RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

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Redfish
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Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Tue Mar 18, 2014 6:16 am

I figured since my Byropsis problem is, hopefully solved, I would start a post on my Red Turf Algae (RTA) problem :)

Now, as for my Red Turf Algae problem, I don't know about this stuff. My plan of attack is to keep my wife from feeding the tank, have been successful on that front and to do larger water changes in the tank, I have also decreased again, the amount of food I am feeding the tank. I am not sure that reducing the amount of food I am feeding the tank has been a good thing. I am thinking my SPS corals have started to encrust the rock work a bit less, maybe because of this less amount of food going into the tank, I am keeping a close eye on this. My normal water changes in my tank are about 13g per week, I have increased that to 25g per week in, I am guessing a 170g system.

As for results, not a lot so far, I have noticed a few places in the tank where the Red Turf Algae (RTA) isn't as bad as it was, now is this due to water quality becoming better in the tank and starting to starve the RTA or is it because the clean up crew doing its job and the RTA isn't able to come back like it was able to do in the past because of less nutrients in the tank feeding it, I don't know. What I do know is, that this small bit of progress is only in small areas and I still have alongggg wayyyyy to go to rid the tank of this stuff. Another thing I have done, which I am not sure is a good thing or a bad thing: I usely remove (sp) my Asteria starfish population from the tank when I do my water changes to the tank. I have stopped doing this and their population has increased dramatically in the tank. My thinking on this is, they pick at the rocks when they are out and about in the tank, they might be doing me some good in ridding the tank of the RTA, what do ya'll think? Any ideas or thoughts for me feel free to post them for me, I need all the help I can get with this ongoing two year problem :(
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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Thu Mar 20, 2014 5:09 am

Did my second weekly 25g water change yesterday, which is right at double the size of my normal water change, trying to lower the nutrients in the tank. I am hoping I can get the nutrients low enough in the tank that the RTA starts to die from starvation. Is anyone still using Bio Pellets, I could start running a few of those, that might help. I could get another Urchin, but I am wanting to rid myself of this stuff once in for all this time, don't know iffI can do that though :(
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Shadow1
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My SetUp: 300DD Reef, 30 Nuvo Breeding Clowns, 30 QT/Grow out.
Location: Hattiesburg, MS

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Shadow1 » Thu Mar 20, 2014 2:38 pm

Im running bio pelletts, still have some Briopsys but no red algae at all. I did give up and opt for chemi clean in the DD and it worked with no return so far.
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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:32 pm

Shadow1 wrote:Im running bio pelletts, still have some Briopsys but no red algae at all. I did give up and opt for chemi clean in the DD and it worked with no return so far.
I treated the tank with Chemi Clean for 48 hours, it pretty much did nothing to this stuff I have :( I really didn't think it would as its not Cyno algae that I have, but thought I would give it a shot. I have been told its called Red Turf Algae, but I don't know that for sure.
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Shadow1
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Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:59 pm
My SetUp: 300DD Reef, 30 Nuvo Breeding Clowns, 30 QT/Grow out.
Location: Hattiesburg, MS

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Shadow1 » Sat Mar 22, 2014 8:10 pm

Post a pic and see what Gman says to do. If not post one and see what Tobias says.....
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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Sun Mar 23, 2014 4:46 am

Shadow1 wrote:Post a pic and see what Gman says to do. If not post one and see what Tobias says.....

This stuff is really hard to get a picture of, I will have Bert try and get a good one though. Here are a couple of links that pop up when I do a search on the computer for Red Turf Algae. The first one is NOT what my RTA looks like, it may at the macro lens level though, the second IS what my RTA looks like. I hope the links work :)

http://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/33329 ... turf-algae


http://s626.photobucket.com/user/t4zale ... 2.jpg.html

It covers my top layer of rock like a glove.
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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:20 am

This stuff isn't like Cyno Algae that is pretty easy to remove from your Live Rock and Chimi Clean won't touch the stuff. You can remove it with a pressure washer, if I could take the LR out of the tank, which I can't because of the SPS corals. Sea Urchins will eat it, the one I have in the tank though just doesn't eat much. The other Species of Urchin I had in the tank at one point did a great job, because of his size, he was just not able to get close enough to the corals to get it all and would break SPS frags trying, so I removed him. I increased my crab population in the tank, they do help, but I would have to increase my crab population by 100 fold or more to get them to knock this stuff out. I have bought more crabs for the tank three times in order to have them get a handle on this stuff. I have small patches that are clearing up, I am sure because of the crabs in the tank. This is a hard fight :( this stuff is very tough.
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Shadow1
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Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:59 pm
My SetUp: 300DD Reef, 30 Nuvo Breeding Clowns, 30 QT/Grow out.
Location: Hattiesburg, MS

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Shadow1 » Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:55 am

Try 1ML peroxide for every 10 gallons daily for 3-6 weeks. It's part of the Bryopsis treatment but may help. Doesn't hurt the tank from what I can see. Been using it a week now.
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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Sun Mar 23, 2014 6:19 am

Shadow1 wrote:Try 1ML peroxide for every 10 gallons daily for 3-6 weeks. It's part of the Bryopsis treatment but may help. Doesn't hurt the tank from what I can see. Been using it a week now.

I don't want to #@$%# this up :) so let me make sure I have this right :) I have a 170g system, so I dose 17ml of peroxide to the tank, and I dose that every day for 3 to 6 weeks, this won't hurt my SPS corals will it?
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Shadow1
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Posts: 257
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:59 pm
My SetUp: 300DD Reef, 30 Nuvo Breeding Clowns, 30 QT/Grow out.
Location: Hattiesburg, MS

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Shadow1 » Sun Mar 23, 2014 1:58 pm

I am dosing 40 ML a day into my big system and 4 ML a day into the Breeder.
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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Tue Mar 25, 2014 2:57 pm

Went to the store today, picked up about 25 more crabs and another Urchin to help with the battle :)
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bluwtr
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My SetUp: 55g, 70#'s lr, 40#'s ls, 10 DIY acrylic sump, in sump skimmer, 1 Jebao wp20 and 2 Koralia 1050 controlled by a Smart Wave, DIY LED's--12 RB, 10 UV's and 8 CW.
Location: Gautier
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Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by bluwtr » Thu Mar 27, 2014 11:53 am

Hey Pete. The crap you are battling looks like what I had. I took me forever to get rid of it, and I'm still not sure exactly what I did to beat it. I tried dosing my tank with the H2O2 but didn't see much help, so I actually took each rock out and dipped them in a high concentration, then rinse in clean water. I dipped for about 3-5 minutes. The only corals that seemed to not like the H2O2 were my soft corals that I can remember. I know my SPS could have cared less. I also cut way back on my feeding (not that I feed that much anyway). I also raised my Mg level to see if that would help. My urchin would chow down on the rocks also, but like you've seen it can get to it all. I also used a sea hare and it really ate it, but it doesn't scrap the rocks clean so it would just grow up again. Good luck as it is a SOB.
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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Thu Mar 27, 2014 6:30 pm

:) Well at least I know where I got it now :lol: The good thing about it, it hasn't slowed down my SPS growth any.
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bluwtr
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Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:12 pm
My SetUp: 55g, 70#'s lr, 40#'s ls, 10 DIY acrylic sump, in sump skimmer, 1 Jebao wp20 and 2 Koralia 1050 controlled by a Smart Wave, DIY LED's--12 RB, 10 UV's and 8 CW.
Location: Gautier
Contact:
Contact bluwtr

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by bluwtr » Fri Mar 28, 2014 8:40 am

:thumbdown: :think: HEY!!!! I've not had this crap in a year! Not my fault!
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Redfish
Discus Member
Posts: 983
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:49 am
My SetUp: AGA 150g 48x30x25, Reef Octopus Skimmer, Bio Pellet, Phosphate, Carbon reactor. Mostly a SPS coral tank with a few zoas a Green Polyp Toadstool, a Chalice or two and a couple of Scollys thrown in there. Top Off System and dosing pump system for Calcium and Alk.
Location: D'Iberville Mississippi

Re: RTA Red Turf Algae Problem

Post by Redfish » Mon Apr 07, 2014 6:30 am

Ok, we have a change of direction in my battle with the Byropsis and the Red Turf Algae problem I have going on and been trying to fight at the same time. Brandon has given me some great advice, which leads me to believe that I shouldn't be fighting both of these algae's at the same time. As far as the looks of the tank go, the lesser of the two evils when it comes to both of these algae's, is the RTA. The Byropsis Algae is the most unsightly and since I am again close to having this battle won,, again, I am going to stick with that fight first. This is the reasoning,,, makes pretty good since to me. The Byropsis problem in my tank isn't that bad, when it comes to growing on my rock in the tank, I have seen pics of tanks with the Byropsis alage that look like you need to take a weed eater to their tanks. The reason for the Byropsis not being as bad in my tank, as Brandon has implied, is because the RTA being the more predominant algae growing in the tank is out competing the Byropsis for growing resources. If I were to kill off the RTA in my tank before I have this Byropsis problem licked in my tank, the Byropsis just might and most likely would, take off in my tank and that I really don't want. I can live with the RTA problem, have been for a year now, so a bit longer really isn't going to hurt. I am also going to stop with my larger water changes I was doing on the tank trying to have better water quality in the tank for the RTA fight. These larger water changes messes up my Magnesium levels in the tank, which I don't want for the Byropsis fight.

As far as my fight with the Byropsis, we are back to the stage of the fight where the Byropsis has lost the frilly parts of its branches and pretty much stopped growing, pretty much where I stopped dosing before, that isn't happening this time. I am dosing 50ml every other day for the most part.
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