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02/21/2018, 08:24 PM | #1 |
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Nori producing nutrients?
I have been feeding my tangs nori daily and I leave it in the tank until they eat it all.
Is leaving it in the tank longer than the recommended 2 hours causing a break down of nutrients? I have been battling GHA and have never dealt with it before and I am attempting to do a better job of reducing nutrients that could be feeding the GHA. Thanks for any and all input. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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02/21/2018, 08:37 PM | #2 |
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Nori can be high in phosphates as seaweed like most algae consumes nutrients for growth. If you are doing nothing for nutrient reduction (GFO for example), then you are likely to see a gradual increase in Po4 levels in the tank. If the seaweed is breaking down in the system, that can also contribute to nitrates along with the fish waste from eating the nori. The same however can hold true with pellet food, flake food, mysis etc as 99% of the Po4 we get in our system comes from the food we feed and food waste and fish waste will not only contribute to nitrates but also Po4.
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02/21/2018, 08:53 PM | #3 |
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Thanks for the input Scott.
I am dosing Nopox for nutrient reduction and don’t want to use GFO as I am afraid it will mess with the Nopox. My phosphates have climbed to 0.14 ppm and when I pull the clip out, the remaining Nori that the fish couldn’t get to stinks to high heaven. I assumed that had to be fouling the water up. On a side note, you did change from Kessils to other lights correct? I hadn’t seen any updates on your tank since you said you would be switching out to new lights. I ditched my Kessils and switched to ATI T5 and sort of regret it as I lost customization and shimmer. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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1.025 SG/High-pH 8.021 Low-pH 8.00/9-9.3dKh/Ca 440/Mg 1280/Temp 78.5/NO3 .25 ppm/PO4 0/ORP 380 Current Tank Info: 91 gallon RSR 350/RO 152s protein skimmer/36” ATI Dimmable/Neptune WAV/Neptune Apex |
02/21/2018, 10:21 PM | #4 |
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I'm not sure that nori rotting uneaten in the tank versus it being consumed and then pooped out will drive differential levels of end product nitrates. Very small amounts are actually incorporated into fish body mass. You may be feeding too much if it remains uneaten for two hours. I feed a 4x8 sheet daily and it's typically gone in 5 minutes. Not unusual for the bit stuck in the clip jaws to smell like hell.
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02/21/2018, 10:26 PM | #5 |
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Well some like bristletooth tangs just can't eat it quick, or if you don't have more than one etc..
Tough to have anything but the "leave it in all day" in that situation if you still wan't regular nori.
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02/22/2018, 02:38 AM | #6 |
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Why do you feed nori if you already have that much of algae in the tank? I dont feed nori as long as there is some form of algae within the tank. If i see a patch of GHA appear, I stop feeding nori until it disappears.
Constantly feeding nori just promotes your herbivores to stop grazing. |
02/22/2018, 04:36 AM | #7 | |
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02/22/2018, 10:12 AM | #8 | |
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02/22/2018, 10:39 AM | #9 |
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And nori is about the fish’s health, can be supplemented etc. GHA or film algae may not be the best nutrient source...
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA |
02/22/2018, 10:42 AM | #10 | |
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA |
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02/22/2018, 11:21 AM | #11 | |
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And Ctenochaetus tangs are not even algae eaters in nature. They they are mainly detritus and biofilm eaters. Last edited by Tripod1404; 02/22/2018 at 11:30 AM. |
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02/22/2018, 11:29 AM | #12 | ||
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But in ops case nori stays in the water for hours and start to deteriorate. If they are not even picking on nori, I dont think they will graze on GHA much. Imo certain fish do not pick on hard to reach or hard to rip algae if they are not hungry. Like my rabbitfish rarely graze on algae if they are full, tangs are little better but they perform much better when not full. Algae growing bluntly in the open is taken up regardless of feeding, but if there is algae that is growing in crevices or in very high flow areas, at least on my case, only a motivated grazer would bother to try to eat it. But I must also point out that I feed 2 times a day. So in my case that plus nori might be too much. It might work differently if you dont feed everyday but feed nori or feed once a day with nori. |
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02/22/2018, 12:15 PM | #13 | |
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My only point is that "algae not being eaten in minutes" should not be viewed as a problem on its own.
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA |
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02/22/2018, 12:19 PM | #14 | |
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Do you only feed your tangs detrius and biofilm, if that's "what they eat", why not? lots of contradicting assertions here that don't really connect; again, nori being in the water for a few hours with minimal or specific grazers should not be viewed as "problem" on its own.
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA |
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02/22/2018, 12:42 PM | #15 | |
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And actually yes I feed my tanks detrius and biofilm. When I clean my sump I dont turn of the return pump which pushes all the scraped biofilm and detrius to the DT. Tangs love it. And about your other point, I also didnt said algae nit eaten in minutes is a problem. My point was why does the OP feed algae if there is already that much of hair algae. That is like adding bottled copepods to a tank that already has a lot of indigenous copepods. The discussion was on consumption of hair algae with or without Nori, it was not on nori causing hair algae. Last edited by Tripod1404; 02/22/2018 at 12:55 PM. |
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02/22/2018, 01:00 PM | #16 |
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I was under the impression that varieties of Nori were important to the health of tangs. My tangs peck at the rocks all day but I have yet to see them try and eat the GHA. And I don’t have a lot of it, I just have it for the first time since I have been in the hobby and wanted to know if leaving the Nori in the tank all day had any I’ll effects on the water quality.
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02/22/2018, 01:07 PM | #17 | |
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I have only said having nori in your tank for hours should not be viewed as problem on its own... that's all. I do not know the exact nutritional value of GHA, I specifically said that, but obviously macro algae in general have been recommended for tangs and other large grazers for a long time. I CAN say that I have yet to see a tank full of film/hair algae satiate a tang over a single day, much less sustain them... People feed their grazers all sorts of things now, bananas, raw veggies, etc.. to expand nutrition. Nori and macro algae are literally the first step in that direction for people that own grazers, and is the consensus baseline recommendation for supplementing their diet. Anyway, not all fish will even bother to eat GHA (and no one even asked the OP), so I do not know why you are so fixated on it.... But maybe you should go into business for yourself and sell dried GHA to everyone since we are obviously all wasting our money on substandard algae
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA Last edited by HBtank; 02/22/2018 at 01:24 PM. |
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02/22/2018, 01:08 PM | #18 | |
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I have the same issue, my tang is a annoyingly messy and slow with nori. Frankly I look for more export as the solution (algae reactor for me), and just accept the messy eaters to keep them fat/happy.
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA Last edited by HBtank; 02/22/2018 at 01:23 PM. |
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02/22/2018, 01:27 PM | #19 | |
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Considering i have several 15+ years old tang, it works for me. Dont know it would work on you or not. |
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02/22/2018, 01:28 PM | #20 |
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02/22/2018, 01:44 PM | #21 | |
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So the amount of nori you feed is more important than how long it stays in water. Lime pointed our before, it can be rich in phosphate. What kind of tangs do you have? Certain ones like tangs Ctenochaetus genus (kole, tomini, chevron, etc), will not eat much of hair algea. They dont also eat or need as much as nori. In my experience, Zebrasoma tangs are generally the best hair algae eaters (especially Sailfin if the tank is large enough) and need nori the most. Rabbitfish are even better for HA, if you want to get a fish for that task. |
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02/22/2018, 01:54 PM | #22 | |
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Again, I only responded because it is simply not possible for all tangs/grazers to eat nori quickly, and having to leave algae in the tank is common (they even make clips for it! ). I am in the same position as the OP. Your initial comment was not even applicable to the OP, his fish don't graze GHA and that is pretty common...
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80g Aiptasia dominated reef tank.. with fish and now a bunch of berghia! Current Tank Info: 80g tank, re-starting a reef after a zoanthid nudibranch plauge, followed by months of steady and unstoppable STN/RTN, crashed; stayed FOWLR for a couple years, currently an aiptasia dominated reef tank with fishies and BERGHIA Last edited by HBtank; 02/22/2018 at 02:02 PM. |
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02/22/2018, 02:21 PM | #23 |
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I will chime in as I have a yellow Tang and fed him Nori twice a day. I also really battled GHA and didn't really see him eat at it (the GHA), maybe just peck at it.
I have since gotten the Hikari Seaweed Extreme pellets which he loves (and do does everyone else). I still give him one small piece of Nori once a day which he will eat in less than 5 minutes. Anyway, in my experience the Nori 2x a day definitely contributed to more GHA. The tang was inefficient at eating it, it would get caught in the powerhead, shredded into a bunch of little particles that no one wanted and dirtied the water. So for me at least, I cut back on the Nori and have less GHA. Eventually I will probably just stick to Hikari Seaweed Extreme, since he can pick those off the sandbed and they don't dirt the water anywhere near like the shredded Nori. |
02/22/2018, 03:08 PM | #24 | |
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Director Customer Support Royal Exclusiv USA For All Royal Exclusiv & Bubble King questions please refer to our Sponsor forum: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/fo...play.php?f=745 Current Tank Info: 480G display mixed reef, 90G sump, 90G refugium, 60G display refugium. Check out my build thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783476 |
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02/22/2018, 03:08 PM | #25 | |
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Simon Got back into the hobby ..... planned to keep it simple ..... yeah, right ..... clearly I need a new plan! Pet peeve: anemones host clowns; clowns do not host anemones! Current Tank Info: 450 Reef; 120 refugium; 60 Frag Tank, 30 Introduction tank; multiple QTs Last edited by ca1ore; 02/22/2018 at 03:15 PM. |
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