red turf

[cgarr017]

can't seem to find a very useful thread on this so i'm probably repeating a common question. Any advice on winning the war vs red turf algae? I have a tuxedo urchin and quite a few turbo snails that do a little but not enough. Also today i noticed that on one of my rocks that is most dominated by red turf, the turf has turned bright orange. what in the world does that mean?

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w260/cgarr017/2010-01-21145755.jpg

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w260/cgarr017/2010-01-21212207.jpg

[powderhound]

I have the same red turf on a few of my rocks. I interested in some answers as well

[cgarr017]

bump

[RRaider]

Mine only turns orange when it dies.
The only thing that has worked for me are Mexican Turbo's. I put 10 of them in my 29 and they cleaned it all up in about a month. I have kept two of them to clean up any that pops up in the future.

[wakeboardgeek]

I'm dealing with the same problem and it came from a couple of frags. I have heard orange tuxedo urchins but I haven't tried them. I have a couple of Mexican Turbo's in my refugium that I'll try and let you know how it goes.

[Dooly]

doesn't look like the red turf I had, can you get a clearer picture?

mine never turned orange like that, but it overtook my 120. was almost impossible to rip off the rocks and was all wire-like/bristly. Added 7 large turbos and they ate every last drop of it within 2-3 weeks

[luther1200]

Does anybody have a link or exact picture of the snails that eat it. A lot of web sites and LFS have many different snails listed as Turbo's.

[luther1200]

bump

[slief]

Hard to tell from your pictures but it looks similar to a bloom I had in my tank just recently. I would do a phosphate test on your system. Mine tested off the charts. I added a GFO reactor a few weeks back. The phosphates were eradicated and the algae is now gone.

[Anemone0524]

My experience with this algae is that it doesn't mind low to zero phosphate.

My real concern is the fact i've been through two rounds of buying 'mexican turbo's' from local fish stores, and despite the widely held consensus online that these stails keep the algae in check, the snails I bought didn't touch the stuff.

[luther1200]

I got a bunch of the MT form DFS and they have been doing a great job keeping my RTA trimmed. Its even almost gone in a few spots.

[Toddrtrex]

Does anybody have a link or exact picture of the snails that eat it. A lot of web sites and LFS have many different snails listed as Turbo's.

I can see if I can get a picture of my turbo's tonight, they are doing a good job of eating the stuff.

Also, I have watched a yellow tang eat it -- even going after pieces that are floating in the water column. The same holds true for a blue eye/lined tang (( Ctenochaetus binotatus )).

It also seems to help to manually remove it, and let them keep it at bay.

[cgarr017]

i have gotten legit turbos and some eat it some don't. the ones that do eat it only eat a minimal amount of the red turf. I have tuxedo urchin that does eat it, but he only does but so much. tangs eat green algae but barely touch the red. looking for more methods to get rid of this stuff. here are some up to date shots

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w260/cgarr017/2010-05-31182250.jpg

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w260/cgarr017/2010-05-31182301.jpg

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w260/cgarr017/2010-05-31182325.jpg

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w260/cgarr017/2010-05-31182331.jpg

[lilalove]

Pull as much as you can out. My naso wouldn't touch the stuff either at first, until I pulled out a lot of it. I guess he saw smaller patches as a bit more manageable and palatable, and now he eats it and keeps it in check for me. That's if...you have a tang.

[cgarr017]

i do have a tang. but how the heck do i pull it out? its basically impossible to rip off the rocks manually

[cgarr017]

bump

[wakeboardgeek]

Tagging along. My turbos didn't touch it and my tangs don't either. Haevn't tried a tuxedo urchin though.

[driftin]

I use tweezers to pull clumps out. It's been effective for me.

[Floowid]

The drastic solution: Take any rock out that can come out. Take it to your sink in a bucket of tank water. Use a toothbrush to scrub the crap out of it in the bucket of tank water, and rinse it quickly in running tap water, then quickly place it in a bucket of previously prepared fresh salt water. Do this for every rock you can get out that doesn't have a coral attached to it. You will go through a lot of salt water, and will end up doing a substantial water change on your tank in the process. Any rock that can't come out gets a scrub while in the tank, while syphoning directly over the area being scrubbed.

It's a lot of work, but if nuisance algae is taking over your tank, it is worth the effort.