Myka vs Valonia Round 672

[Bugsy]

This stuff is nasty, but one thing I can tell you is that if you keep trimming it or popping those they just spread even more. You must remove these without popping them. In my past 10 gal I had like 3 of them, I carefully took out that piece of rock, over to the sink I went and with a knife I carefully got underneith them and they came off fully intact like bubbles and did not burst. I never had anymore from that time on and it was 4 years from that time.

Hate to tell you this but Tangs will not touch this stuff, they look for soft algae they can pick off the rocks. He is cute though, enjoy him and if you don't have alot of the algae he would normally eat do make sure you supplement him with some seaweed sheets, they love these and are very good for them. You can pick them up cheaper at the health food stores than the pets stores, aslo called Nori . They come in red, green or brown sheets and Tangs will just love you for this along with regular fish foods.

Hope this helps and you can get this under control, enjoy your new fishy too I love tangs.....

Amy

[Marlin65]

Trying to take them off without popping them will not work in Myka's case she has way to many.
I would say changing your bulb color to more blue will definitely help. Algae definitely does not grow as well under the higher K range.

[Drock169]

In addition, even though your phos are undectable, most likely the PO4 is being absorbed by the valonia first, valonia is excellent at scavenging PO4 in low nutrient systems. Honestly I would use a combination of manual removal for large ones in a separate container and a lot of emerald crabs for the small ones.

[mseepman]

Hey Myka,

I will keep my eye's out for an Emerald crab for you...Complete pet gets them in periodically.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Drock169

In addition, even though your phos are undectable, most likely the PO4 is being absorbed by the valonia first, valonia is excellent at scavenging PO4 in low nutrient systems. Honestly I would use a combination of manual removal for large ones in a separate container and a lot of emerald crabs for the small ones.

Ya, I'm quite aware of the phosphate reading being pretty much useless. My tank is fairly low nutrient, has been from day 1. I don't have any other nuisance algaes. Coralline algae has never really grown much in my tank. My rocks are mostly white. I'm hoping the higher Kelvin lighting may help with this as well. It doesn't have enough food in it for even a Peppermint or Cleaner shrimp to survive long-term. Nutrients are well addressed in my tank. The only other thing I could do is upgrade the skimmer. Current just have a Remora.

I've been looking for Emerald Crabs for probably 6 months, and haven't been able to locate any. They seem to be REALLY hit or miss though as to whether they will eat Valonia (do a search for the poll I made). Some people say hermit eat Valonia, but most people say they only eat hair algae. As a rule, I don't keep crabs of any kind in my tanks because I like my snails more.

So here's what's in the tank (and how long):

1 True Perc (1.5 years)
2 Bangaii Cardinals (1 year)
1 Kole Tang (1 day)

3 Astrea coelata (almost 2 years; original snails, never lost one)
1 Black Cerith (almost 2 years; original snail, had 3 of them)
3 Nassarius (1.5 years)
2 Ring Cowries (1+ year)
1 Brittle star (1+ year)
1 Margarita (6-8 months)

Critters that have died (and how long they lived). They weren't all in there at the same time:

1 Peppermint shrimp (1 year)
1 Orange Lip Conch (~8 months)
3 Ring Cowries (<1 month)
2 Black Cerith (6 months, and 1 year)
8-10 Nassarius (3-6 months). 3-4 were eaten by a Hermit crab I had, so the hermit was banned.
4 Margaritas (1 week-6 months). They fall on their backs, and die.