tirtza
Member
Hello! My hair algae problem is definitely under control. I added a Mexican Turbo Snail (who really lives up to his name!) that just plows through all of the algae on the rocks and the back wall of the aquarium. He never stops working! I also added a Lawn Mower Blenny (I was advised that this wouldn't be the best idea because my tank was so new and eventually he'd run out of food, but I guess I got lucky and he still seems fat and happy). I think it's kind of a hit or miss sort of thing with LMB's...some are picky eaters and others aren't, I just happened to get one that wasn't picky and he doesn't seem to run out of food. He even likes to sit on top of the Mexican Turbo Snail or one of the large Scarlett Hermit crabs and take little bites of algae off of their shells. He's been in the tank for a little over a month now. It's only a 30 gallon tank, so between the snail and the the LMB, they are doing an excellent job cleaning up the rock and back wall.
I also have 3 large Scarlett Hermit Crabs, I honestly can't tell if they do very much. I see them climbing on the rock, but whether or not they are making any kind of a difference is a mystery to me.
I think the thing that made the biggest difference is simply plucking the air algae out of the sand. It's a little time consuming and of course I would never get it all, but it REALLY helped clear up the problem. Hair Algae is so light and because of the water current it can easily drift away if you reach in and just pull it out. So I took a clean glass and placed it on the sand bed in the tank, and then where ever there was hair algae I would collect it (by taking a pinch of sand) and deposit it in the glass....that way the algae/sand would float to the bottom of the glass and not escape into the water current. After I got most of the hair algae out of the sand, I would just slowly pick up the glass (with the hair algae and sand in the bottom) and lift it out of the tank.
I keep my lights on for only 6 hours, but I'm considering increasing it an hour because of some Zoa Polyp coral that's been growing on my live rock.
I won't be adding any new fish or inverts for a couple more weeks (see my thread on the ammonia spike I had last week). I just need to let my tank sit and not make any changes for a little while.
When I am ready to finally add something new a sand sifting star fish sounds interesting....though I don't really know very much about them. I'll definitely have to do some reading and research before I add anything (that's one super valuable lesson I've learned thanks to SWF.com!) How mature is your tank? What kind of requirements does a sand sifting star fish require? Do they help eat hair algae? If I ran out of hair algae in the sand, what else would it eat?
I also have 3 large Scarlett Hermit Crabs, I honestly can't tell if they do very much. I see them climbing on the rock, but whether or not they are making any kind of a difference is a mystery to me.
I think the thing that made the biggest difference is simply plucking the air algae out of the sand. It's a little time consuming and of course I would never get it all, but it REALLY helped clear up the problem. Hair Algae is so light and because of the water current it can easily drift away if you reach in and just pull it out. So I took a clean glass and placed it on the sand bed in the tank, and then where ever there was hair algae I would collect it (by taking a pinch of sand) and deposit it in the glass....that way the algae/sand would float to the bottom of the glass and not escape into the water current. After I got most of the hair algae out of the sand, I would just slowly pick up the glass (with the hair algae and sand in the bottom) and lift it out of the tank.
I keep my lights on for only 6 hours, but I'm considering increasing it an hour because of some Zoa Polyp coral that's been growing on my live rock.
I won't be adding any new fish or inverts for a couple more weeks (see my thread on the ammonia spike I had last week). I just need to let my tank sit and not make any changes for a little while.
When I am ready to finally add something new a sand sifting star fish sounds interesting....though I don't really know very much about them. I'll definitely have to do some reading and research before I add anything (that's one super valuable lesson I've learned thanks to SWF.com!) How mature is your tank? What kind of requirements does a sand sifting star fish require? Do they help eat hair algae? If I ran out of hair algae in the sand, what else would it eat?
