hair algae

[jacrmill]

ive got a ton of hair algae growing on my LR. ive got a bunch of coralline that looks really good, but the hair algae makes my tank look bad. im going to get a protein skimmer this week, will that help? am i over feeding? i use RO water. is there anything that eats that algae, or is there a way to make not so much grow or what? i know a lawnmower blennie will eat it, but i already know all the fish i want, so i cant get him. any ideas?

 

[b_ball12_99]

Hermits and emerald crabs. Once it gets so long you will have to manually trim it down or get a fish to eat it.

 

[tanggirl123]

jacrmill the other day i bought a blue leg hermit from the store to help my hair algae problem and hes eaten it all but mine is a bit bigger hes about an inch and a half but he sure did the job

 

[old salt]

Another option is to add some caulerpa (macroalgae) to your tank (in your sump is good). This will out compete the microalgae for nutrients and the micro algae will die off...

 

[jacrmill]

i would like to add some of that good algae in my sump, but i dont have a sump. i appreciatte the suggestion though. i also heard that blue legged crabs tend to get really big and kill any other crab so i wanna stay away from those. ill probably get some more scarlet hermits and a couple emaralds. i think im gonna cut down on feeding a little too. and hopefully my protein skimmer will help too.

 

[b_ball12_99]

Originally posted by jacrmill:
[QB]i would like to add some of that good algae in my sump, but i dont have a sump. i appreciatte the suggestion though. i also heard that blue legged crabs tend to get really big and kill any other crab so i wanna stay away from those.QB]
Don't know where you heard that but blue leg stay small and only attack snails that are dieing or if they need a home. Emeralds can get big and mean though.

 

[shel]

I pull the hair algae off by hand and remove it from the tank, I also have scrubbed my lr.
Shel

 

[porscheguy]

I had some hair algae pretty bad and I got ten really big turbo snails and they cleaned it right up. The only thing is that the really big ones can bulldoze around causing you corals to fall.