Been away... and...

[RudeBoy]

Hello all, sorry that I've been out of the picture for the last month or so. I was in a car accident and have been trying to recover physically and socially. All is well now, but, I'm trying to get back in the loop. Man, I've been reading all the posts and a lot of s**t has gone down while I was away, it seems.

Anyway, I'm having a serious problem with green hair algae in my 10g nano. Does poor lighting cause this or would it be a nutrient issue, or both? Any help would be greatly appreciated. BTW, where's the next meeting... I'm a little confused about that. Must be the efeects from my accident! :hmm3:

[Zmann]

Sorry to hear about your accident.
Hair algae is caused by both the things you mentioned but in most cases it will be your nutrient load. If you have filters make sure your changing them often. Every 3 days max. Cut your feedings down to 3 times a week. More then likely if you had someone taking care of your tank they were over feeding. Its a natural occurrence with someone who doesn't have a tank and is just taking care of one. There more afraid of your fish starving then the rest of the tank. Hope everything is well with you though.

[ReeferMac]

Glad to hear you're allright man...

you need BUGS!
Jamie's right, the excessive nutrients can cause an algae bloom in a tank. The bugs serve two purposes - 1, they eat the excess food, before it gets converted into hair-algae-nutrients. 2, they mow down algae when it's short and light.

I never got your phone number last go around, so wasn't able to call you to come over and pick through my refugium. It's a little light right now, as I just sent a pacakge out to Florida. You could prolly get a few things out of there now, but if you wait another month, the 'fuge will be packed again, and able to produce a healthy sized bug kit for your nano.

- Mac

[RudeBoy]

I appreciate you concern, thanks very much. Yeah, I'm afraid that my lady is the guilty party in this case. I currently use a small power filter on this tank. and I've not been changing the filter as often as you stated. However, I was successful in building a scaled down version of the Bak Pak 2R for my nano, it's a great DIY piece. I actually got the plumbing hardware from the manufaturer of Bak Pak. Just haven't had time to install it due to my setback. Another quick question... I also have this small maroon bubble growing on the LR... similar to green bubble algae but they're maroon. What is this stuff and is there any other way to rid my tank of it other than tanking the rock out and scraping it off?

[RudeBoy]

Mac, sounds good man... I can wait a month. For now, I'll stick to the weekly water changes (madman style) and try to keep them as low as possible. On another note, Todd gave me some frags for my 30g like 2 1/2 month ago and they're growing extremely fast. I've never had anything grow this fast in my tank before. I actually have to do nothing more than scrape the glass, clean the skimmer and do a 5g water change monthly so I don't feel guilty. It's in pristine condition and my cal., ph, and alk levels stay very consistent. I guess changing over to Southdown DSB in November was a smart move. Just wish I could get the Nano together. Todd's 2g nano ****ed me off... it was so clean and clear that it didn't even look like there was water in the thing. :)

[ReeferMac]

Mac, sounds good man... I can wait a month. For now, I'll stick to the weekly water changes (madman style)and try to keep them as low as possible. On another note, Todd gave me some frags for my 30g like 2 1/2 month ago and they're growing extremely fast. I've never had anything grow this fast in my tank before. I actually have to do nothing more than scrape the glass, clean the skimmer and do a 5g water change monthly so I don't feel guilty. It's in pristine condition and my cal., ph, and alk levels stay very consistent.

OK, First off, DON'T CHANGE A THING!!!!
If your tank is rocking, don't go knocking. It will just upset the applecart. Keep doing whatever it is you've been doing, and literally, don't change a single thing!

Just wish I could get the Nano together. Todd's 2g nano ****ed me off... it was so clean and clear that it didn't even look like there was water in the thing.

LOL! Don't feel bad. Nano's are hard. They're like the Italian Sport's-car of the hobby. If you don't have the time, patience, and most importantly, money, to keep up with one, better off not even bothering. They are significantly harder than larger tanks. Because they are so small, just a heavy pinch of flake food one day, can mean and algae outbreak the next.

- Mac

[RudeBoy]

I gotcha, I'll just keep an eye on the 30g and let it thrive. Now, I am guilty of feeding a little more than I should in the nano. I have one Percula clown, one coral banded shrip and a green emerald crab in there. I sometimes feel guilty and wonder in my crab and shrimp are getting enough to eat. My emarld love the dried seaweed for some reason... I hand feed him very small pieces of it like once a week.

[Zmann]

Maroon bubble algae huh! That's one to throw @ Gary he's good @ IDing things. If its anything like green bubble algae I would say Pop them if their around BB size and let your emeralds chew on the remains, if their getting to the size of beer caps I would say pop them and siphon the spores/juices into a separate container. Good Luck and get rid of them while there is only a few.

[RudeBoy]

I tried researching this but it really led to nowhere. I've heard that popping this is a bad thing because they're 'slimmy' inside and all that will do is cause them to spread. I'm stuck with this one.

[Zmann]

If their small enough you can pop the green variety without having them spread. They don't produce spores till they get larger. I didn't belive it either until I read an article on it in I belive reef centrals online magazine. Popping them works for me. I have none now.

[Zmann]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/hcj/feature/index.htm

[RudeBoy]

So, I can pop the marron bubble algae with no problem? I've always popped the green ones but never the maroon ones. They're starting to get on my nerves... and they appeared out of no where like about 3 months ago.

[RudeBoy]

Thanks for link, I've read that one before. I'll give it a try and see how if pans out. I'll pop them and replace my filter with a brand new one. I'll keep you posted....

[cperson]

RudeBoy,
There's a type of red marco algae that grows in the form a chain of red bubbles, kind of like halimeda. Since you don't have a picture it's hard to tell this may be what you have. It starts out as one or 2 bubbles growing together, then they grow in a link and branch out. The color dark red. When bubbles die off the color fades. New bubbles are pretty round. They get flatter as they get bigger, like "coins" on halimeda. The types I've seen have coins about .2 to .3" round and are about half as thick as that. ReeferMac should know what I'm talking about, I got some from his refugium one time.

Also could be a wierd type of cyano? I think some have bubbles amoung the slime.

[ReeferMac]

ReeferMac should know what I'm talking about, I got some from his refugium one time.

Know exactly what you're talking about. Only I don't have a picture of it. I originally came by it from Keith. I think he has a pic somewhere's.

- Mac