Alge

cobbetto

Reefing newb
ON MY LIVE ROCK I HAVE HAIR LIKE GREEN STUFF GROWING. I CAN ONLY ASSUME IT'S ALGE.IS THIS GOOD OR DO I NEED TO TREAT IT AND HOW?
I AM ATTACHING A PICTURE TO SHOW YOU
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First of all we need a few questions answered
What size is your tank?
What type of filtration are you running?
What kind of water flow do you have?
What are your current water parmeters? ( ammonia,nitrite,nitrate,phosphate,temp,salinity)
What are your current tank inhabitants?
and what type of foods and how much are you feeding them?
 
I am having a red algae outbreak at the moment. Definently check your phosphate levels. If your water parameters are good, but your phosphate is a little high (which i expect it is), you could always try a phosphate remover product. All I have is one of those tetris HOB filters. I removed the carbon from the filter and bough some phosphate remover packs and emptied the little white phospate remover ball thingies and poored them into the carbon filter and stuck it back in my filter....works great.
 
In addition to checking your water parameters and flow, try adding some mexican turbo snails - they are algae eating machines! You can have 1 large snail per about every 15-20 gallons of tank, to make sure they have enough to eat. Best of luck to you.

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
Dr Marco said:
In addition to checking your water parameters and flow, try adding some mexican turbo snails - they are algae eating machines! You can have 1 large snail per about every 15-20 gallons of tank, to make sure they have enough to eat. Best of luck to you.

-Dr Marco :sfish:

thats what I tried to tell Biff,them large turbos are freaking lawnmovers:mrgreen:
 
turbos didn't work, Biff? really? maybe you got some learning impaired turbos cuz I have never seen one leave algae alone, expecially hair algae, they love it - lawnmowers for sure!!! Get the really big ones, yeah they are $8.00 a pop, but they are amazing, I usually keep about 8 in my tank - the only down side is that they last about 8 months. A small price to pay for clean glass IMO. Maybe I should send a few to you to give yours a tutorial? -snicker, snicker...:mrgreen:

-Dr Marco:sfish:
 
Mexican turbos generally come from colder waters and don't do very well in the temperatures we keep our tanks at (although I have had two giant ones for over a year now).

Marco, I live 45 minutes from Mexico, I'm sure mine were REAL Mexican turbos :D. I just had too much algae for them to even attempt to make a difference. One sea hare cleaned up my entire tank in about 2 weeks, and she cost about the same as four of your big turbos. Plus she's neat looking.
 
I don't think they are any more difficult than snails... And yes that's true about the ink, but I haven't had any problems with mine, you just need to keep some extra carbon on hand in case of an emergency ;).
 
Hey Biff,I thought the Margaritas are from colder waters and Turbos from warmer waters.They look similiar but I had Turbos live for years....maybe LFS mixes them up and sell Margaritas to people who think they are Turbos.
 
Yeah, I like my margaritas cold as well - lmao. OK, I get the sense that my humor is lost over the internet. I will keep my joking to a minimum - Biff, I was teasing and did not mean tp upset you. Hope my remarks were understood as jest and not very serious at all.

-Dr Marco:sfish:
 
Phew, I was afraid my humor was poorly received. Glad to know you are ok with a bit of teasing. I will try to keep it to a minimum, although I still think my snails are better than yours...:mrgreen:

-Dr Marco :sfish:
 
I just read your latest post about my snails out loud, and to my surprise I heard a chorus of Spanish cuss words, slurs and insults coming from the tank... :razz: You'd better watch out, there are rumors that my Mexican Turbos are planning on piling into their souped up Honda Civic and taking a trip out to "see" your snails (they just bought new rims for it)... And homemade tamales will not be the only thing they will be bearing. ;)
 
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