Green Carpet Algae Saltwater Aquarium

Common in freshwater aquariums a small amount of green spot algae in your tank is normal and expected but an overgrowth should be prevented or treated.

Green carpet algae saltwater aquarium.

Combining them with a kole tang covers more algae you will face in a saltwater tank. What is that or what is the cause of that and how can you get rid of it. The cure for green hair algae is the same as the prevention. These algae form thick hair like mats that can carpet your aquarium.

If your local fish store doesn t have a nice selection of marine iguanas that was a joke another option to help get the green hair algae under control is to add some livestock that will eat it. Hair algae are less desirable. The foxface is an amazing algae eater in saltwater aquariums. What is known as green turf algae in the hobby is really a generic name given to hundreds of different species of macroalgae that describe certain similar characteristics.

You have this beautiful fish tank with nice aquarium plants and so on and then suddenly everything turns into a green carpet like surface. Emerald crabs and lawnmower blennies are two animals with a taste for green hair algae. Phosphates po4 and nitrates no3 are primary nutrient food sources for red and other slime algae. They can help they are.

It only becomes a problem when the algae is allowed to grow out of control and cover everything in the tank. The appearance and growth of algae in an aquarium is not bad it s just the natural order of things. They will chew up any hair algae in the aquarium and will happily eat most macro algae. If what you see in your saltwater aquarium is a green feathery looking mass it is probably green hair algae.

When disturbed it comes off in sheets. The species structures can be unicellular to filamentous and some species are colonial. Once green hair alga has a foothold in a saltwater aquarium it can soon cover everything in your tank if prompt measures are not taken. Starve it into oblivion.

They are coarse wiry and generally have thicker wider blades than green hair algae. In fact it shows that an aquarium is well balanced and healthy and the cultivation of macroalgae forms is actually beneficial. Turn green hair algae into food. As its name suggests green spot algae first appears as tiny green spots on pretty much any surface in your tank decorations plants glass etc.

Phosphates are commonly introduced into aquariums through the use of unfiltered fresh tap water as well as many aquarium products that may contain higher than normal concentrations of po4 such as sea salt mixes activated carbon kh buffers foods and many other sources. It can grow quickly and can cover the substrate in the aquarium. For a fish only tank this matting will be simply ugly but in the reef tank it can smother and kill live corals.