Algae ID and cure help with photos

jccaclimber · 04/02/2014, 09:12 PM

More details in the next post, but what is this and how do I kill it off?

jccaclimber · 04/02/2014, 09:13 PM

I set up a 14 gallon biocube in my office around a year and a half ago, reef but no fish. On an early frag I got some sort of algae and being a freshwater guy didn't think much of it until it slowly took my tank over. It's gotten better and worse over the year and a half, but never went away. Heavy vinegar/vodka dosing starved it back for a while, but was also starving the soft corals.

In the last month I swapped the contents to a 29 gallon biocube, and added a pair of clowns a week ago. While all of the livestock is doing great, so is the algae.

I don't know my saltwater algae and have been having a hard time with the ID. On the off chance it is Briopsis I recently raised the magnesium (epsom salt) to between 1700 and 1800. I can raise it more if needed, but it doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. Above are photos I took today. It looks much more feathery in person than the microscope photos imply. It stays fairly close to the surface and is hard to remove by hand until it grows in a thick enough mat that it starts rotting at the bottom and I can pull a patch off of the rock.

jccaclimber · 04/04/2014, 05:36 AM

Is there anything else I can do to help elicit a response? Missing picture, detail, etc?

jccaclimber · 04/11/2014, 07:13 PM

Not that I'm getting any traction here, but someone on another forum suggested caulerpa and that I try a 3 day blackout. The blackout curtain went over the tank this morning, so we'll see what happens in a few days.

04/02/2014, 09:12 PM	#1
jccaclimber Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 528	Algae ID and cure help with photos More details in the next post, but what is this and how do I kill it off?

04/02/2014, 09:13 PM	#2
jccaclimber Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 528	I set up a 14 gallon biocube in my office around a year and a half ago, reef but no fish. On an early frag I got some sort of algae and being a freshwater guy didn't think much of it until it slowly took my tank over. It's gotten better and worse over the year and a half, but never went away. Heavy vinegar/vodka dosing starved it back for a while, but was also starving the soft corals. In the last month I swapped the contents to a 29 gallon biocube, and added a pair of clowns a week ago. While all of the livestock is doing great, so is the algae. I don't know my saltwater algae and have been having a hard time with the ID. On the off chance it is Briopsis I recently raised the magnesium (epsom salt) to between 1700 and 1800. I can raise it more if needed, but it doesn't seem to be doing much of anything. Above are photos I took today. It looks much more feathery in person than the microscope photos imply. It stays fairly close to the surface and is hard to remove by hand until it grows in a thick enough mat that it starts rotting at the bottom and I can pull a patch off of the rock.

04/04/2014, 05:36 AM	#3
jccaclimber Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 528	Is there anything else I can do to help elicit a response? Missing picture, detail, etc?

04/11/2014, 07:13 PM	#4
jccaclimber Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 528	Not that I'm getting any traction here, but someone on another forum suggested caulerpa and that I try a 3 day blackout. The blackout curtain went over the tank this morning, so we'll see what happens in a few days.