Red Algae Growing On Chaeto?

[1entra]

Last night after coming home from work I noticed patches of red/rusty coloured algae growing ON my chaeto macroalgae in my refugium. Is this usual?? Do you think my chaeto may have died? The nitrates in my tank are low but i am also running Seagel (carbon+phosphate remover) as part of my filteration system.

I have had the chaeto in my refugium for about 2weeks now. The lighting on my refugium is a 11w 6700K natural daylight spectrum light which is run in reverse with my tank. Is this enough light as at the minute I cannot afford to get anything better! So when my tank lights go off at 10pm, my refugium light comes on and stays on till 10.30 in the morning. Is this too long?

Any advice and comments would be appreciated.

 

[SkiFletch]

Sounds like cyanobacteria... I get some too in my refugium

 

[Lynden]

Chaetomorpha (and all macroalgae) produce anitibiotic substances. I had cyano on my chaeto at first but it seems to have disappeared.

 

[AK77]

I had it too, but since running the GFO, its all but gone. You can help speed it up a bit, by getting a bucket and rinsing the chaeto every time you do a water change. Its a good practise to do anyway, because the chaeto captures sooo much crap in it, you wouldn't believe!!

 

[1entra]

So this isn't unusual then?? and you dont think I am getting this cyano on my macroalgae coz it has died? Will it eventually go away by itself then? I will take the chaeto out and give it a good shake/clean in a bucket of tank water when I do my next water change on the weekend!

PS. Thanks for all your inputs!

 

[AK77]

Nah its not died. Cyanobacteria is a bugger for growing just about anywhere. The chaeto will help reduce nitrates and phosphates, but until such times as the chaeto grows, the cyano will compete for nutrients and grow where it likes. My cyano has virtually disappeared since removing the active carbon and running GFO. Might be worth looking into a cheap reactor and some phosphate remover.

 

[SkiFletch]

If the cyano does grow over the top of the mat of chaeto... flip it over

 

[1entra]

Thanks for that guys. By the way are there any CUC members that I can add to help get rid of the cyno? I am currently using Seachems Seagel at present which contains activated carbon along with a phosphate remover!

BTW AK77 what do you mean by GFO?

 

[AK77]

Thanks for that guys. By the way are there any CUC members that I can add to help get rid of the cyno? I am currently using Seachems Seagel at present which contains activated carbon along with a phosphate remover!

BTW AK77 what do you mean by GFO?

My astrea seem to eat it when it appears on the glass, although you will be lucky to get astrea going on cheato. Running anything with activated carbon in it will add to phosphate levels. Even products that claim to have reduced phosphate content will still have it and add to the other phosphates in the water. Fish food also contains it and adds to the problem.

I've stopped using carbon and just run a reactor with Granular Ferric Oxide (GFO Ultiphos phosphate remover). The carbon helped initially with algae control, but after the honeymoon period was over, it reappeared with a vengence, as the phosphates were leeched into the tank and fed the algae.

Again, not all phosphate removers are the same. Some of the pouches (which I think are the aluminum based products) will start leeching phosphates back into the water once they have absorbed their quota. GFO's don't do this and is why I switched to using it. The chaeto deals with the nitrates and some of the phosphates, but I was still experiencing problems with the cyanobacteria. Since running GFO, the levels of algae are significantly lower, and I get a small patch forming on the glass occassionally and very rarely on the chaetomorpha.

Things you can do to combat it are to vaccum your substrate a few times a week. I bought a power gravel cleaner specifically for this. If you have a DSB, just vaccum/disturb the top 1cm or so, otherwise you'll kill of denitrifying bacteria. If its only 1-2cm of sand, syphon the water out using a regular gravel cleaner to remove the majority of the waste. Don't be afraid if some of the "dirt" gets kicked into the surrounding water because any filter feeders or some corals you have will get fed by the particles held in suspension. (Check this link on how to maintain a DSB if you have one)

Do larger water changes and maybe increase the frequency too. One of 50% will kick more nitrates and phosphates than 2 of 25%

Put your lights on a timer and cut back the amount they are on to 8 hours a day for a while. If you have sump with a refugium and algae in it, set the lighs to come on when your tank lights go out. This way your tank is continuously being filtered by the chaeto (provided you have it in both tanks)

Cut back on the amount of food you are feeding the fish. Obviously don't do this to the detriment of the fishes health, but check to make sure you are not overfeeding. When feeding frozen foods, defrost them in a beaker of tank water and use a baby syringe or baster to suck up the food and inject it into the tank, or use an old tea strainer to filter the food out.

Use a reaction chamber with a GFO product as mentioned above. Avoid using carbon products for nitrate removal. Big water changes and the chaetomorpha will deal with that. Phosphates are the bigger enemy, as they are harder to remove and inhibit the corals.

Add more macro algaes to compete with the cyanobacteria. Be wary of those macro algaes which can go sexual in the tank like bubble algae. I had a huge amount of chaeto in mine for a few months. It didn't look great, but it did really help with nitrate levels, which I was struggling with. You can hide it behind rocks and if you can weight it down, a few visible clumps, don't look too shabby... but really its a means to an end.

Check out this link on GFO's and how they work

Good luck

 

[Tommy Gun]

getting a bucket and rinsing the chaeto every time you do a water change. Its a good practise to do anyway, because the chaeto captures sooo much crap in it, you wouldn't believe!!

No offense AK77, but while I do agree with you to some point, rinsing chaeto out in a bucket can also prove to be a great way to deplete the population of copepods and perhaps some other beneficial life. Still, you are right chaeto, like any number of things, can harbor a lot of detritus, however, it may be better to shake that stuff out while in the tank and then use a gravel vac or other similar method to remove it. This way, the copepods, if present, can remain an asset to us - for example, as a renewable food source for fish such as mandarin's.

Anyways, I have struggled with cyano (red slime) in my tank(s) on quite a few occasions, and it is my understanding that this stuff is one of the earliest representatives of life on this planet which I can believe since it is so darn hard to get rid of and even if I can, it inevitably comes back later. Anyways, I may get chastised for doing this, but I have used a product called chemi-clean, which has really worked well for me in a pinch...in fact, most of the time the red slime is gone by the next day; at least in my experience anyways. However, later on I came to learn that using an antibiotic which treats gram-positive bacteria (gram-positive since this should not harm or at least not completely kill off beneficial bacteria...Maracyn is one example) is another alternative, if you can't find the chemi-clean or a similar product. HOWEVER, I do realize that the over use of antibiotics can lead to resistant strains of bacteria, and so I only use one tablet of Maracyn in my 125 gallon tank, which still works well, and only as a last resort.

are there any CUC members that I can add to help get rid of the cyno?

If my memory serves me well - which sometimes it doesn't - I believe the dwarf zebra hermit crab will eat red slime...however, it is important to note that in absence of a sufficient quantity of food such as red slime and/or other algae (micro), you would need to provide an alternative such as seaweed or seaweed/algae 'paper'. I would also suggest getting a few of these guys rather than one or two, depending on the size of your tank and other unique variables.

 

[AK77]

getting a bucket and rinsing the chaeto every time you do a water change. Its a good practise to do anyway, because the chaeto captures sooo much crap in it, you wouldn't believe!!

No offense AK77, but while I do agree with you to some point, rinsing chaeto out in a bucket can also prove to be a great way to deplete the population of copepods and perhaps some other beneficial life. Still, you are right chaeto, like any number of things, can harbor a lot of detritus, however, it may be better to shake that stuff out while in the tank and then use a gravel vac or other similar method to remove it. This way, the copepods, if present, can remain an asset to us - for example, as a renewable food source for fish such as mandarin's.

No I agree with you, it can deplete cocepod numbers, although in my tank my mandarin does a bloody good job of that on its own lol. I also operate a rotation system whereby some of the chaeto algae in the sump is swapped with some of the algae in the tank. I do this every couple of weeks.This helps regenerate the cocepods and maintains a source of them. However one big ball of chaeto is never put into the display tank. This is "Cocepod Central" and it stays put lol.

 

[1entra]

Thanks for taking the time to share all the valuable info guys. It is highly appreciated. Cheerz

 

[Lynden]

I agree with most of the above except that my zebras haven't touched my cyano...

Also that the benefits of running carbon far outweigh the downsides. I got some carbon a little while ago to remove the allelopathic toxins the corals produce. I put it in before I went to bed, and that next morning when the lights went on I could hardly believe my eyes. The water was sparkling clear and a shade of light blue. I thought there was something wrong with the light at first.

Also in regards to allelopathic toxins. There is more to a reef tank than what we can see, and those poisons are one of them. If one ever hopes to keep anemones and many stony corals in with softies, carbon is highly recommended if not necessary. Adding carbon is like a breath of fresh air for the sessile invertebrates (that means corals, too) in a heavily stocked reef tank. Think of the toxic soup that your corals will have to deal with if you don't add carbon at least once in a while.

 

[1entra]

Thanks for that Lynden, By the way my refugium lights are currently on for just over 12hours every evening/night, do you think I should reduce this amount of time?

 

[Lynden]

If anything you should increase it to about 23-24 hours a day. This will help the algae compete with the cyano.