Myka vs Valonia Round 672

[Myka]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Thats what's happened to all my margarita's I had a bunch, 10 I think. Now I dunno, 2? I would try to attach the ones I seen on their backs to the glass, but cant catch them all I guess.

The Brittle star, why don't you like them? I'm going to l;ook for a Conch, like your reccomendation in my Algae thread. But allways keeping eyes open for better stand stirrers to get rid of the junk.

I flip my Margaritas over if I see them, but they don't have to be on their backs very long to die. It's funny, my Astreas can be on their back for days and still survive. They aren't the usual type of Astrea though.

Ya, the Conch didn't make it in my tank. Since he did survive so long I assume he starved. My tank was just too small for him.

I don't like brittle stars because they creep me out!! No other reason.

Originally Posted by Okguy

Hey Myka, after reading that you are using a 6000k bulb, my immediate thought is that the bulb is probably one of the culprits. I have a 6000k bulb in my fuge and bubble algae is always present (I think it would be a more serious problem if I removed all the cheato). I don't have any bubble algae in my DT where I use a much higher K bulb.

If your looking for a cheap skimmer improvement, instead of an upgrade. Use a stronger pump. I have a Mag5 hooked to my Remora and the performance increase was rather impressive.


HTH

Kevin

Hey Kevin, thanks for posting. That's good to know about the Kelvin making a difference in your tank. Albeit we all know that sometimes "things" don't follow the rules. I am thinking that it should make a difference though.

I have a cracked Remora Pro laying around that has a Mag 5 on it. I have been meaning to put it on my Remora, and haven't gotten around to it yet...but it's so big and ugly!!!

Originally Posted by Trigger Man

How is your Cal and Dkh readings at? For Coraline to grow you have to have a bit of it in your tank already, if not you need to get a bit of it in there first.

Calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are spot on since the very beginning. My live rock came with coralline on it, and there had always been some coralline in the tank, it just doesn't grow much. The rocks are mostly white.

Calcium 415-425 ppm
Alkalinity 8-10 dKH
Magnesium 1325-1375 ppm

[Okguy]

Originally Posted by Myka

Hey Kevin, thanks for posting. That's good to know about the Kelvin making a difference in your tank. Albeit we all know that sometimes "things" don't follow the rules. I am thinking that it should make a difference though.

Believe me I'm not exactly the one who follows the 'rules' when it comes to reef keeping. But when things start to go sideways I stray back more to the rules. After battling Algae in my tank, I came across this article Anthony Calfo.

"Most desirable aquatic plants, corals and algae fare best in light within the range of 6500 to 10,000 Kelvin. Undesirable algae and very shallow species are supported by warmer colors (below 6500K). Many lamps are known to stray toward this lower end of the Kelvin scale as they age, and may be evidenced by an increase in nuisance algae growth in the aquarium."

After swapping to higher K bulbs my DT was back to normal (well sort of ).


Here is the link to the full article
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marcanopies.htm

Originally Posted by Myka

I have a cracked Remora Pro laying around that has a Mag 5 on it. I have been meaning to put it on my Remora, and haven't gotten around to it yet...but it's so big and ugly!!!

I actually siliconed my Mag 5 up and have it running the remora outside the tank. That way I don't have to see the ugly thing and it keeps the unwanted heat out of the tank. If you have space behind the tank, it might be worth looking into.

I agree with you on the hermits by the way. I'd only try them as a last resort too.

Good luck,

Kevin

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Okguy

Believe me I'm not exactly the one who follows the 'rules' when it comes to reef keeping. But when things start to go sideways I stray back more to the rules. After battling Algae in my tank, I came across this article Anthony Calfo.

"Most desirable aquatic plants, corals and algae fare best in light within the range of 6500 to 10,000 Kelvin. Undesirable algae and very shallow species are supported by warmer colors (below 6500K). Many lamps are known to stray toward this lower end of the Kelvin scale as they age, and may be evidenced by an increase in nuisance algae growth in the aquarium."

After swapping to higher K bulbs my DT was back to normal (well sort of ).


Here is the link to the full article
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marcanopies.htm




I actually siliconed my Mag 5 up and have it running the remora outside the tank. That way I don't have to see the ugly thing and it keeps the unwanted heat out of the tank. If you have space behind the tank, it might be worth looking into.

I agree with you on the hermits by the way. I'd only try them as a last resort too.

Good luck,

Kevin

Thanks for the link! I have known about the lower Kelvin increasing algaes, but I always figured I could work around it because my corals like the lower Kelvin. Time to throw in the towl on that one.

Good idea on the Mag 5. Got a pic? Did you just silicone some tubing or something?

[Okguy]

sorry no pic... I can try and get one when I get home, but I don't think it will show up very well. I just used the hosing you can buy for the Fluval 304. It fits on the the remora perfectly.

[Delphinus]

FWIW .. I am dealing with a TERRIBLE valonia infestation in my 20g right now. What seems to have stemmed the tide is an introduction of 3 or 4 emerald crabs and a green urchin. I have a green urchin in another tank and that tank is valonia free (although it has hermits so I wasn't 100% on whether it was urchin or combination urchin/hermits to thank for that).

Anyhow, about 6 weeks on, I'm noticing significantly less valonia. The bigger ones don't go away but I am able to remove those manually (or the urchin uses them to decorate himself).

I'm not 100% sure of the latin id on the urchin but this has been one of my favourite algae controlling purchases I've ever made (so much so that I now have 2. ). He does wonders for filamentous algae too. Not sure if he'd go after caulerpa too, but I should see if I can find a caulerpa infested rock that I could try an experiment on.

Anyhow since I can't give you an id to help you if you want to find one, here's a picture:


If you see one of these, try it. Only thing as a decorator urchin, be prepared to have to glue down EVERYTHING in your tank that you don't want rearranged. Zoanthid frags are a favourite...

PS. I'm also eating my words from the past that I've never had emerald crabs deal with valonia. I do have them now and they are indeed doing their job (I can see them). The problem is that one crab is probably only good for removing so many valonias in a time period .. and so if the valonia can replace themselves faster than the crab can eat them, you have a problem. With the case of my 20g, it seemed that I needed a good 3 or 4 before the tide was turned.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

FWIW .. I am dealing with a TERRIBLE valonia infestation in my 20g right now. What seems to have stemmed the tide is an introduction of 3 or 4 emerald crabs and a green urchin.

I am still battling hair algae and some pockets of valonia. The display portion of my tank is about 25G. I added one emerald crab about 4 weeks ago. He has doubled in size since then but I have not noticed him eating valonia yet, that was the job he was hired for. Maybe I will add another emerald crab.


But I do have two urchins who look like this:




They keep the algae to a minimum on the back side of the rocks but rarely come to the front where the algae is the worst. Maybe if they get hungry enough or I keep the lights off for a few days they will work on the front of the rocks.

I have peeled a few of the larger algae bubbles off by hand.

I am thinking of getting a sea hare to help out with the hair algae, I have read somewhere that some people have seen them eat valonia as well.

[Myka]

Thanks for the links Mike, I will take a look!

Originally Posted by Oscar

I am thinking of getting a sea hare to help out with the hair algae, I have read somewhere that some people have seen them eat valonia as well.

Your rocks look like they have a lot of detritus settled on them. Do you blow them off with a turkey baster? I find that is a key part of battling hair algae. Although I don't see any hair algae in the photo of your Pencil Urchin. You should be able to get rid of the hair algae without getting a Sea Hare. Have you read the Guide in my signature?

[Myka]

UPDATE:

I know I have talked about this on other threads, but figured I would record it here too as the battle continues...

So I have made a couple dramatic changes to my tank in the last 6 weeks, and have noticed a huge DECREASE in Valonia!

I changed my lighting to 2x250w DE MH. It currently has crappy Coralife 10000K bulbs that it came with, and crappy reflectors. That's ok because I don't want too much PAR, or my LPS will get roasted. I started the lighting slowly with two 1 hour spurts, eventually getting to two 2 hour spurts, and then going to one 4 hours spurt this was over the course of 3 weeks. That was too much and a couple corals started bleaching, I've knocked it back down to two 2 hour periods.

The other thing I changed was I started some Zeo additives. I bought the Zeo Nano Power package. The Pohl's Xtra and the Amino Acid LPS ran out after only 10 days, but I am carrying on with daily dosing (1 drop per day) of the Coral Vitalizer and the Sponge Power.

Now, I don't know if it's these changes or something else going on, but there sure is a HUGE difference in the Valonia. Worth a shot for anyone else giving it a try. I know from talking to a few people using the full Zeo system that Valonia was the last algae to disappear. So that's why I figured I would give the Nano pack a shot.

OR

Maybe the change on bulb Kelvin I made in December (I think it was?) when I was just running T5s finally did the trick? Or maybe the Emerald Crabs finally caught up? Or maybe the Kole Tang has actually been doing some trimming? I have no idea really...all I know is that SOMETHING is working!

[Marlin65]

Your coraline will do better under the higher K as well.
I have algae (hair) in my main tank, but nothing in my fuge. (had to take all the algae eater out)
Same K bulbs but one is a DE and one is a SE. Par is much higher on the DE almost 3x so that can contribute as well. I have always found it strange that I don't have any algae under the SE bulb and so much under my DE at least it is just on my Koralines and frag rack.

[Keri]

I think magaritas are actually supposed to be kept in cooler temps so they don't live as long in our setups