Pod farm in display

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I have several different algaes in my display that I all think are pretty cool.

90% sure they are all nuisance algaes, but it seems to be making my microbiome flourish.

This one, in my top center rock, is some sort of wirey hair algae, and it seems to be a pod favorite. They don't seem to consume the entire thing, but suck the insides out of the thick hairs leaving a plastic looking skin that breaks off and goes into the overflow.

I have been dosing phosphates due to dino issues very early, and this algae is clearly getting a good chunk of it, but to my surprise, the, what must be the work 10s of thousands of pods on it, it hasn't had a chance to grow past this point for several weeks since it showed up nearly overnight.

It's become an atteaction for the kids, saying that it looks like looking at fields of grass loaded with sheep from the sky.

I see lots of posts freaking out about algaes, and I certainly understand letting them overtake being an issue... but...

How much of a problem could it be that I am just conpletely letting nature take its course in my tank?

I know I was told to ride things out, but when I let dinos get out of hand I was heavily advised by quite a few people I was misinterpreting the idea of riding it out should always be manually removing algaes as they show up.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I could not get a good photo showing the pods on the rock, best one I got they look like bubbles.

Its half isopods half a couple different copepod species, few amphipods.

 

[ptrick21186]

*takes 3 Valium*

"Cool....."

 

[ptrick21186]

How long have you had the tank? Is this part of the ugly phase or is it a pretty established tank? I'd definitely stop dosing Phos either way.....you've got enough lol

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

How long have you had the tank? Is this part of the ugly phase or is it a pretty established tank? I'd definitely stop dosing Phos either way.....you've got enough lol

Its ugly phase for sure. 5 months, and dinos came right after week 4 diatoms, so i think my uglies were delayed. I am about 4 weeks past the dinos. I am still dosing a lot of phos to stay at .03, nitrates holding steady at 10, dosing .5ml silica, and 4ml microbacter7, and 30ml phyto, all daily, all to deal with the dinos, and afraid of stopping.

 

[EricR]

Looks pretty cool to me.
Poor man's GSP garden.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

It is your tank. I you like the look of it keep it. You can watch it carefully, and see if it becomes worse. Pods are a good thing to have, and they may help keeping the algae in control.
If you want to remove it, shake the pods out, take the rock out, scrub it and put it back.

 

[ptrick21186]

Its ugly phase for sure. 5 months, and dinos came right after week 4 diatoms, so i think my uglies were delayed. I am about 4 weeks past the dinos. I am still dosing a lot of phos to stay at .03, nitrates holding steady at 10, dosing .5ml silica, and 4ml microbacter7, and 30ml phyto, all daily, all to deal with the dinos, and afraid of stopping.

It's definetly dinos? I can see wanting to eliminate them. Just seems like a lot to dose for a tank that's only 5 months old.