Hair Algea - cleanup crew

[m0nk]

My 55 gallon tank is almost done cycling and I was planning on getting a cleanup crew this weekend. The thing is much of the rock is starting to get a nice cover of hair algea (though it's not more than a centimeter or two long), and I can even see it starting to spread on the sand. Since I didn't have this in my nano I'm not sure what inverts will clean it up the best. Here's the crew I was going to get:
12 Margarita Snails
5 Astrea snails
5 red-legged hermit crabs
1 Peppermint shrimp
So, the question is will that crew be able to handle the hair algea or should I add more of something? Which invert is the best at handling that? I know there are no Phosphates in my salt, tested for that prior to adding it to the tank, I think one of the pieces of rock had some on it and it spread. Thanks!

 

[eugenez_21]

I have the same prob. and i put some blue legged hermits in and they just love the hair algea eat non-stop. I have heard that the blue legged are more active then the red but also more aggresive at killing snails for their shells.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by eugenez_21
I have the same prob. and i put some blue legged hermits in and they just love the hair algea eat non-stop. I have heard that the blue legged are more active then the red but also more aggresive at killing snails for their shells.
Yeah, I have 2 of those in the 12 gallon still, I could move those over in addition to the new guys. Thanks.

 

[m0nk]

Does anyone think another peppermint shrimp would help at all? I know they're good with aptasia but since I haven't had hair algea before I don't know how good they'll be with it...
Will the 5 red-legged and 2 blue-legged hermits be enough?

 

[eugenez_21]

I have 5 blue legged hermits in my 75G i think ill net 5 more becace these thing clean good but more like .5 mph

I was thinking would a lawnmower blenny help.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by eugenez_21
I have 5 blue legged hermits in my 75G i think ill net 5 more becace these thing clean good but more like .5 mph

I was thinking would a lawnmower blenny help.
I thought about that but I wasn't going to put any fish in for a week or two, and wasn't sure if I really wanted a blenny. I guess I could keep it in mind in case the inverts don't get it all well enough, but since there are no phosphates in my saltwater I don't think it should spread too much. My theory is that there was some on a piece of rock that I didn't notice and the nitrites/nitrates from the cycle helped it spread. Not sure if that's true, but I thought I read that somewhere....

 

[estein02]

I've got a 65 gallon with 3 turbos, 10 astraea and 10 red leg hermits. After my tank cycled I had the hair algea and I believe between the turbo snails and astraea snails the hair algea disappered. Most of the growth in my tank was on the back glass where crabs can't get to. I also cut back the lighting period from 11 hours to 8. It probably took about 2 weeks for it to all go away.

 

[rattler739]

I have 3 Scarlet, 1 red legged, and 3 Zebra reef Hermits, 4 Astrea, and 1 Turbo snail in my 14g biocube and they do a great job, my tank is almost spotless but I was thinking about getting a two spot blenny (not 4wd goby) that might be something to consider (and they stay really small), but I have not found out that much about them, so if anyone knows anything please post

 

[babyb]

sea hairs will clean it up really nice, im haveing the same problem, but my lfs rarely have sea hairs in and i havent found much of anything but a mexican turbo, they worked really nice as well

 

[drewdog82]

I have a 55 and I had a long battle with hair algae. I kept buying more and more of a clean-up crew and it still didn't go away. The ones that seemed to help the most were my emerald crabs, mexican turbo snails, lawnmower blenny and of course me 2 pincushion urchins..... although they will eat some corraline algae. A Sally Lightfoot crab will also help. But, the thing that helped me the most was adding a fuge with chaeto. Although the clean-up crew helped keep the hair algae from getting out of control, it never went away with only them. I added a sump for more water flow and I noticed slowly the hair algae fading. I then got some chaeto to grow in my fuge and immediatelly I started seeing the hair algae in my tank start to turn white and die. I don't know if you have a fuge, but if you don't, I recommend one more than any other prevention.

 

[m0nk]

Here are a couple of new pics. The first is a mushroom that I put in to see how coral will do (got a ton of those watermelon ones in the other tank). It's been doing great, though it's only be in there since Saturday. The color has certainly enhanced with the brighter lighting and it's expanding nicely during the day. As you can see though, I certainly do have a bit of an algea problem at the moment. The second pic is a little closer. It's also sprouting up in the sand. I only have the cleanup crew in there and was thinking of adding a couple Nassarius snails to the mix as well, to help with cleaning up the sand. Can anyone ID it specifically as hair algea, and possibly suggest anything? I've decreased the lighting schedule to around 8 hours or less, and could go even further. I added the same post to my tank diary but realized that that thread is in the pics category and I could probably get more help here. Thanks!

 

[teen]

its most likely just new tank syndrome.
make sure your using RO/DI water, add a few mexican turbo snails and some nassarius snails. the nassarius will stir up the sand and the mexican trubos will take care of the hair algae. also, maybe add some filter floss in your over flow/ filter area. use the king thats supposed to remove phosphates if you can. try running some carbon too, it will polish up the water and hopefully help get rid of the algae. use a turkey aster to suck up that cyano and get it out of the tank.
i feel like i tell everybody this, but an awesome clean up crew member is a persian sand conch. he will bothe eat the hair algae, and keep your sand clean and stir it up.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by teen
its most likely just new tank syndrome.
make sure your using RO/DI water, add a few mexican turbo snails and some nassarius snails. the nassarius will stir up the sand and the mexican trubos will take care of the hair algae. also, maybe add some filter floss in your over flow/ filter area. use the king thats supposed to remove phosphates if you can. try running some carbon too, it will polish up the water and hopefully help get rid of the algae. use a turkey aster to suck up that cyano and get it out of the tank.
i feel like i tell everybody this, but an awesome clean up crew member is a persian sand conch. he will bothe eat the hair algae, and keep your sand clean and stir it up.
Thanks. Yeah, it's RO/DI water, was testing for phosphates in the fresh mixed saltwater, none, though I'm using a new one, Red Sea Coral Pro.
I'll try the carbon and using the turkey baster to get the cyano. Thanks!