Willapa Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 I'll be transferring my soft corals, SPS, and LPS to a new tank soon and want to limit the chances of introducing some nasties I accumulated the last 3 years my tank has been running. Namely briopsis, bubble algae, and dictyota. These seem to thrive no matter how low the nutrient levels are but haven't really gotten out of control, just a PIA. The bubble algae is easy to pluck out from time to time, I can beat the briopsis by running high magnesium, but it inevitably comes back. The dictyota is slow growing but but is really hard to remove. Lucky the new tank is larger and will allow me to pick up a tang to graze on the greenery. If I can avoid any or all of these, I'd be really stoked! I won't be transferring the rock over, but some of the coral bases that are no longer covered by living tissue and frag plugs could have small amounts or algae spores. Two options I see are taking a dip in coral Rx and scrubbing/scraping the bases down. The other is more aggressive and using diluted hydrogen peroxide to either dip the whole thing or just the base. I have some pretty large colonies I'd hate to loose in the process like a big birds nest, montiporas, torches, and some small acros. Anyone have any success stories or have used hydrogen peroxide safely? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 You know Trevor, there was an article in Coral Magazine about a year back or so that was all about algae and how difficult it is to eradicate because the spores can dry out and live for a long time. There is a thread about bryopis and how fluconazole can eradicate it and Sirena tried it and it works well. A purple tang or similar genus will take care of your problem. I have the same rocks in my system that Sirena was using , same salt and Max the purple tang eats everything! The only algae I have is on the glass! The article also was talking about how they sectioned off one area of the ocean where tangs couldn't get and the amount of algae was insane. For the record Hippo tangs are not good algae eaters. I didn't know that when I got one years ago! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willapa Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 That is an advantage to having a bigger tank! More variety of creatures to do my work for me......Are purple tangs known for being exceptionally good grazers? Any others tangs that you know of that are good too?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 3 minutes ago, Willapa said: That is an advantage to having a bigger tank! More variety of creatures to do my work for me...... Are purple tangs known for being exceptionally good grazers? Any others tangs that you know of that are good too? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I am sure there are some degrees of individual variation but I have had luck with bristle tooth tangs like Kohl tangs, scopas tangs, powder blue and powder brown tangs as well as clown and sohal tangs. They all grazed quite a bit but the Kohl was probably the most active. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willapa Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 Good to know. I'm sure you just get a real productive one by chance too, like Kim's purple. Do lawnmower blennies live up to their name?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 6 minutes ago, Willapa said: Good to know. I'm sure you just get a real productive one by chance too, like Kim's purple. Do lawnmower blennies live up to their name? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Yellow tangs are also good and way cheaper and typically not as aggressive. I just found my purple has always been better with eating bryopsis. A lot of people don't like purple tangs because they tend to be more aggressive than other tangs and are way more expensive. I have heard of a lot of people have good luck with Tominis as well and they don't get as big as other tangs and yes if you have a large enough tank I highly recommend getting a tang. Algae blenny really didn't do much for me when I had them but they are so ugly they are cute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectra Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 I had great luck with a Sailfin tang. Also had a tomini but I think the sailfin beat it hands down.....I have a purple now and he is a butthead......but does keep things clean. I had a algae blenny also and it looked like it ate a marble but there was still algae everywhere...... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 1 minute ago, spectra said: I had great luck with a Sailfin tang. Also had a tomini but I think the sailfin beat it hands down.....I have a purple now and he is a butthead......but does keep things clean. I had a algae blenny also and it looked like it ate a marble but there was still algae everywhere...... Makes you wonder about what he was eating? Good to hear about the sailfin - I haven't had one before but my better half really likes them so am thinking it might be on the stocking list this time around. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmanmike01 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Ahh dictyota. Such an evil bi?@#. I had to completely tear down my last set up due to that emmer effer. It's relentless. I'd tell you where I got it from but I'd hate to put a certain store on the spot. My bad for letting it in my system anyway. Good luck with your transfer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 26 minutes ago, fishmanmike01 said: Ahh dictyota. Such an evil bi?@#. I had to completely tear down my last set up due to that emmer effer. It's relentless. I'd tell you where I got it from but I'd hate to put a certain store on the spot. My bad for letting it in my system anyway. Good luck with your transfer. My purple tang eats the heck out of that too! I had it before in a tank and yes it can be a pain! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 I've battled dictoyota for about two years. There is absolutely no final solution to that, only management. Unless of course you start completely fresh. I guarantee that you will transfer that stuff over no matter what. I've got a crew of fish that now have my DT spotless of the stuff, but it's thick in the overflows. I was determined not to bring any coral from my main tank into my office because I didn't want to introduce that garbage into my nano. Well, I bought some corals over the weekend, let them chill in the main tank for two days and then brought them to work...bam! It's in the office tank. Luckily I scraped and siphoned the heck out of the three spots it was growing and I haven't seen it in a couple weeks, so I'm reasonably hopefully I caught it early enough...who knows? Like I said earlier, I haven't heard of any successful eradication stories, just proper management. None of the tangs mentioned so far are what you want to control that. I have the best trio of fish that destroy that stuff. At this point I just tear it off from the overflow and drop it into the DT to feed them. They are Naso tang, Vlamingi tang, and fox face. All three of them tear that stuff up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willapa Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Man, I didn't realize this was the mother of all algaes! I know the exact zoa rock it came in on and didn't know what it was and to think I thought it looked cool! Until it started popping up everywhere. It's been in there for a long time and grows pretty slow but does require routine removal.With my tank transfer, I guess I shouldn't be so dam aggressive about treating my corals since it sounds impossible to contain and you only need microscopic remnants.I can't believe the new corals you bought that sat in your display tank for a day already had some hitchhikers, that's crazy!I'll do my best to clean the bases, dip in coral Rx for a routine clean and keep my fingers crossed. I'll definitely scope out a hungry Tang as a backup!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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