Helpful Info for newbies

[neilthepirate]

To properly understand how to get rid of algae you must first understand algae and how it thrives in your tank. Regardless of whether we are referring to hair algae, brown algae, red slime algae or any other wonderful type - algae can not thrive without nutrients.

 

As many people have come to realize, utilizing a refugium which houses MACRO algae (the type which is large enough by itself to be seen) as compared to MICRO algae (the green algae which grows on the glass which is literally millions of organisms compiled together in order to be seen),a refugium can greatly reduce the amount of micro algae seen in the tank. This occurs because the macro algae "out competes" the micro algae for nutrients.

 

Remember: without nutrients the algae population can NOT flourish.

So - if you have algae (the kind we do not want) - you have nutrients. I like to refer to the nutrients that algae prefer to eat as the "ates"- that is Nitrates, Phosphates & Silicates.

 

Nitrates and Phosphates are typically present when you have a break in your food chain, insufficient water skimming &/or insufficient water changes or do not properly prepare your water for top off/ changes. Silicate is a naturally occuring mineral which can be removed by using a DI (deionazation) filter in addition to your RO water filter.

 

So lets look at each cause and how to remedy it.

 

1. Break in the food chain: If we think about the naturally occurring food chain - it looks something like this - fish- eat and poop, leaving both behind- crabs and starfish- eat and poop, leaving some of both behind- worms and such - eat and poop, leaving some of both behind - and bacteria finishing the job. Each level the particulates left behind get smaller and smaller. This is a very simplified break down so that we can all understand the importance of each level. If you do not have one of these levels- then the particulates are not able to be managed by the next level down- hence we have a gap- a gap results in "stuff" sitting around and breaking down to nitrates &/or phosphates.

 

So - how do you fix it? Adding snails is NOT the answer unless they are the nassarius vibex type.

 

Why? You want to reduce the amount of stuff that FEEDS algae - then after

you reduce the amount of food for the nasty algae, you have established a reference point on your BioLoad - the amount of waste that your tank produces and can naturally get rid of on its own. Once you have a BioLoad Reference Point you can introduce algae eating snails (turbos, ceriths, margaritas, nerites, etc) - but very slowly - no more then 10-15% of your water volume.

 

But Why??

 

Algae eating Snails die if there is not enough algae - unlike other clean up critters which can be supplementally fed if there is not enough naturally occruing food in the tank, an algae eating snail can not be supplementally fed - so if there is not enough food, the snail dies and then produces more nitrates - which produces more algae - oh what a never ending battle!!!

 

Ok- so you think you need some clean up crew guys- Well here is a good rule of thumb:

 

Crabs:

 

Breakdown on crabs as follows (% is equal to % of tank water volume):

• 75% Blue Legs
• 20% Red Legs
• 5% Emerald Crabs

Example- 100 gallon tank: 75 Blue Legs, 20 Red Legs, 5-6 Emerald Crabs

 

Starfish:

 

2 stars (serpents or brittles) per 50 gallons.

Nassarius Vibex Snails: great snail which eat anything dead, nasty or just plain gross- I typically like to stock 1-2 per gallon.

 

There are a ton of great shrimp and miscellaneous cleaners which will help out the system.

 

I like to envision it this way - If I went to a buffet by myself - I could only do so much damage - I only like "spagetti" - however if I took 20 of my closest friends - since each of us has a different "favorite" food - we could really make a dent in the buffet - so the moral of the story is to have a variety of eaters in your tank and no gaps in your food chain.

 

 

2. Insufficient Water Skimming: Just like the beach with the waves rolling in - a protein skimmer pulls waste from the water - just like the nasty foam on the beach - that is the "ocean protein skimmer". Your skimmer cup should be pulling ~.5-1 cup of skim mate every day- unless of course you do not have any poopers in your tank.

 

3. Insufficient Water Changes: Changing 5-10% of your water volume every week is better and less stressful for your animals then to change 30% once a month.

 

4. Water Preperation: Many people do not realize the need for proper preparation of water for top off or make up water. If you are not using an RO unit-you should be - this is an easy way to reduce the amount of nutrients available for algae to eat. Furthermore the use of a DI filter in conjunction with your RO unit will remove the naturally occurring minerals in your water. But the most important part of the equation is the need to remove the chloramines and cloramides from the RO water. Ninety five percent of all city water municipalities in the US add these treatments to the water and there is not an RO unit to remove them from the water- this is something that I learned while working with Aquatic Eco Systems - a supplier for Sea World in Orlando. So - what can you do to get rid of them? Heavy aeration of your RO water for 5-6 days before using it in your tank will allow the treatment particulates to rise out of solution. However if you do not have time to wait - a simple treatment of AmQuel, Prime or Zip Drops will remove them and is safe for the aquarium.

 

Want to test the validity of the statement- test for Ammonia - however remember if the water you are testing has already been treated with Amquel, Prime or one of the others, please be sure to use a Salicylate Ammonia Test Kit like the one from LaMotte Test Kits. Using a non Salicylate test kit on treated water will render useless results as the treatment will interfere with the reagents of the test kit.

 

We strive to maintain spotless tanks without work, chemicals or frustration. Naturally!! Happy Reefing!!

 

 

[Jan]

Very nice. Thank you for posting this. It's simple and easy to read. Great info for the Newsletter.

[neilthepirate]

ya let put it in there

[neilthepirate]

I have to give credit where credit is due.. this is a newsletter from my friends company in south florida.... good stuff though thought i should share with others

[Jon Lazar]

Some good food for thought about causes of nusiance algal blooms. However, IME this is an awful lot of crabs and starfish, and misses the role of herbivorous fish in a reef tank.

 

Jon

 

Ok- so you think you need some clean up crew guys- Well here is a good rule of thumb:

 

Crabs:

 

Breakdown on crabs as follows (% is equal to % of tank water volume):

• 75% Blue Legs
• 20% Red Legs
• 5% Emerald Crabs

Example- 100 gallon tank: 75 Blue Legs, 20 Red Legs, 5-6 Emerald Crabs

 

Starfish:

 

2 stars (serpents or brittles) per 50 gallons.

Happy Reefing!!

[zygote2k]

your friends' company must sell CUC.

 

In my experience of nearly 20 years of reef tanks, I have found that you only need 5-10 hermits per 100 gallons and about twice as many snails. when the hermits want to eat something other than detrirus or algae, they eat snails. If you keep a small amount of hermits, they'll eat less snails. You also keep more than just nassarius because there are other types of algae that nassarius don't eat. The fish also play an important role in the reduction of algae.

[trockafella]

I have to give credit where credit is due.. this is a newsletter from my friends company in south florida.... good stuff though thought i should share with others

 

 

Can your buddy get us a good deal on a group buy?

[Charlie97L]

your friends' company must sell CUC.

 

In my experience of nearly 20 years of reef tanks, I have found that you only need 5-10 hermits per 100 gallons and about twice as many snails. when the hermits want to eat something other than detrirus or algae, they eat snails. If you keep a small amount of hermits, they'll eat less snails. You also keep more than just nassarius because there are other types of algae that nassarius don't eat. The fish also play an important role in the reduction of algae.

 

while i agree that that is waaay too many hermits, i think he's suggesting using a fuge with macro algae instead of turbos/algae snails as your main form of algae control in the article.

 

at least that's how i read it. if you have a good fuge, you won't really need algae eating snails, in theory.