Botryocladia  skottsbergii  HELP! Rhodophyte control in a nano   7/2/06 Hi Great website. Its may mainstay of info. <Glad it is of use to/for you> I have mainly all PICO and NANO sized tanks. I have two tanks with beautiful growth of coralline and many zoos and other corals, however it being over run with  Botryocladia  skotsbergii. At first I did not mind it, but now its just gotten out of hand. Even my hermits and snails all sport coats of the stuff...... <Yikes... "Attack of the Sea Grapes"!> Simply stated. I need it gone or at least a way to control it. I tired to manually clean it off the rocks, but it seems to propagate it.   Tanks are much to small for a tang unless I "rent" a small one for awhile. I use I/O salt, SG is 1.026, temp 81 deg, cal 460, alk 11.6, ph 8.3, I use Chaeto for  nutrient export and run a protein skimmer as well. The tank that is worst is a 12 gal nano. Is there any other small fish that would eat this stuff.......that would be better suited than a tang.......I sure do not want to ruin my live rock and its encrusted life. Any help is greatly appreciated. Roy Hauer <Mmm, an excellent discussion of various "bubble algae" here: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-02/hcj/feature/index.php including input on control means. Turbo species snails and small tangs of the genera Ctenochaetus and Zebrasoma would be my first tries... though these last can't live in such small confines indefinitely. Bob Fenner>

Mostly re controlling red bubble algae (Botryocladia) - 03/05/06 I am having two problems in my 29 gallon reef that some say are not problems at all. First I coralline algae growing all over the glass. I have tried scraping it which just makes it grow on the sand. Is there any way to slow the growth? <Yes... culturing other algae, biomineralizing life mostly... providing more light... less readily available calcium and/or alkalinity... predators...> Next I am having an outbreak of red bubble algae (Botryocladia). At first I liked this but it is getting out of control. It is growing on my snails even. What specifically will feed on this? < http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Botryocladia+predators. Bob Fenner>

Coralline Algae Hi Bob, <Anthony Calfo in his stead while Bob travels: he forgot his eyeglasses in Indonesia, left his heart in San Francisco and lost his a@#! in Las Vegas> Thank for the advice.. my calcium reading is about 500 ppm...seems too high to me.. <that is an understatement my friend. You are dangerously at risk of a precipitous event (a carbonate "snowstorm"). Please (!) be very careful not to add more calcium or spike your ph for fear of this. We need to gradually bring this down. Water changes and a lack of Ca additions are in order> my question is what do you mean by "precipitation" or your previous mail. Can you simplify the meaning ... is it too much calcium in water, it will form something or what ? What is the problem having high calcium ? <Danny... not to overstate this: if your test is accurate at 500ppm, you are in clear and present danger of potentially wiping out your system! The whole Calcium/Alkalinity dynamic cannot be explained in the context of a single e-mail. Please find references on the net (our FAQs, the articles of Dr Craig Bingman, etc) and books (I explain the dynamic of dosing and managing ALK and Ca at great length in my book of Coral Propagation www.readingtrees.com for dealers and distributors). My friend, it is imperative that you understand this relationship in seawater before you dose anymore. To answer your questions: yes, you have too much calcium. The precip is an event when calcium gets so high that it suddenly and spontaneously crystallizes carbonates and drops them out of solution. The crystals look like snowflakes in your tank and a lot of them! Your alkalinity crashes in the process and animals are severely stressed if not killed. The irony is that you cannot stop the process because the addition of buffers to replace the falling crystals will only serve to feed the reaction (dry powder or water changes). You must let the reaction complete and watch the tank suffer in the process. Please educate your self on this dynamic ASAP. In the meantime... no knee-jerk reactions and no additives. Let the calcium levels fall for a few days gradually and then do a nice water change. Order some book in the meantime ;) Best regards, Anthony>

Pink coralline algae out of control!! Help! Dear Mr. Fenner, <You got Steven Pro this afternoon.> I am an aquarist at Discovery Place in North Carolina. Unfortunately, I haven't been one for very long...so dealing with coralline algae on our reef tank has been a task to say the least. We currently have four metal halide and 12 VHO fluorescent bulbs on a 600 gallon tank. Everything is thriving which is great, but the coralline algae is getting thicker and thicker on the acrylic. Through much trial and error, we managed to find a Pro-Scrapper that removes the algae fairly efficiently. However, the blades get dull after one use and like many science centers and aquariums who lack funding, we hate to have to be buying new scrappers every week. So here lies the dilemma. Do you have any advise on what we can do to decrease the amount of pink coralline algae that we have. All I've seen so far is advise on how to get it growing. We obviously don't have that problem. Or, do you know of any cleaning/maintenance product that would last longer than the scrapper that we have. Unfortunately due to the shape and size of the tank, accessibility is limited. Tank info: we have two protein skimmers. We add Lugol's solution to it weekly and strontium bi-weekly. It has a calcium reactor that maintains the Ca levels nicely. We also have great flow going throughout the tank. Some of the species of corals and anemones: (leather coral, mushroom coral, derasa clams, spotlight coral (not sure about that) etc... There are four anemone fish, one tang, one moon or lunar wrasse, three arrow crabs, two diadema urchins, and about 50-70 snails. I hope that's all the information you require to give some advise. I read something about blue legged crabs, one per gallon. Do you agree with this idea? <I do not like blue-legged hermits.> Any...I mean ANY help is greatly appreciated. This exhibit will be on display in a matter of weeks. Thanks again. Have a great day. <If you visit this site enough you will see different people answering questions; Bob, Anthony, and I take turns. Anthony is neurotic about his skimmers. Me, I am neurotic about magnet cleaners. My advise is to get yourself the biggest, acrylic safe magnet cleaner you can afford and use it daily. This helps to keep the coralline from getting a strong foothold. Anything else you could do it discourage coralline growth would be at the expense of your stony corals and clams. If only we all had this kind of problem. Also, I use and like the Pro-Scrapers. When they become dull, try flipping them around and use the other side. They will fit. You could even re-sharpen them with a file. And lastly, a 600 gallon tank could use more than 70 snails. Get some more and use different reef safe species. Kindly, Steven Pro>

Re: Lighting Question (growing corallines) Thanks Bob: I have been adding Kent's "essential elements" and "Tech I Iodine supplement" weekly for the last couple months to help the coralline (I meant "coralline" not "crystalline" ;-)) <Figured as much> prosper. Any other additives you would recommend? <With test kits, "whatever floats your boat"... the best? A calcium reactor of a few designs... down from that simple administration of the necessary components...> I guess my other task is rinsing off any pieces with a large amount of BGA - correct? <Probably a good idea> Thanks again! Chris <Be chatting my friend. Bob Fenner>

Coralline Algae Control   Bob, Do you know of any secret ways to remove thick coralline algae from acrylic? Picked up a 180 for my personal display but it has dried thick coralline, thought I'd ask an expert to see if there is an easier way besides elbow grease. Thanks Vince >> , The real thick stuff? Other than a veritable army of Hermit Crabs, the only super safe way I know is to have the tank empty, and slowly, but surely pour dilute solutions of a weak acid (my fave is white vinegar, i.e. acetic) over the areas, slowly dissolving the carbonate away... all else really scratches the panels... Best to not allow it to accumulate way too much, eh? Bob Fenner.