Reefing Newbie
12/12/2011, 05:06 PM
Last night I got to thinking about how everyone goes through algae blooms, some more extreme than others. This also came from seeing tons of algae threads. I figured why not do a condensed thread to keep the information in one place. Sk8r's blog on this is great, but there are some things that I feel are missing(you may notice this later in the post). I was originally planning on having this thread completely focus on red bubble algae, Botryocladia skottsbergii , but thought why not just have some in depth discussion on everything so people can refer back to this no matter what stage their tank is in.
Sure this may be in depth enough(depending on how this thread goes) to be in the "Advanced" forum, but I don't think the people new to this hobby look there very much(I know I don't!). I think to start we should cover the more common algae and "algae"(cyano, dino, diatoms. correct me if I am off track already with this) to get this off to a good start. Some true algae species to talk about and understand is green hair algae, cyano(Sk8r has a great thread for this, a must read for sure!), diatoms, bubble(Valonia) algae, red or green turf algae. Eventually it would be great to talk about the less common algae like red bubble algae, bryopsis, etc. Remember we are condensing algae control information, I would prefer this be experience as opposed to info coming from a retailer trying to sell you fish or inverts to control the problems.
Some things to discuss for the various types(please specify the type you are talking about):
~ How it spreads(spores, sprawls, agitation(kind of how I understand GHA spreads), etc...)
~ What it needs to thrive in your tank
~ Methods of control(natural predetors like tangs, rabbitfish, snails, crabs, etc..., reduce nutrients, lights out, combinations of various methods, pushing various chemical aspects to a limit like Mg for bryopsis, etc...)
~ Any factoids or extra tips on control
Sure this may be in depth enough(depending on how this thread goes) to be in the "Advanced" forum, but I don't think the people new to this hobby look there very much(I know I don't!). I think to start we should cover the more common algae and "algae"(cyano, dino, diatoms. correct me if I am off track already with this) to get this off to a good start. Some true algae species to talk about and understand is green hair algae, cyano(Sk8r has a great thread for this, a must read for sure!), diatoms, bubble(Valonia) algae, red or green turf algae. Eventually it would be great to talk about the less common algae like red bubble algae, bryopsis, etc. Remember we are condensing algae control information, I would prefer this be experience as opposed to info coming from a retailer trying to sell you fish or inverts to control the problems.
Some things to discuss for the various types(please specify the type you are talking about):
~ How it spreads(spores, sprawls, agitation(kind of how I understand GHA spreads), etc...)
~ What it needs to thrive in your tank
~ Methods of control(natural predetors like tangs, rabbitfish, snails, crabs, etc..., reduce nutrients, lights out, combinations of various methods, pushing various chemical aspects to a limit like Mg for bryopsis, etc...)
~ Any factoids or extra tips on control