How do you quarantine algae?

[jjencek]

I am thinking about starting a refugium, but I am worried about introducing unwanted stuff into my tank.

I have spent months making sure that I had no fish or coral parasites going through a vigorous QT process.

How do I quarantine any algae I bring home for my refugium?

[Sk8r]

Just put it in your qt tank with a light and circulation and see if any pests show up. Aiptasia are the likeliest.

[ThRoewer]

Yep, Aiptasia are extremely common with wild harvest macro algae. I got a really annoying tiny Aiptasia species - just 5mm max in diameter - with a red algae I bought from LiveAquaria. Nothing would eat these little pests, not even Berghia and they reproduced like crazy.

Fish diseases on the other hand are rather unlikely to settle on algae So unless the algae comes on a substrate or with sand or gravel attached the risk of importing fish diseases with algae low.

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[Vio]

I have 90 Gal. refuge full of Pukany Rocks , NO lights , just the light from room, ever think OK, i have only one Mandarin in for few years , the only one problem i have , Detritus build inside the refuge , i have to remove all Rocks rise in good water from main tank ( 300 Gal) Now is working perfect , i mean keep my immunity of the tank perfect, i dose Bacteria almost every week Water from refuge coming back to the swamp back to main tank , i rely love it , i have only Tonga in main tank,

[MondoBongo]

time. like sk8r said, just plop it down in the QT tank with light and circulation, and let it chill out for a few weeks.

[jjencek]

Thank you. Sounds like I should be fine with QT observation for a while.

How about any dips on the safe side? Would it harm it? Fresh water, Coral Rx, etc

[MondoBongo]

Originally Posted by jjencek

Thank you. Sounds like I should be fine with QT observation for a while.

How about any dips on the safe side? Would it harm it? Fresh water, Coral Rx, etc

i haven't tried it myself to know how well algae tolerates coral dips, but you could always try it. maybe break off a small cluster, dip it, and see how it does. my only concern would be making sure all of the dip gets rinsed off really well. you wouldn't want any of that making its way back in to the tank.

[jjencek]

Ok, I got my chaeto from a local store. Found tons of reddish bristle worms, some small sea stars, tons of different snails from very small species to about 5 mm. Also funny looking critter that looks like some kind of Aiptasia, but it is something else.

I plan to do a few test dips just to play.

I started with a RODI water dip for 3 minutes.

The chaeto started to pop (I could hear it) and I don't know if it will survive. I put it back into the QT and will see. BTW 3 minutes of RODI did nothing to a small snail.

I plan to also do a Coral RX dip. I could do copper, but I am concerned that the chaeto could later release it into the water. How about Bayer?

Any other suggestions?

[ThRoewer]

Snails and bristleworms that live in algae are most likely beneficial and should be of little concern.
Aiptasia and the like is what you don't want to make it to your tank.

Easiest way to get clean Chaetomorpha is to isolate one relatively straight strand, wipe it down with or pull it through a moist paper towel, and then place it into a clean system with a grow light and enough nutrients. One strand is usually all you need to get going but you can clean a few more like this to accelerate things. It's not the fastest way to get clean chaeto but the easiest and the one most likely to succeed.

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[jjencek]

Originally Posted by ThRoewer

Easiest way to get clean Chaetomorpha is to isolate one relatively straight strand, wipe it down with or pull it through a moist paper towel, and then place it into a clean system with a grow light and enough nutrients. One strand is usually all you need to get going but you can clean a few more like this to accelerate things. It's not the fastest way to get clean chaeto but the easiest and the one most likely to succeed.

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I really like your suggestion. I was trying to figure out how to clean the large ball and was worried about it. Starting with a few strands makes a perfect sense.

I might combine it with a quick dip in RODI. I noticed all things (the visible ones) got stunned and fell off within seconds. Some of them died outright.

[jjencek]

Quick update ...

Dipping in RODI seems to get all visible hitchhikers of the chaeto. It looked like it was not going to start growing again for a while, but after a week it was fine and it is now happily growing in my DT.

[Krchfam]

Does Chaeto have to “tumble”? I have just the natural flow through my fuge and it doesn’t spin it like I’ve seen on videos. Then I get nuisance algae on it and doesn’t seem to grow?


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[jjencek]

I am not an expert on refugiums. My chaeto is growing without turning, but as far as I know turning promotes much better growth by exposing the surface more evenly to the light and nutrients.

I will let others chip in to this question.

[vette68]

I have a rather large hospital tank set up and have taken some chaeto from my existing fuge and dropped in for my quarantined fish to eat. Very quickly, I’ll see a dozen or more pods float to the surface dead. Now my intention is not to sterilize the chaeto, but I can bet that anything else alive in it will not survive long. The chaeto has been there for weeks and is fine. So copper is certainly an option to kill any unwanted hitch hikers. I’m sure a rinse in some tank water before putting back into a system would get rid of most of the copper. And just as a point of reference, I take live rock out of my main system that has aptasia on it and I soak it in the copper bath for a week, which kills the aptasia. I’ve had no problem putting the rock directly back into my system without a rinse. So any copper brought back into the system from a bath would be negligible and certainly not enough to do any harm. Just another option.

I will say also that my chaeto does not tumble. If the lighting is right, it will grow quickly and take up enough room so that it won’t be able to tumble.

[huff747]

Originally Posted by Krchfam

Does Chaeto have to “tumble”? I have just the natural flow through my fuge and it doesn’t spin it like I’ve seen on videos. Then I get nuisance algae on it and doesn’t seem to grow?


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Mine has never tumbled either. I tried sticking a powerhead in the fuge at one point and still couldn't get it to tumble. It seems to fill up the space without tumbling.

[wrott]

Cheato can live in FW for days, so a couple of hours dip in FW will kill aptasia and most fish parasites.
Other alga may pop in FW, however.