Perhaps your next investment should be a good power head. Check the used equipment shelf at DNA. I've often run across used MJ 900 and even 1200 sometimes for just 3 or 4 bucks. Get some water flow directed down at your sand bed to clear up the Red Slime Algae. The Lettuce Nudi's are good for the Bryopsis and are pretty cool to watch. Trust me. The tang would be a mistake.
 
As mentioned you should really add additional flow to eliminate any dead spots in your tank. When you feed the food should stay suspended in the water column.....if it just goes to the bottom then that's not ideal. Using conditioned tap water could also be providing food for the algae. Proper lighting and proper water movement are both equally important for coral health along with stable tank parameters. IMO Can you provide your current water parameters so folks can see if there is a "smoking gun", If you provide levels for Ca,Alk,Mg,PH,SG,N02,N03 as well as ammonia and phosphates then all can give advice as to your best way to further tackle the algae issue.

**edit** You need to bolster your clean-up crew, as long as you have the puffer then be prepared to keep buying hermit's and snail's and what ever else it decides to taste.


Cheers!
 
I went throught the same problem a couple of years ago, no matter how many crabs I bought, powerheads or reduced feedings I tried, nothing worked, until I invested in a large skimmer, the thing started taking cups of that green stuff out and all of the aglae started dissapearing. You got way too much algae for the powerheads or cleaning crew to take care of. You either need to get rid of the big fish or get a large, efficient skimmer.
 
As of 10min ago...

pH 8.0 (it never seems to go up or down...!)
KH 9.5
NO2 ~.25
Ammonia .2
Temp 76
SG 1.024


Thats the extent of my test kit, I don't have testing for others. I scraped off every bit of algae and tried to get most of it. I put my snails in the areas where I couldn't get the algae and they're doing a good job. None of my inhabitants are large at all. The puffer is around 3" and he won't be getting any bigger, female clown just as large (they're the biggest ones). The 'nem is the largest of all of them but he's doing super good. Keeping my fingers crossed for 5 more months. Once I pass the 6 month mark I know my 'nem will be around for much longer. In the past week he's barely moved within an inch of what I'm guessing is now his "spot".

I did find that everyone is a lot happier with water that gets to sit out 24hours prior to being mixed in, and I upped my skimmers power since I put too much water in the tank anyways. Nice green goo!
 
@kaledrina wrote:
pH 8.0 (it never seems to go up or down...!) KH 9.5 NO2 ~.25 Ammonia .2 Temp 76 SG 1.024 Thats the extent of my test kit said:
Hi,
I think you need to get a handle on whats going on with your tank. A fully cycled tank should never have ammonia or nitrite's, puffers are messy eaters no matter the size and they also poo a lot. Make sure you also don't have a few dead snails in your tank from your ever curious puffer. You really need to invest in quality test kits (at least Ca/Alk/Mg/NO3/NH3/NO2/Phosphate) and I would not suggest adding anything else to your tank until you figure out what's going on. It looks like either a mini cycle or your beneficial nitrifying bacteria is not established enough to handle the bio-load you are throwing at it or you added something to your tank that possibly wiped out some of the nitrifying bacteria or it's the treated tap water(which is probably fueling you algae issue also). You will need to do water changes(with ro/di water) until you those numbers down and consider adding a sump/fuge, would give you extra water volume as well as the benefits that come with a fuge. Stability is one of the key's to success in this hobby so sounds like you have work to do, what is your PH and temp swing throughout the day? You may want to get a bottle of Prime to bind the NH3 after your water changes also, you are very lucky that your Ph and temp are low in this case, if either one of these were to rise then the ammonia toxicity levels would also rise accordingly.

I put too much water in the tank anyways said:
What does this mean??

Cheers!
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