How else to do battle with hair algae

[Snappy]

Catherine I would call Neil and get about 50 blue legged hermits and your algae will be gone by Sept - Oct. It worked for me last fall. You saw my tank so imagine it full of hair algae and then gone 3 months later from hermit crabs.

[Delphinus]

I'll second the abalone suggestion, they're very very cool. Almost as good at nuisance algae control as a seahare, but seem to be less prone to starving themselves out (seahares eventually eat all the hair algae, then starve, unless they adapt to other food, but more don't than do).

There are some smaller abalones that would do well in a tank this size. I know Elite here in Calgary usually has the ones that are about 2" in size. Mine that I've got is a solid 8" so maybe a little too big for a tank your size, so watch out for the smaller ones. Mine is green, but these smaller ones at Elite that I've seen were more brownish.

Another wicked algae eater I've got is a green urchin. I have not been able to ID the species of urchin as it does not match any of the ones I've been able to research. It looks just like the temperate species urchin "green urchin" but a smaller scale model thereof. Basically, think a decorator urchin or blue tuxedo urchin, but all green.

Seahares are basically the ultimate algae eaters though. Just be advised that they starve once the tank is clean. Although I did have one that took a liking to the nori I feed my tang everyday, so he did fine for almost two years before meeting his end in a powerhead. (Which was weird, because he crawled onto powerheads without incident all the time, just eventually one time it ended badly.). But I think it's more the exception than the rule, if they won't eat any offered foods you're better off to lend him out, or sell him, to the next tank that has an algae problem.

Anyhow hope these suggestions help..

[andresont]

http://www.hiddenreef.ca/storefront/...categoryid=112

This Phosban Reactor works good for me, when i got this running in my system algae got down very fast thogh i had way less then you are.

[michika]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

I'm hesitant to add more to my clean up crew as they aren't currently making any dent in the issue. I currently have ~35 hermits, the bulk of which are blue legs, 15 various snails, turbos, astreas, and cerith's. I also have a handful of bumble bees, and a lipstick conch. I'm worried that adding more will have the same effect of nothing. Am I seeing no direct benefit from my clean up crew because its too small?

Does anyone have a link for abalones? I want to research their care and requirements more before I look into purchasing one.

My tank is quite small, so I will have to pass on a seahare, or an urchin, as they will probably be too large in my system. What about a lawnmore blenny?

Can anyone make other recommendations, other then adding livestock, and other then what is on my list above?

[dreef]

I second the phosban reactor..i too tried everything,better husbandry,snails,urchins,rabbit and tang.Was fighting a losing battle.Bought a reactor and three weeks later, gone..nothing i now feed nori to the tang and rabbitfish

[Slick Fork]

Is this a bryopsis algae? I have been pulling my hair out with that stuff for ages and have recently tried the magnesium treatment. Sorry I can't find the link but a search on this site should give the link to the one on reef central.

I am 2 weeks into it and almost 100% algae free. I had a blenny pass away on me earlier this week but I don't know if the magnesium had anything to do with it. I've been adding it much slower than everyone else did (haven't even hit target levels yet) and my other fish are ok so I'm hesitant to blame magnesium for his death. I did have a small ammonia spike when the algae started dying off as I think the algae was sucking up a lot of pure ammonia and just died too quickly. Otherwise no negative effects.

Another tactic would be to try 3 days of darkness. Again there's a thread on RC and I believe it was in reef keeping magazine a month or two to ago as well so digging it up shouldn't be too hard. People seem to have had good results with that.

[michika]

I know what the Mg treatment is. I don't think its bryopsis, well at least not the larger portion of the algae. I'm still trying to raise my Mg levels, anyways because I feel they are a bit on the low side.

I haven't yet tried the darkness method yet, but maybe I will try it out.

Delphinius,

What does the urchin eat after its devoured all the GHA in my tank? Did you ever have problems with them picking up or moving too much around? I'm worried that it will devistate my SPS field, and hurt my clams.

I'm going to skip on the lawnmore blennie. I've never had one before so I thought I might as well ask.

I'm going to try and source out an abalone, and then go from there.

For those who have suggested a phosban reactor, I don't have the room for one. I already have a phosban reactor running as a kalk. reactor in my top off bucket. How has everyone else plumbed a reactor into their system? Photos if you have them.

So for now I'm going to try and do the following:
- Add more clean up crew, more snails
- Try a few days of complete darkness
- Look into an abalone & or an urchin
- Try to see if I could add on a phosban reactor.

Any other suggestions?

[Delphinus]

Lawnmower blenny doesn't eat filamentous algae, what they eat is film algae. Actually some don't adapt to prepared foods very well and tend to starve out.

The green urchin is not very large. It's about 1.5" - 2". We're not talking diadema type urchins, indeed, too big for your tank. It looks like a blue tuxedo urchin but is green.

Abalones are awesome. Hardy, not too demanding. Here's a link: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/abalones.htm

I do feed nori to my tank and suspect that the abalone probably gets some of that at night. Also sometimes I put in some chaeto for the rabbitfish and I think he also cleans up whatever the rabbit doesn't do in.

[Snappy]

[quote]

Originally Posted by michika

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

I'm hesitant to add more to my clean up crew as they aren't currently making any dent in the issue. I currently have ~35 hermits, the bulk of which are blue legs,quote]

Put your hermits in the sump to starve for a few weeks and then they will eat whatever you place them on. Just place them right on a patch of algae and let em' go. It worked for me.

[michika]

Thanks!