Bad Hair Algae

[likwid]

Originally Posted by michika

Yup, that is how it is done.

It didn't work for me unfortunately. In the end it was my urchin that cleaned it up and off the rocks.

What kind of urchin, and will it fit in a 10g tank? I had a Sea Hare for a few days before it got sucked into an intake, but in those 2 days it would just sniff the stuff and not eat any of it. It pooped like crazy though.

[michika]

Originally Posted by likwid

What kind of urchin, and will it fit in a 10g tank? I had a Sea Hare for a few days before it got sucked into an intake, but in those 2 days it would just sniff the stuff and not eat any of it. It pooped like crazy though.

I have a longspine urchin.

[likwid]

Finally got my test kit in. Params are as follows:

Calcium - 300 mg/L
Alk - 11.2 dKH
PH - 8.2
Nitrate - 0
Phostphate - 0
Salinity - 1.021

[hillbillyreefer]

I picked up a tuxedo urchin on Saturday to help out with my GHA problem. He's about 4" across so they should fit in a 10 gallon. If you get one it may require feeding eventually. Mine leaves a path free of GHA after he passes over. Moves pretty slowly and is going to be a while cleaning up my 24 gal but is doing a great job. As an added bonus I think it's one of the coolest critters in the tank. The urchin has done more cleaning in three days than the rest of my CUC has done in four months.HTH

He seems to be a consumer of coraline also.

Brad

[likwid]

How are my levels? Do I need to increase/decrease any?

[likwid]

bump

[dsaundry]

Looking at your last reading, I might suggest you bump the salinity up to 1.023. One question I have though is what type of salt are you using. I was told by another reefer that for reef tanks he found that TM worked best for him. Less dosing was one of the benefits he stated. I am going to try it next time but right now I am using IO in my 72g. I did have a hair algae issue a little while ago and in my case narrowed it down to overfeeding. I didn't think I was at first but after looking at how some other reefers fed their tank I determined I was. I seem to have it under control as in the last 2 weeks it has virtually dissappeared. I also used rowaphos in my aquaclear 500 as well.
Hope this helps.