Red cotton algae, the curse is over!

Okay, so the point of this blog is education... well, education and pretty pictures. ...but the reason I started this blog is to help the newbies who are reading it from repeating newbie mistakes.

I don't remember if I've mentioned this already but recently after purchasing some LR from one of the LFS, I was struck with the red cotton algae plague. I'm not sure if this is the same thing as the red tide they are experiencing down in FL coasts, but this thing was nasty. Even with optimal water parameters, the red cotton algae grows like crazy. It seems like their growth is encouraged by light but other than that, not much is known about them. All I know is that the algae takes over tanks in a relatively short period, its bits and pieces float in the water and grows wherever it lands and it seems to choke out any kind of corals and algae that sits underneath it. In the picture, you can see three large pieces of rock that have been affected by this plague.


After a tid bit of research on Reef Central, I came across a thread that talked about this issue. Advanced reefers were worried and panties were all up in a bunch everywhere. Luckily, by the time I was reading this, someone had found a cure for the problem. While it seemed too good to be true; (everyone I talked to said to take the rocks out and scrub it by hand or with a toothbrush), I knew nature MUST HAVE provided a natural solution for this problem.

The cure not too surprisingly are snails. Now, I don't mean stock up on your clean-up crew by 3x load and I don't mean just any snails... what you need to get are the Mexican turbo snails. Not too many clean-up crew includes this kind but they are easily recognizable as they are HUGE and fat and luckily not lazy. I ended up dropping two of these snails in my 29 gallon and within a day or so, I could already see a difference and seeing trails of clean rock where they had grazed.

Last week, I went to Maryland for a week to a friend's wedding and by the time I got back the main tank was spic-and-span clean except for a couple of tiny patches.

The picture below shows the tank today (in actinic) and I can happily say that the main tank is now fully free of the red cotton algae. My HOB fuge is another story seeing how the chaeto is now infused with the red cotton algae. I dropped one of the Mexican turbos back there to see if he can help clean up but that's another story in itself... (yes, actually more newbie mistakes and lessons for you all). That will be in the next post though.

My Reefer Madness order

Most people in the hobby have probably heard of Reefer Madness (www.reefermadness.us). I know I'm obsessed with zoas but unfortunately zoas aren't one of Reefer Madness's strong points so instead, I went on a montipora splurge.


I got these frags about a couple of weeks ago and I was just able to mount them onto rubble rock last week. I must say I was actually quote pleased with the packaging and the online notifications sent out by this company. The frags I received were all great sized too. As much as I love my LFS, the frags here were probably all bigger than what my LFS offers. The pictures below are all promo pics but I must say the frags look just as good.

More zoas!

Got some new additions into my zoas family. There are still a few that the camera can't quite capture but hopefully in time when I get my own camera to tool around with, I'll be able to get them. Enjoy!


My new blues!


The blues rock.


This one is called Eclipse


Melon? Not quite sure but the color combination is very cool.


Nuclear Peaches - this one really glows in actinics.


Gotta love the pinks. So classy.


Purple/blue with a red ring.


I think these are called red hearts.


My new teal zoas that came on the blue zoas rock.


This frag was from Tony... still not quite sure what to call it but it rocks.

Cleaning up the skum...

After recommendations by Tony to clean up my act... I went ahead and purchased the Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer with MJ1200 Pump from Marine Depot. So far, I have nothing but good things to say about this skimmer. Not only does it fit on my 29g setup even with a medium sized HOB CPR fuge in the back, it's also very cool looking and it looks like it belongs there.

Because a LOT of gunk was floating to the surface of my water, I decided to buy the pre-skimmer box that can be purchased and installed it into the tank. Unfortunately due to the size of the pre-skimmer box, I've had to re-arrange my rocks so this thing can fit; on the bright side, the surface of the water is now crystal clear!

I did the recommended warm water dip to rinse off chemicals that may be on the unit. This supposily helps break the system in as extraneous chemicals may prevent good foam from forming in the unit, which is understandable. It's only been in there for two days (without any sort of adjustment) and already the unit is pulling out a good amount of gunk from the water. The good news is that I can tell the difference! Most of my zoas that have been closed over the last few days are now opened up again. Just in time I guess.

Research is doing me good so far. All the equipment I bought can be upgraded when I upgrade the size of the tank, which is great. Plus getting the right stuff the first time around means I won't have to re-buy the equipment again.

On a sadder note, I had my first fatality. For whatever reason, my decorator arrow crab likes to hang out on the Seios. Unfortunately it seems he got too close to the inlet holes and got himself stuck there. By the time I pulled him off, he was already a corpse. Doh.