best algae eater?

rickross23

rickross23

Active Member
What is the best algae eater? I have some unwanted algae amd I have tried many methods to remove it, buy had no luck. What animal is best to remove this? Tang? Nudibranch? I have an urchin that doesn't do much. How about foxface? Sea hare? Thoughts please.
 
rickross23

rickross23

Active Member
Idk....I had like 15 snails....I think most died form unknown reasons....I have 8 hermit crabs and the pincushion urchin..
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Well you need more snails....no more hermits......I would get some of the large turbos.....2-3.....some nerites and astrea.....10 of each.....and some for your sand....nassarius 10 too
as far as sea hares go...I believe I answered you as did Bang in your other thread......foxface are supposed to be voracious algae eaters too.
BUTTTTTTTTT....you need to find the cause too......IMO lack of CUC could be a partial contributor.....
what do you feed? How much? how long is your lighting on? You know the questions by now LOL
 
rickross23

rickross23

Active Member
Will upload pics tomorrow....my mom thinks its grass. Some is wavy, some light brown, most looks like green or chaeto.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
There's a pettern in your algae that I have seen before and it's pretty much the worst case scenario. I see some rocks with no algae and some completely covered. I've seen this before, fairly often.
Hopefully I'm wrong and it's simply excess nutrients in the water from overfeeding. Ultimately it is Phosphate causing the algae.
Couple questions to confirm:
1 - Is the top layer of rock in the tank live rock or was it base rock?
2 - If it is live rock, was it ever exposed to high ammonia levels? by high, I mean above 2.0ppm?
3 - Did you cure it or was it cured by your local store?
 
rickross23

rickross23

Active Member
It cant be phosphate its 0. It's LR....got tank used. Let tank cycle and I do think it was around or above 2 at one point during the cycle. Can't remember....ammonias
0.
Whats the solutions?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Phosphate is the problem. I guarantee it.
The algae on the sand can be eliminated first by feeding better food, and less of it. Are you feeding flaked food? (I'm guessing)
An algae scrubber of some type.
There are chemical phosphate absorbers, I've never used them but many here have with success and can give advice.
The rocks are going to be a problem. What happens when ammonia gets high with live rock is that it kills the animals that live in the rock. Good live rock has shrimp, worms, bugs, clams, all kinds of animals living in it. If these are killed by ammonia then the nutrients from the animal are adsorbed into the rock and slowly released at the surface. This is idea for hair algae because it is able to use the nutrients directly from the rock and no matter how low the nutrient levels are in the water it can thrive.
It typically takes about a year for all of the nutrients to escape. At that point the hair algae will quickly diminish.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
A phosphate reactor is an easy thing to hook up....I'd look into one of them..along with the things Bang has mentiones
I would also consider manual removal.....and I see a lot of the rocks have nothing on them....so I would take them out scrub them in a bucket of tank water....and rinse them in a bucket of clean sw
this is not going to go away quick.....you will need to work at it....BUT I also am a believer in a good CUC.....you need something to help with the "leftovers" I made some suggestions earlier
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Sea hare may be a good idea. Limpets and diadema Urchins are also good.
Mysis Shrimp are an excellent food so you're good there.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
Hydrogen Peroxide works on bryopsis when you dip the rock. Once you have the water quality good I would try H202. Once you kill off the majority you will then need some way of keeping it under control to prevent it from growing back. Use 4:1 mix of Saltwater to 3% Generic Hydrogen Peroxide as a dip for approximately 5 minutes. Rinse the rock in tank water and replace. There are many people using it at other web sites and you should go and read up on this before you try it as this is experimental and may kill some corals like Xenia.
 
rickross23

rickross23

Active Member
I have a xenia that's thriving..... I think ill go with some snails, sea hare, foxface, and maybe lawnmower blenny...sound like an army?
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
I have a xenia that's thriving..... I think ill go with some snails, sea hare, foxface, and maybe lawnmower blenny...sound like an army?
I would try the CUC first but if it is bryopsis the CUC may not be much help. Elysia spp sea slugs I hear will eat it.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
If you can find one, the Pencil Streaked Rabbitfish would be better suited for your tank IMHO. I've had both, they have nearly the same diet.
Picture of the one I had:
 
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