Lunar wrasse clean up crew help
- Thread starter sly
- Start date
sly
Active Member
I may have fixed my problem with the persistant algae... I bought a new hydrometer and tested my salinity today and found it to be 1.018. My old hydrometer showed it to be at 1.023.
I have slowly started to bring my salinity up to where it should be and I'm going to do a water change in the next few days to remove the algae. I ordered a lunar wrasse safe cleanup crew yesterday and I hope that will keep things under control. I got some urchins, a lawnmower blenny, sea cucumber and a starfish. Hopefully those things will keep the rocks clean while also being left alone by my lunar wrasse.
We'll see... :thinking:
I have slowly started to bring my salinity up to where it should be and I'm going to do a water change in the next few days to remove the algae. I ordered a lunar wrasse safe cleanup crew yesterday and I hope that will keep things under control. I got some urchins, a lawnmower blenny, sea cucumber and a starfish. Hopefully those things will keep the rocks clean while also being left alone by my lunar wrasse.
We'll see... :thinking:
cjml
Member
Hello! I have 3 wrasses and its definitely a challenge! My Coris and my Pink lined wrasse aren't so bad with my snails and crabs-but my Bird nose eats them all-I did not know that when I got him-realized it after he ate my very large mature cleaner shrimp!
But I took him in and feel responsible for him and really like him. Hes a great fish-so I guess we are going to have to set up another tank so I can have the other critters I want! Gotta love this hobby!!! :happyfish :happyfish
symon
Member
Just my 2 cents, with 2 tangs and that wrasse you have a heck of a bio load,
How often do you do water changes?
have you added and LR after the cycle?( wondeing if you caused a mini cycle)
Do you test to detirmine when to do your water change?
My point being, you may be letting the bioload go to long (which is causing the Hair alge) before you do your water change
P.S. I not sure who is calling Cyrno alge, but it's actually very differant from any form of hair alge's
Again just my 2 cents!
How often do you do water changes?
have you added and LR after the cycle?( wondeing if you caused a mini cycle)
Do you test to detirmine when to do your water change?
My point being, you may be letting the bioload go to long (which is causing the Hair alge) before you do your water change
P.S. I not sure who is calling Cyrno alge, but it's actually very differant from any form of hair alge's
Again just my 2 cents!
stanlalee
Active Member
Forget the clean up crew with the Lunare wrasse. you'll never be able to keep one. you'll just have to up your maintanence and possibly upgrade you equipment. what ever it takes to keep the water in prestine conditions (nitrates and phospates low). Dont know if you have a sump but a sump with macro algae works wonders at out competing display tank algae if lighted correctly. Something from the rabbitfish family (foxface ect) is the most likely to help. many eat algae tangs and blennys wont touch and more of it. Also much less likely to be harrassed than a lawnmower blenny by the wrasse. I cant imagine a lunare wrasse allowing you to add a lawn mower blenny to the tank without constant harrassment. Rabbit has the spines, other fish usually learn to leave it alone. Tangs maybe if you get the right one the right size that will eat hair algae.
sly
Active Member
Originally Posted by Symon
Just my 2 cents, with 2 tangs and that wrasse you have a heck of a bio load,
How often do you do water changes?
have you added and LR after the cycle?( wondeing if you caused a mini cycle)
Do you test to detirmine when to do your water change?
My point being, you may be letting the bioload go to long (which is causing the Hair alge) before you do your water change
P.S. I not sure who is calling Cyrno alge, but it's actually very differant from any form of hair alge's
Again just my 2 cents!
I do water changes as needed. I don't have a regular cycle for it but I try to do it once a month, sometimes more. I added some more LR but I had the algae before I added the LR. I added the LR about 5 months ago. I had a small ammonia spike but it went back down to 0ppm quickly. My amm, nitri, nitra levels all stay at 0 ppm. They NEVER get any higher.
Yes I know that many people will say my bioload is too high for a 72 gal tank but I have a pretty oversized filtration system. I run bioballs, chaeto algae scrubber, ozone, UV, mangroves in a 10 gal refugium and an oversized skimmer. So based upon my readings I would say my bioload is not too high.
As was already mentioned, my hydrometer (cheap plastic floater) was bad. It showed my SG to be 1.023. My new one shows it to be at 1.018. I slowly raised the SG to where it should be so that the fish could adjust. I'm going to do a water change today to remove the algae so I don't cause a problem if I have sudden algae dieoff from the change in salinity.
And on the water changes... In the past when the algae got too bad I would do a 50% water change. I scrubbed every rock and completely cleaned the substrate. In about 3 days the algae would be back. I believe this is a combination of not having a cleanup crew (due to my wrasse) and having too low a salinity.
I have run this tank for several years with no algae problems at all. Back when the algae first started all I had in the tank was 2 clown fish and the wrasse. The clowns are perc clowns, about 2 inches long and the wrasse was is about 5 inches long. That's only 9 inches of fish in an over filtered 72 gal tank with 10 gal refugium. That should be well within limits of what my tank can handle, yet I still had algae growth even back then. I added the tangs to help eat it, which they do, but they can't eat enough.
Slowly my hydrometer appears to have lost calibration. If my hopes are right, that would explain why I've persistantly seen the algae get worse and worse. I searched around on the net for what my algae looks like and I came across this picture. This looks similar to mine except mine is completely brown.
Just my 2 cents, with 2 tangs and that wrasse you have a heck of a bio load,
How often do you do water changes?
have you added and LR after the cycle?( wondeing if you caused a mini cycle)
Do you test to detirmine when to do your water change?
My point being, you may be letting the bioload go to long (which is causing the Hair alge) before you do your water change
P.S. I not sure who is calling Cyrno alge, but it's actually very differant from any form of hair alge's
Again just my 2 cents!
I do water changes as needed. I don't have a regular cycle for it but I try to do it once a month, sometimes more. I added some more LR but I had the algae before I added the LR. I added the LR about 5 months ago. I had a small ammonia spike but it went back down to 0ppm quickly. My amm, nitri, nitra levels all stay at 0 ppm. They NEVER get any higher.
Yes I know that many people will say my bioload is too high for a 72 gal tank but I have a pretty oversized filtration system. I run bioballs, chaeto algae scrubber, ozone, UV, mangroves in a 10 gal refugium and an oversized skimmer. So based upon my readings I would say my bioload is not too high.
As was already mentioned, my hydrometer (cheap plastic floater) was bad. It showed my SG to be 1.023. My new one shows it to be at 1.018. I slowly raised the SG to where it should be so that the fish could adjust. I'm going to do a water change today to remove the algae so I don't cause a problem if I have sudden algae dieoff from the change in salinity.
And on the water changes... In the past when the algae got too bad I would do a 50% water change. I scrubbed every rock and completely cleaned the substrate. In about 3 days the algae would be back. I believe this is a combination of not having a cleanup crew (due to my wrasse) and having too low a salinity.
I have run this tank for several years with no algae problems at all. Back when the algae first started all I had in the tank was 2 clown fish and the wrasse. The clowns are perc clowns, about 2 inches long and the wrasse was is about 5 inches long. That's only 9 inches of fish in an over filtered 72 gal tank with 10 gal refugium. That should be well within limits of what my tank can handle, yet I still had algae growth even back then. I added the tangs to help eat it, which they do, but they can't eat enough.
Slowly my hydrometer appears to have lost calibration. If my hopes are right, that would explain why I've persistantly seen the algae get worse and worse. I searched around on the net for what my algae looks like and I came across this picture. This looks similar to mine except mine is completely brown.
scsinet
Active Member
I assume this is a FOWLR system.
I haven't read through this entire thread so maybe these suggestions have already been posted.
I have virtually the same fish list in my FOWLR system. My cleanup crew consists of:
One longspine urchin (Diadema setosum)
Two strawberry hermit crabs (Dardanus sp.)
These keep the tank completely clean, and the wrasse doesn't bother the hermits. As long as you don't have triggers, the urchin should be fine as well.
I haven't read through this entire thread so maybe these suggestions have already been posted.
I have virtually the same fish list in my FOWLR system. My cleanup crew consists of:
One longspine urchin (Diadema setosum)
Two strawberry hermit crabs (Dardanus sp.)
These keep the tank completely clean, and the wrasse doesn't bother the hermits. As long as you don't have triggers, the urchin should be fine as well.