White Alage Taking Over Sump

robster · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:55 pm Post subject: White Alage Taking Over Sump

I have this white hair or stringy type algae that grows all over in my sump (mainly in the skimmer, sock, baffle area) every 7 days. Originally I thought it was caused by my 13W refugium light that I had over my in sump CPR fuge. I figured the light was lighting up most of the sump causing it to grow. So I got rid of the light and fuge and it's back. This stuff is so thick I end up having to do a water change in the sump to prevent it from pumping into the display. I took a few pics but it is hard to see and I don't know how to post them in a thread. I will upload them to shutterfly and post a link in a bit. The algae caught between the baffles looks like a thick loogie that I coughed up after my last sinus infection. What is causing this algae and how do I prevent it from returning?

tecofish · Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 10:10 pm Post subject:

Sounds like some kind of diatome or slime type algea. Either way its likley feeding on nutrients in the water. Large waterchanges would be the route Id go for starters and when you get a handle on it and its not growing so fast start a large clump of macro algea like cheato to out compeat it for the left over nutrients.
Also, not sure what kind of system you are running but feed less and tune your skimmer to skim as wet as possible and do most of your waterchanges in the sump.

waterfaller1 · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 4:14 am Post subject:

White algae? Are you sure it is'nt sponges?
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Stacker · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 6:21 am Post subject:

Do they look like this?

Sponge....
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BankerJohn · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:42 am Post subject:

The description of snot sounds more like a sponge rather than algae. Can you see any vent holes in it to indicate a sponge? I have these in my tank and while not pretty, have come to accept them. Maybe one day I will get a hitchhiker that will feed on the sponges to rid my tank of them... until then, I live with the sponges.

Kid Ego · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:47 am Post subject:

Sponges like that are not bad, they help filter the water and can usually be moved out of sight if they are in it.
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Stacker · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:09 am Post subject:

Everything that filter feeds is good for the system.
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robster · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject:

It is not a sponge. If I leave it there it breaks up when I go to clean out the sock or do anything in that sump compartment and it blows into the display and starts to hang from live rock. I do 20% water changes weekly and only have two fish. It is a 37 gallong Oceanic cube with a sump that holds 10 gallons of water.

Kid Ego · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 1:00 pm Post subject:

How often, how much do you feed?
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Gawain1974 · Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 2:59 pm Post subject:

Can you post a link to the pic?
[img]link to your pic[/img] That will let you post a pic in a thread.

So, you completely removed your fuge? What type of macro algae did you have growing in there? Was it caulerpa? The only reason I ask is because if a fuge light isn't on 24/7, caulerpa algae can go into a sexual cycle and turn into white, stringy snot.
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robster · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:54 am Post subject:

I feed once per day. Usually Cyclopseeze. All it takes is a little bit to feed two clowns.

I will post a link tonight when I get home. No, I did not remove the sump. I removed the CPR in sump suction cup mounted fuge and the light because I assumed that the light or chaeto was causing the algae to grow. 1.5 weeks after removing them it was back. The algae looks white in the sump but when I dump it out in the white sink it looks brown after it has been chopped up by the pump pumping it out of the sump.

robster · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 8:40 pm Post subject: Pics

Here is a link to a shutterfly album just in case the suggestion above didn't work. Let me know what you think. I did a 10 gallon water change from the sump on Monday and Wednesday it was back. I did another 10 gallon WC tonight. The last picture shows the algae the most.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welc...mp;notag=1

Gawain1974 · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:22 pm Post subject:

Hmmm...I'm stumped, I've never seen anything that looked like that before. Hopefully someone else will have a better idea.
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"Oppression can only survive through silence."

Jamesurq · Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:17 pm Post subject:

No kidding - it's like cobwebs....

Seaspiders maybe? Wink

I'm sure it's some type of sponge. Any noticable difference to inhabitants since it's arrival?

horkn · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:05 am Post subject:

i doubt its algae, since it has no pigment.

sponge is my guess as well
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35g tank, 3x39 watts of t5ho, 50lbs of LR, CPR bakpak2r , Rainfordi Goby and a pink skunk clown, micromussa, zoos, softies, hammer, and some sps

-Tom

waterfaller1 · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 3:00 am Post subject:

That's wild..if not sponge , maybe some type of hydroid?
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Kip · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 3:19 am Post subject:

it is a bacterial bloom
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tecofish · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 3:21 am Post subject:

Hey Kip, how would you combat something like that?

Kip · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:45 am Post subject:

robster had asked this on another forum... so he will get a double dose of my same answer.

bacterial blooms are delimited when an excess carbonic food source is available.

most commonly (outside of new tank syndrome) this happens with too much feeding (example is "my 5yr old girl put a whole can of flake food in the tank)

as far as new tank syndrome... it happens from a large excess of die-off of newly aquired rock. (just saw this with a new tank i set up at work with freshly imported marshall island rock)

it can also happen when anything is decomposing in the tank for a period of time (snail, fish, coral, sponge, etc, etc)

it commonly happens after tank crashes when all of that excess organic matter is still in the water and the tank has to deal with it. It does so with bacteria. ( i believe robster mentioned in the other thread that he recently had an episode where his heater killed his corals)

some newbies that use calcium additives blindly can have this happen if they use chelated calcium products. these are calcium gluconate and pretty much it is like putting sugar in your tank when done in excess. that sugar is a food source for bacteria.

the vodka dosing filtration is founded on this. vodka is a very pure carbonic food source... the purpose of its dosing lies in boosting bacteria populations that accomplishes two things: 1) feed corals and acros and 2)take up no3 and po4. How much vodka do you add? There is no number to go by.. .only a visual test and that is stop when you start seeing "white snot" in your tank (or mini bacteria blooms.) I've played with vodka and have seen this 1st hand.

Another 1st hand experience.... i've screwed up with my k-reactor and had a kalk-overdose and an acute pH reading of upper 9s. To counter this you add an acidic solution to the tank. Most commonly this is either seltzer water or vinegar. All i had was vinegar (seltzer is preferred to avoid the following ) and after adding tons of it to bring the pH down in my large system, i began to see white stuff in the tank. 1st instinct is to think it is some sorta abiotic precipitation. Actually, it is very biotic and turns out to be an bacteria bloom from the sudden addition of a large carbonic food source... the vinegar. When this happened, the bacteria got so thick that it clogged the slow moving overflows from the fuge to the tank and flooded the stand and the carpet.
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Kip · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:47 am Post subject:

i typed that after a long, bad night, and now just waking up.. .hope it made sense.
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horkn · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:41 am Post subject:

makes sense to me

ugh white snot
_________________
35g tank, 3x39 watts of t5ho, 50lbs of LR, CPR bakpak2r , Rainfordi Goby and a pink skunk clown, micromussa, zoos, softies, hammer, and some sps

-Tom

tecofish · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 2:30 pm Post subject:

Thanks Kip, It does make sense now. I see now why you are such a big supporter of PH controllers. That stuff makes a mess.

BankerJohn · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:59 pm Post subject:

After seeing the pics, I remember when I kept a 10 gallon FW tank in college. We were doing shots and, without my knowledge, poured a shot of Jaegermeister (sp?) into the tank. Then next morning, the tank looked just like those pics with all of the white phlem.

Lots and lots and lots of water changes, my friend. The solution to polution is dilution - unknown author but I read it first on ReefMonkey!

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