New Hobbyist - Algae Questions

gotmytan

New Member
Hello:
I am relatively new to the hobby and have some questions on a relatively new setup which I have.
I have a 90 gallon with overflow, wet/dry, and protein skimmer.
I have some live rock, but no coral because I have a porcupine puffer and a something(?) eye puffer. Also have a yellow tang, mandarin goby, blue damsel, percula clown, 2 firefish.
I'm having major problems with algae, what I think is red slime algae, and some brown algae which has now turned green (primarily on the sand). I purchased 24 baha red legged hermits and 24 baha snails which I was hoping would take care of most of the algae. While they did a good job, there is still alot of algae and I think the puffers have taken care of most of them!
I have reduced the lighting, but have not yet checked the phosphates, but will as soon as I get a tester.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm new and am anxious to learn! Someday, I'd like to get some corals, but know I probably can't with the puffers.
Thanks!
 

slick

Active Member
First off let me say welcome to the board.
Next I know your question is about algae in your tank but I would like to start off by saying I think you are going to have trouble keeping your mandarin goby alive. From what I understand they need a LOT of LR to get all the pods and such that they eat. I don't know a hole lot about puffers so I'm not sure on what kind of cleaning crew you should try.
 

clarkiiboi

Active Member
I believe that with puffers you can not have the clean up crew---like you stated they already got to what you had. How old is the tank? Be very careful with the mandarian, they do need lots of pods from the LR, if your tank is new with low pods please take it back and also the puffers may go after it (not sure). And you do need to check the phophates, thats one reason to get green on the bed.
 

gotmytan

New Member
Thank you for your help!
Actually, I had a 40 gallon tank prior and transferred everything to this new 90 gallon. I've had the 90 gallon set up for about 2 months.
I've had the mandarin goby now for about a year with no problems so far!
My biggest problem right now is the algae...
Thanks again for your comments...keep them coming!
 
Top