Do I need to worry about this algae or remove it?

[frostedshrimp]

I've owned Opae ula for about a year now but just came across this forum. I've noticed these thicker algae growing and was wondering if excess should be removed? I noticed the shrimp and my snails love munching on it. Their digestive tract is always filled with it and they seem happy. Pretty active. This is a 5g aquarium with inert sand substrate and shells + calcium rocks. Thanks for the help

[Mustafa]

You can leave this kind of algae, but it also means that you are either overfeeding or there is some other type of organic pollution in your tank.

[frostedshrimp]

Hello. It's been nearly a year. The algae are still in the tank. I do not feed my shrimp. It might be the trumpet snails. I've decreased the amount of this algae by manually removing the bulk of it over the last year. Is this cause for concern?

[frostedshrimp]

Hello. It's been nearly a year. The algae are still in the tank. I do not feed my shrimp. It might be the trumpet snails. I've decreased the amount of this algae by manually removing the bulk of it over the last year. Is this cause for concern?

Bumping this after finding success. I removed the calcium stones, shells, and snails and went purely for volcanic stone and inert black sand in a new 10g (up from 5.5g) aquarium. The opae'ula are thriving and breeding often. There is still thicker green growth but it's very sparse and is usually picked clean by the shrimp.

[jefferson]

If the algae are too much in your tank, then you can remove algae partially. Sometimes too much of algae is not making the tank clean and neat.

[Tiny Ocean]

Glad it hasn't gotten worse. Even if you don't feed the shrimp and snails, and haven't fed them for a long time, rich nutrient levels from a time in the past will keep cycling. Pulling this scum out should eventually remove enough nitrogenous matter to reduce the growth (but also maybe alter your levels of any bacteria that might be symbiotic with it, so maybe watch your water parameters to make sure things don't go out of whack). How is your Chaeto doing? If it is thriving it should sequester a lot of nutrient material. Maybe adjust the position of your Chaeto and lights, so that the Chaeto gets the best light in the tank and deprives this other stuff?

I'd feel uneasy about removing all the calcium substrate. Maybe at least put a piece of coral or seashell in there? I doubt that calcium is doing very much to encourage the growth of this crud, and the shrimp need it, and of course it's important for buffering pH.

What surely does encourage algal growth is phosphates. Maybe excessive phosphate in your tap water...traces of detergent...maybe fish food intended for carnivorous fish? That stuff can have a lot of phosphate in it.

Anyhow looks like it's not becoming a great slime monster, good! Thank you for posting the followup. It's so edifying.

[Tiny Ocean]

Is there somewhere on this board a list of algae most likely to grow in brackish tanks, with identifications and evaluations of whether it is likely to become a problem or not?

[Vorteil]

While these plants are listed for brackish water conditions they cannot flourish or thrive in the Opae Ula salinity of 1.010+. As you can see here on the list none of these will work. It's always good to check. This is why you usually never see any plants in Opae Ula tanks other than macroalgae. Some full SW plants(algae) can be converted to brackish.

Popular Plants That Grow in Brackish Conditions include the following:

Plants for Brackish Water Optimal salinity levels

Dwarf Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) up to 2.5 ppt (1.0019 SG)

Carolina Fanwort (Cabomba carolina) up to 2.5 ppt (1.0019 SG)

Parrot Feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum) Up to 3.3 ppt (1.0025)

Mexican Oak Leaf (Shinnersia rivularis) up to 5 ppt (1.0038)

Dwarf Chain Sword (Helanthium tenellum) up to 5 ppt (1.0038)

Vesicularia Dubyana up to 5 ppt (1.0038)

Glossostigma elatinoides up to 5 ppt (1.0038)8. African Water Fern (Bolbitis heudelotii) up to 5 ppt (1.0038)

African Tiger Lotus (Nymphaea zenkeri) up to 5 ppt (1.0038)

Anubias (Anubias spp.) up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Cryptocoryne ciliata up to 7 ppt or (1.005 SG)

Java fern (Microsorum pteropus) up to 10 ppt (1.0075 SG)

Marimo moss balls (Aegagropila linnaei) up to 6 ppt (1.0045 SG)

Brazilian micro sword (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis) up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Seaside Brookweed (Samolus valerandi) up to 13 ppt (1.01 SG)

Water sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides) to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Aponogeton crispus up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Water spangles (Salvinia minima) up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Duckweed (Lemna minor) up to 7-10 ppt (1.005 – 1.007SG)

Bacopa Caroliniana up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Guppy Grass (Najas guadalupensis) up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Cryptocoryne wendtii up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Bacopa Monnieri up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) up to 7 ppt (1.005 SG)

Anacharis (Egeria densa) up to 8 ppt (1.006 SG)

Vallisneria sp.(Americana and spiralis) up to 9 ppt (1.0068 SG)27. Dwarf Sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata) up to 10 ppt (1.0075 SG)

[Tiny Ocean]

Thank you Vorteil. What I meant to ask was, is there a listing of (unwanted) *algae* that grow in our opae ula brackish tanks, with photos and info on how to identify them? And it would be great to know, as well, whether opae ula eat them, ignore them, or are harmed by them.

Right now I have two species that the shrimp won't eat. One of them is apparently a blue-green alga (though it might be a very fine-grained Spyrogyra green alga, not sure) that I may have just about gotten rid of. They seemed to actively avoid it and I fear it might be toxic. The other is a very fine green scum that looks like typical "green dust" growing on porous rocks but must be different because they ignore it. Even the MTS seem unenthusiastic. I wish I could identify it.