If anything Id say it gives off more than enough light. I covered some of the LED's with electrical tape. Should I try dimming it more? Is the algae not getting enough nutrients? I feed very, very little, like 1 crushed flake every ~3 months.
On a side note I had 10 more shrimp larva hatch and mature to mini adults. That means I went from 10 to 25 shrimp in approx 1 year.
I was thinking about ordering some more macro algae and starting another "box" (I have a bunch of them, and all the other supplies needed) and transferring some of the shrimp after cycling with snails and algae. Id prefer to have an abundance of macro algae and just split some off, but it doesnt appear that I currently have that option.
Mustafa says that sometimes happens and for no apparent reason. I've had parts of my macroalgae bundle fall apart only for fragments in other parts to start growing again.
I've had this happen in two of my three tanks. In each instance, after long periods of productive growth the micro algae suddenly began to turn pale and ultimately disintegrated / died. Neither tank has rebounded to successfully support a significant amount of microalgae, there are just a few small clusters or individual strands left. I've also reintroduced micro algae from one tank to another when these periods of decline have occurred and in some instances it's taken and in others it's proceeded to turn pale and disintegrate again.
My third thank has continued to support the original bundle but the growth has slowed. Not sure if it's attributable to the light source. I'm using a full spectrum LED array in each tank. Of note, the very fine angle hair algae I have from another vendor went through a similar phase of disintegration (and ironically) in the tank that continues to support the micro algae. Very odd.
I'm using Zetlight Mini's on two of my tanks and a Zetlight Nano on the third (larger) tank. The mini's are rated 270 lumens and 6500k color temp. The Nano is tunable across the blue spectrum and is running white light at 12,000k and 450 lumens. Note, all three setups generated very good micro algae growth for at least a year.
However, after about a year in one tank witnessed a rapid collapse in the micro algae with it almost entirely turning white and disintegrating. Note, the angle hair algae wasn't impacted at all and continues to grow rapidly in this tank (I prune it every couple of weeks). The micro algae is down to a few strands here and there that seem to have stabilized but barely grows. Interestingly, I introduced a fresh batch of Mustafa's micro algae (from Mustafa's stock, not one of my other thanks) into this tank and after about one month of modest growth it began to turn white and fail entirely as well. THe same thing has happen when I introduce micro algae from my (one) unimpaired tank.
The second tank demonstrated the identical pattern of the above tank but about six months after the first tank. Finally, the third tank (the one running the 12,000k and 450 lumens setup) has had fairly stable micro algae but the growth has slowed meaningfully vs the first ~18 months I had the tanks set up. The angle hair algae continues to grow fairly unabated in this tanks as well as the second. Hope this helps.
I have this happening in my shrimp tank too, but not in my crab tank which gets feed frequently due to the needs of the crabs... I've been thinking about this since the post started. I'm wondering if feeding my crab tank has something to do with it. Macro Algae feeds off nitrates. If you only have a small tank (like my 2.5 gallon shrimp tank) set up with only a small production of waste from a dozen tiny inhabitants, then maybe there isn't enough nitrate being created, or not enough to sustain the Macroalgae's rapid growth? If there wasn't enough nitrate in the nutrient cycle, then it would conceivably start to die off, begin to shunt off some of it's strand, until it reached a size that could survive. Many plants do this. And, there are other algae in the tank competing for the same nitrates... This could also result in a bunch of little pieces that would easily get scattered about. just a thought...
Interesting observation minishrimps. The issue I have is that all three of my tanks have beenrunning almost identically. Each has dwarf crabs, each gets the same amount of food for the past 2 - 4 years (once a week feelings of a small amount of crushed pellet) and water chemistry looks identical between them and the same for ages. Regardless, the algae dies off in two of them whenever reintroduced despite it growing successful for 12 to 18 months initially. Very odd. There has been no issue at all with any of the shrimp and I've only lost one over the past two years out of a total of about three hundred across the three tanks.
I also wonder about Dissolved Oxygen and CO2 how are these things affecting the Macroalgae? Is there too much of one or the other? My tank with the healthy Macroalgae runs a filter and the water is aerated, the smaller shrimp tank I have has no filter or movement in the water...
minishrimps wrote:I also wonder about Dissolved Oxygen and CO2 how are these things affecting the Macroalgae? Is there too much of one or the other? My tank with the healthy Macroalgae runs a filter and the water is aerated, the smaller shrimp tank I have has no filter or movement in the water...
That can't be it as the source for everyone's Macroalgae (Petshrimp.com) has no filters running whatsoever...
Agree Mustafa. I have no filtration or aeration across any of my three tanks (and no water changes for 2-3 years, just add distilled water periodically when levels drop). Was actually looking closely at all my tanks today given the discussion here. My 7 gallon still has a relatively healthy clump of microalgae, albeit not growing much. My other two tanks only have very small ruminants of the original micro algae after the disintegration wipe out. Each has a couple of sparse elements of micro algae (some individual strands here n there) but nothing like the densitity of the original clumps. As I noted before, the angle hair continues to grow strongly throughout despite the microalgae issues.
Corucia, I think in your case the hair algae is outcompeting the macroalgae for certain nutrients. I bet if you took out the hair algae completely that the macroalgae would come back.
minishrimps wrote:I also wonder about Dissolved Oxygen and CO2 how are these things affecting the Macroalgae? Is there too much of one or the other? My tank with the healthy Macroalgae runs a filter and the water is aerated, the smaller shrimp tank I have has no filter or movement in the water...
That can't be it as the source for everyone's Macroalgae (Petshrimp.com) has no filters running whatsoever...
Fair enough...
Mustafa wrote:Corucia, I think in your case the hair algae is outcompeting the macroalgae for certain nutrients. I bet if you took out the hair algae completely that the macroalgae would come back.
i don't have any hair algae competing in my tank... wonder what's going on everything else is healthy...
