DIY Algae Clip
 

Like most of you I hate the look of anything unnatural in the tank. I hold a particular disdain for algae clips, they just draw too much attention away from the real inhabitants. Plus you have to get your hands wet to change the food and hope that the suction cup holds every time.

PVC pieces wrapped with nori aren't as bad but it kind of looks like a piece of the tank's plumbing came loose. Elastics break or go flying across the room. At least you can pull them out of the tank to service them.

What I did was take a couple bivalve shells (matching, preferably) and silicone a plastic coated magnet into each. Now I pull them apart, scrape the old seaweed left inbetween the magnets into the tank (yum!) and replace with a folded over half sheet (depending on size and appetite). The "clip" sinks to the bottom of the tank where it is attacked by my tangs and others. The shell even makes a bit of a fun challenge for the fish to pick nori out of once it gets down to the remains. Once the seaweed is gone the shells blend in with the tank's surroundings so well that it is sometimes hard for me to find. For ease of removal I siliconed another magnet onto the end of a plastic rod. I used to use the opposite side of my algae scaper until it broke. Anything that can reach to the bottom of the tank will do.

Quick, easy, attractive and hassle free. I'll never use anything else.

When will we see these on store shelves. :biggrin: I'll take 3 :mrgreen:

Great idea!!

do you have a pic? I am having a hard time visualizing this.

Steve

I did the same thing a few years ago, but I am currently using the PVC pipe method since my new tank is too deep to mess with retrieving the clam shell. Worked great in the old tank though. I used fiberglass resin to bond the rare earth magnets into the shells.

So where to get the plastic-coated magnets?

Imagine a 2 inch clam with its shell closed. Now take out the clam and replace with a couple magnets. These clamp together to hold the nori.

I was waiting for Big Al's to open one morning and was browsing through the auto parts store nearby. I found them by chance, but I don't think they would be too hard to find. Cheap too.