Ralfsia expansa algae

[milano07]

Originally Posted by Myka

Interesting, thanks for posting ID. How did you go about IDing it? Just picture match or something more scientific?

It looks a lot like an algae that I had in my tank for the first 6-8 months of setting it up. It eventually just went away on its own as nutrients were lowered and the tank matured. I added a Tuxedo Urchin as well who seemed to eat it a bit.

I was able to identify this algae after I found a couple of threads with pics on RF. After looking at their pics I quickly realized it was the same type of algae that has been taking over my tank for the last couple of months. Here is a link to a site where you can find more info on this type of algae.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/alg...ia-expansa.htm

http://www.algaebase.org/search/spec...pecies_id=1271

Originally Posted by dreef

Are you sure its not Lobophora Variegata ..looks what i was battling a few years ago.Found some info on RC, they suggested a certain kind of tang,or sally lightfoot crabs.I went with the sallys,and within months,was totally gone.I know some don't trust any crabs.My fish are big,or a good size,still have a few sallys after the years.Zero problems,all they do is clean rock 24/7 here's an RC link

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...ight=lobophora

I am a 100% that it's not Lobophora Variegata. I have seen this type of algae in friend's tank and it's definitely not the same one that's in my set up.

Originally Posted by shrimpchips

Anything that eats coralline algae - urchins will usually do the job. My rock had it here and there but the urchins will eventually mow it over.

Yeah, I have to stop by the fish store to find out if they have any Urchins in stock.

Originally Posted by christyf5

I've had that in the past, urchins will eat it as a byproduct of the coralline they seem to prefer. What worked for me, ultimately, was lowering nutrients. At the time i was using the Fauna Marin Ultralith system. It disappeared in about 6 months. After quitting the system small patches have reappeared but seem to be limited to those two patches. It has been several years and a tank upgrade since I had it. Try increasing your water change frequency and feeding less (ie. lowering/exporting nutrients) and it should slowly start to recede.

I'll look for a small Urchin later on. Water changes will be increased for sure. I'll do them weekly instead of bi weekly and hopefully this will help. Now, I doubt the bio-load is high as there are only 2 fish in this tank and they are only fed 3 times a week. The skimmer I use is the MCE600 which I think it's a pretty good skimmer.


Again, the only thing that I have changed in the last few months is the light fixture. There used to be a MH over this tank but this was switched for a T5 fixture and that's when I noticed that this algae started growing. I should mention that I was using a GE 6500K bulb but it got rid of it not long ago as I thought that this bulb might have something to do with this algae problem.