Urchin or Blenny?

[vikinglord13]

How's it going guys,

So, I've been battling OTS lately as leaching phosphate has caused a GHA outbreak in my 29G. I bought an emerald crab to help battle it and I'm not sure if it's just growing faster than the crab can eat it or if the crab is just eating other stuff - when I watch it it looks like it's just scraping stuff (microbes?) off the rock.

So, I'm considering getting either an urchin of some kind or a sailfin blenny. So I have three questions for you guys:

1) Should I just be patient with my Emerald Crab and wait for it to eat the algae? (I've witnessed one eat a two-foot long piece of caulerpa so I know it can be done).

2) Will the Blenny increase my bioload too much? (I have a maroon clown, an azure damsel, and a six-line wrasse in a 29G Biocube). Will the urchin increase it by much at all?

3) With the urchin will I have to adjust alk/calc/magnesium dosing much?

Thanks guys, I really appreciate any help.

***

If my take isn't going through OTS it couuuuld be the fresh water I've been topping off with, I did switch suppliers and I don't know for sure whether they use an RO/DI or tap... I sure hope it's not tap 'cause the water here is disgusting.

[vikinglord13]

I've had the emerald crab for about a month and have had to remove algae twice since I got it.

[chammergren]

I don't have a great answer for you regarding which would be a better option as I have never had either but I did want to let you know that you are not alone with your picky Emerald Crab. I had one in my tank not long ago that tore through algae of any kind. The one I have in there now does the same thing as yours, sits on a bed of algae and picks at bare rock.

I hope you get some good guidance for your situation!

[Scorpius]

Mexican Turbo Snails. They're the bulldozers of the reef. :lol:

[vikinglord13]

Thank you chammergren, I've read elsewhere that some emerald crabs just mow through GHA while others just eat random things. We'll see what this one does.

I've heard that about Mexican turbo snails. I have a pair of Chestnut Turbo Snails and they don't seem to be doing the trick, I'm not sure what they're eating, frankly. I also have scarlet hermits and dwarf blue-legged hermits, and nerite snails. I'm confounded really.

[Betaktical]

The lawnmower blenny can do work on gha. Urchin is more for cyno and other little nuisance things. And the Mexican turbos help keep everything ship shape. And the blenny won't add much to a bioload. Do u know what is leaching the phosphate


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kremis]

I have 2 longspine urchins and 3 tuxedo urchins in my 180, and they keep everything super clean. Defiantly recommend a tuxedo urchin if you are having algae problems

[vikinglord13]

I'll have to seriously consider it. My only problem I have with getting an urchin is a have a gorgonian on a piece of LR rubble on my sandbed. I'm pretty sure an urchin would knock it over.

[Walla2GSP]

I have a lawnmower blenny in my 80 gallon and that is pretty good fit as far as consumption and growth rate equalling out. I've heard of people keeping lawnmowers in Nano tanks, but I've had mine for 6 months and he has grown from 4 inches when I got him to about 6-6.5" now. I would stick to snails or crabs for now. And find the source of your phosphates.

[2smokes]

Blenny would be a good choice to get rid of the algae but somme arent reef safe.They will eat sps and LPS corals.

[Sk8r]

A better option than any would be a GFO reactor (they're cheap) and media changed monthly until no more algae.

[mcgyvr]

A better option than any would be a GFO reactor (they're cheap) and media changed monthly until no more algae.

yep.. address the problem and the algae will go away on its own..
That may be using GFO (if phosphate is really the problem) or more water changes or whatever to get levels down..

I find that if the GHA is still "short" then quite a bit will go after it (urchins/turbo snails/emerald crabs,etc..) once it gets longer than maybe 3/4" or so that those creatures stop going after it..

[vikinglord13]

Hmm, length could be an issue; though, as I said, I've witnessed an emerald crab eat about a 2' long piece of caulerpa so I know it's capable... unless GHA develops harder cellulose walls or something as it gets longer.

If the phosphate is leaching from the rocks how will GFO help? Will it just take it out of the water column before the algae can grow?

[Tisbe]

I agree with fix the problem. The problem with just adding critters is that they just eat and poop back into the tank for the algae to reuse the nutrient. No significant amount of nutrients are removed, just recycled. That is the whole concept behind EcoSphere ecosystems. CUC do help keep the tank looking nicer and do convert the nutrients available to be removed by things like GFO, carbon dose, skimmer, ATS, filter socks, etc...

I battled OTS on a tank with a DSB and rock that was leaching phosphate built up over years. I got rid of the DSB, went BB and used GFO & carbon dosing, it took 6 months before the algae was basically gone and so was the PO4 in the rock. I am still carbon dosing, added a shallow sand bed and been algae free with no clean-up crew (besides bristle worms and a tang) for 6 months.

If you have algae mainly on the rocks and not really anywhere else then your rock are probably leaching. The solution is to take more nutrients out than you put in. Let us know about your setup, feeding, husbandry and we can give you recommendation on a solution.

[AboutAcans]

Urchins will chew everything down to bare rock. Do they work? Yes. Demolishing every algae in the tank and also knocking things over in the process. I would go blenny since really there isn't a downside IMO to them.

[Flaring Afro]

I agree with not adding another fish. You already are set to eventually have only one fish in the tank when that maroon clown gets big enough. They're much larger and much more aggressive than orange clown types. Another damsel with it and a sixline are just going to be asking to get killed.

[Mark9]

A better option than any would be a GFO reactor (they're cheap) and media changed monthly until no more algae.

Bah, bad answer.

Do like Scorpius said and get 2 mexican turbo snails.
5 bucks and your problem is solved.

[RobZilla04]

Bah, bad answer.

Do like Scorpius said and get 2 mexican turbo snails.
5 bucks and your problem is solved.

I wouldn't call the GFO & reactor a bad answer. It's one way to go, snails, crabs, blenny, or urchin are another.

I believe the OP was looking for options to choose from. Depending on how bad your GHA is, you may want to start removing it manually by hand and with a tooth brush to start with. I've had limited results with emerald crabs. The turbo snails do wonders on the glass but never touched the rocks. I got 10 blue leg hermits and they love the rocks, but don't touch the algae once its long and stringy.

If you're concern is your bio load, keep in mind that anything you add that is alive will contribute to the bio load. People think that by tossing in a hand full of this crab, or that snail, it will solve the problem. Often it can cause another.

Go at it slowly and pack some patience would be my advice.

[Mark9]

The turbo snails do wonders on the glass but never touched the rocks.

You had the wrong snails.
GFO and a reactor on a 29 biocube is way overkill.
He'd need a pump to go with that.
2 Mexican turbo snails and 2 weeks will fix it.
$5 solution.

[vikinglord13]

We'll see what happens. I manually removed some a bit ago and I'm waiting to see how much it grows back, if at all.

[Rlyman1]

I have been battling some GHA as well as Dino for the last month or so (still unable to fin the source of phosphate thought I am suspecting my rock are leaching. My first suggestion is to get a GFO reactor, I have found that changing out my GFO every 3 to 5 days have gotten my phosphate down into acceptable ranges. I am going to push that out to 3 to 4 weeks now. The GHA has stopped growing however hasnt died back, two days ago I put in a Mexican turbo who has cut the algae by 25%. I think it just takes patience.

[Timfish]

Urchin. A small tuxedo is what I would look for. IUrchins (and parrot fish) chew algae down to the substrate removing the holdfast algae is using to hang on effectively removing it. And they do put the nutrients back into the system for corals to use so I would be adding more corals also (this is the way it works in the wild). You can go the GFO route and strip out most of the PO4 but searching threads on GHA and GFO you'll find a lot of systems that have PO4 at very low levels and still have pale anemic hair algae. At this point any corals are at risk as phosphate is essential for life being the molecule that is used in RNA and DNA to join amino acids together. As far as the oft repeated "If you have algae you have phosphate" it should be "If you have life you have phosphate". As far as rock leaching phosphate back into the water all calcium substrates including sand as they dissolve from either bioeroders or from localized low pH will put phosphate back into the water. The vast majority of your PO4 is from your fish food and it has to be there as it is essential for the fish's proper diet.