best hair algae eater
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URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=72576
Printed Date: April 16 2024 at 9:01am
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Topic: best hair algae eater
Posted By: hydro phoenix
Subject: best hair algae eater
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 9:16am
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So phosphates are high and it'll take some time to get them down. In the mean time can anyone recommend a good hair algae eater? ------------- recent absurdity..Unicorns have rabies |
Replies:
Posted By: Jeremyw
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 9:39am
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A yellow tang hehehe ------------- Next meeting: |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 9:49am
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Actually... Phosphates can be brought down quite swiftly. There is not really one size [of algae eater] that fits all. How long is the algae? How much area does it cover? What have you tried so far? What is the look of the tank currently - pic please? Aloha  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 10:32am
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Yellow Tang, water changes and patience assuming its not so high life in the tank is in jeopardy. ------------- 90 gal reef w/refugium 24 gal softie tank 11 gal nano anemone tank 5 gal fresh water |
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 10:44am
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GFO and a Sea Hare. How are nitrates? ------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: hydro phoenix
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 10:46am
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The tank is not in jeopardy, I've tried a yellow tang and he's just useless. My shark nose goby died because of him. He's going back to the store. And I won't consider another one. I've manually removed most of it and I already have 2 mexican turbo's and 2 belize turbo's. Hermit crabs are a no go because I have a dottyback who likes to eat them and I've done emerald crabs but 1. they're opportunistic eaters. I'll spare you the story and 2. I've had them go after my corals over hair algae. The algae cover spots randomly around the tank so from one end to the other you can see patches of it. Mark you mentioned getting the phosphates down quickly, how so? I did another water change last night but I've been told that water changes don't get rid of phosphates, which I'm not 100% sure about because I'm not familiar with all the mechanics of phosphates. ------------- recent absurdity..Unicorns have rabies |
Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 10:48am
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Pm'd ------------- 90 gal reef w/refugium 24 gal softie tank 11 gal nano anemone tank 5 gal fresh water |
Posted By: Jeremyw
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 11:03am
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Faith, I was just saying that because I know you have that little $%^#. If most of its gone and you are using GFO , and have turbo snails. Unless its really bad you can add a seahare but they will starve to death once its all gone. In the past when I have run into issues. I run GFO. Pull lots out by hand (as much as possible) Add Turbos and usually within a few weeks its all gone. Now I sometimes might need to pull out the hair by hand again. But if I keep up on it, it will start to go away. J ------------- Next meeting: |
Posted By: builderofdreams
Date Posted: August 17 2014 at 11:22am
If you want to add another fish ya can't go wrong with a FoxFace or scribble fish.Only fish i have seen that will eat bryopsis.  ------------- It's Not a Hobby It's an Obsession 150&210 Gallons of Madness and. Sanity! 801-850-4915 http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=65135&title=builderofdreams-feedback-post |
hydro phoenix wrote:Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 6:58am
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It would really help a lot if we could see a pic of the tank, or if you still have the club fish trap I would be happy to come get it and do an evaluation to give you some really good advice for your situation. Text or call me at the number below Aloha 808-345-1049 P.S. I am quite familiar with the mechanics of Phosphates. GFO is too slow. AA is much faster at removing PO4 from the water. I have helped hobbyists conquer algae problems in hundreds of systems. Give it a chance. You won't be disappointed. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 7:24am
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I'd still do the Sea Hare & GFO combo. Here's why:
1) A foxface is an great choice, except this is only a 55g tank. Hard to find a foxface small enough to be comfortable in there; if you can find a small one (2") then go for it.
2) Yes, the Sea Hare would starve after consuming all the HA; when that time comes, put it up on the board or bring it back to the store. Pretty easy to catch a Sea Hare in your tank (as opposed to catching a fish). If your tank aquascaping is set up such that you had difficulty getting the Yellow Tang out, removing the Foxface later will be just as difficult if not more so.
3) Alumina does remove pO4 faster than GFO; however, there is such a thing as removing the pO4 too fast - and that sometimes causes certain corals to stress and bleach
------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 8:15am
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I agree with Bob. Regarding item 3, it's simply a matter of using less AA, like just 1/8 - 1/4 cup and since AA is so much less expensive than GFO, it's a great bargain. I have AA for sale at a great price in http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=71912" rel="nofollow - MarksReef Coral Farm . Still, a pic of the tank would really help and I believe there is still the matter of dealing with the naughty Yellow Tang without disturbing the rest of the tank. Either train it or catch it. Faith, have you tried to http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=29554" rel="nofollow - catch it the easy way at night ? Did you try hanging the fish trap up in the water column? Have you tried training the YT? have you tried not feeding for a few days so the YT will get hungry enough to eat the algae? Aloha ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: hydro phoenix
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 1:20pm
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So just to let you all know I've got the yellow tang caught and separated. He will be going back to the store soon. I don't have time this week to have people over to evaluate the tank as this is the first week of the new semester. Now it's just a matter of getting the phosphates down. I'd appreciate having someone here to help me do my first dosing of AA or GFO. But this week again is really bad. ------------- recent absurdity..Unicorns have rabies |
Posted By: hydro phoenix
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 1:21pm
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I've done seahares but they don't live long in the tank. ------------- recent absurdity..Unicorns have rabies |
Posted By: badfinger
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 7:42pm
| I am not familiar with AA... Amino acids? Or do you mean AC.... Activated carbon? |
Posted By: badfinger
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 7:43pm
| What about a lawnmower blenny |
Posted By: Hogie
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 10:02pm
| I got a lawn mower Lenny to try to take out a small patch of hair, but it doesn't touch it. |
Posted By: ReefdUp
Date Posted: August 18 2014 at 10:33pm
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If you can find them...chitons. ------------- www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water |
Posted By: Jeremyw
Date Posted: August 19 2014 at 7:18am
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Oh I forgot about Chitons... they do eat it! Faith remind me or text me on Chitons. J ------------- Next meeting: |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: August 19 2014 at 10:07am
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AA = Activated Alumina aka Seachem Phosguard aka Kent Phosphate Sponge.
AA seems to literally suck the phosphate right out of the water. Like Tom Hanks in Joe Vs. The Volcano "suck, suck, suck". ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: August 20 2014 at 6:10pm
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Algae fascinates me so it follows that algae control is one of my specialties in this hobby. For what it's worth, here is a list of the best herbivores placed in order of how well they have generally worked for WMAS hobbyists over the years: 1. Snails - Tanks under a year of age especially need snails more than most new hobbyists realize. We older hobbyists often forget that we haven't replenished the snails for so long that their numbers have dwindled enough to allow nuisance algae to crop up. The general rule of thumb is up to one Snail per gallon of tank capacity. Snails, snails and more snails is my motto. The various kinds of useful snails are Astrea, Cerith, Margarita, and Pacific Turbo Snails. Here is my favorite web page about Snails and their helpers the Hermit Crabs. http://www.garf.org/ugly.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.garf.org/ugly.html Snails and Hermits are the quintessential algae control workers. *The Stomatella Snail reproduces in our tanks which is ideal, though it looks more like a garden slug than a common snail. 2. Hermit Crabs - Hermits are omnivores so as long as there is algae to eat and so long as there is not too much fish food, they will really help control nuisance algae. We usually consider it good practice keeping up to one Hermit for every 3-5 snails. Hermits can often be useful for mowing down long hair algae. 3. Fish - The Tangs and Blennies are awesome algae eaters if they don't get sidetracked by fish foods. Algae can also taste different in different tanks so don't be surprised if a Tang that loved algae in its old tank, shuns it in the next tank. Give it time and feed sparingly or make it fast for a few days and it may start liking the new algae. 4. Bugs - Before hair algae become a visible nuisance, the many varieties of Amphipods and Copepods can do a marvelous job of eating algae sprouts. Unfortunately, the Wrasses and other carnivores severely deplete bug populations making those tanks vulnerable to sudden nuisance algae blooms. For more on this, read the article Herbivores versus Carnivores in this newsletter: http://www.utahreefs.com/SeaStar/SeaStarJunePrint.pdf" rel="nofollow - http://www.utahreefs.com/SeaStar/SeaStarJunePrint.pdf 5. Urchin and Chiton - If we could point these guys where we want them to go we would have more luck with them. Unfortunately, the Urchins favorite food is Coralline Algae and the rare Chiton loves stuff growing on surfaces under the sand. Left in the tank long enough(6 months  ), an Urchin may eat up most nuisance algae, even long hair algae. Snails keep it clean after the longer hair algae has been eaten.6. Sea Hare Gastropod and Lettuce Nudibranch - These eat bacterial slime and soft coatings of algae on surfaces. They sometimes eat hair algae though it is not their preferred food. They have a tendency to roam the tank in search of their preferred food which exposes them to powerheads. If they don't get sucked into and chopped up by the powerhead, they die of starvation or old age(adult lifespan <1yr), often before doing any damage to the nuisance algae. Aloha ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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