- Joined
- Nov 27, 2002
- Messages
- 286
As I've mentioned in my Tank Crash thread, my tank has thoroughly recovered and is again humming along. Yet I would not be willing to say it has PERFECTLY recovered. An odd "problem" exists.
Before the crash, the tank's algae population had stabilized into a balance between coarse hair algae (regularly plucked, not to nuisance status) and some large macrophytic leafy alage, growing healthily...possibly a type of sargassum. Since the crash, the algae population is behaving very differently. The macrophytic algae is alive and growing, and appears healthy, but is growing MUCH more slowly than before. The hair algae seems almost dormant.
The biggest "problem" is a slimy brown algae which is consistently trying to coat my sandbed. I can siphon it off one evening and have it completely regrown the next...indeed, in a matter of a few hours (when the lights are on) it recovers the sandbed. It's not overgrowing everything, though it does slowly grow on the glass, and patches of it cling occasionally to the live rock. My first thought was that this is cyanobacteria, yet...is that typically a dark brown color? Some research is suggesting to me that these are diatoms, yet upon very close inspection I can see a (very very fine) filamentous, netlike structure to this stuff. I thought diatoms were essentially individuals, and for that matter need silicates...what about a tank crash would have introduced silicates?
Ideas on how to cut down on this? I've seen some suggestions...a good sand-stirring critter, siphoning algae away regularly (but it comes back so FAST!), making sure nutrient levels are low. I recognize that my nutrient levels could actually still be higher than normal, and that this algae is merely sucking it up to keep it undetectable in the water. Would my best bet, then, be to keep siphoning the algae with the theory of removing them = removing whatever nutrients they're gobbling up so rapidly? Would these guys be what's causing the changed growth patterns in my other algae, or is it rather the tank condition causing the bloom in the first place that's also holding back the other algae?
And a note on sand-sifting critters...my previous sand-sifting star did, I thought, a great job, and was very active. My new one seems far less active. It also is capable of climbing glass, which I thought the "sand-sifters" lacked the suction cups to do. I can't really tell a species difference, but perhaps this is the "wrong" one?
rusty
Before the crash, the tank's algae population had stabilized into a balance between coarse hair algae (regularly plucked, not to nuisance status) and some large macrophytic leafy alage, growing healthily...possibly a type of sargassum. Since the crash, the algae population is behaving very differently. The macrophytic algae is alive and growing, and appears healthy, but is growing MUCH more slowly than before. The hair algae seems almost dormant.
The biggest "problem" is a slimy brown algae which is consistently trying to coat my sandbed. I can siphon it off one evening and have it completely regrown the next...indeed, in a matter of a few hours (when the lights are on) it recovers the sandbed. It's not overgrowing everything, though it does slowly grow on the glass, and patches of it cling occasionally to the live rock. My first thought was that this is cyanobacteria, yet...is that typically a dark brown color? Some research is suggesting to me that these are diatoms, yet upon very close inspection I can see a (very very fine) filamentous, netlike structure to this stuff. I thought diatoms were essentially individuals, and for that matter need silicates...what about a tank crash would have introduced silicates?
Ideas on how to cut down on this? I've seen some suggestions...a good sand-stirring critter, siphoning algae away regularly (but it comes back so FAST!), making sure nutrient levels are low. I recognize that my nutrient levels could actually still be higher than normal, and that this algae is merely sucking it up to keep it undetectable in the water. Would my best bet, then, be to keep siphoning the algae with the theory of removing them = removing whatever nutrients they're gobbling up so rapidly? Would these guys be what's causing the changed growth patterns in my other algae, or is it rather the tank condition causing the bloom in the first place that's also holding back the other algae?
And a note on sand-sifting critters...my previous sand-sifting star did, I thought, a great job, and was very active. My new one seems far less active. It also is capable of climbing glass, which I thought the "sand-sifters" lacked the suction cups to do. I can't really tell a species difference, but perhaps this is the "wrong" one?
rusty