Hair Alge Eater?

[Greg129]

Anyone know of any good hair algae eaters?

[jeffaroo]

alge bleny (10 bucks)
emrald crabs (6 bucks)
if I was you I would go with 1 alge bleny
and 5 emrald crabs

[Herbie]

If you can find one.........try a Sea Hare. I just got one, and its doing a pretty good job of mowing down the lawn! I also got a sailfin/algea blenny and its O.K., not as good as the sea Hare, but a lot more personality than the slug.
I got these instead of snails...........a lot less hassle!
Seahare was $5.99 and the sailfin was $12.99.
I will have to warn you though..........Sea Hare's are pretty darn ugly!
Later.........Herbie

[Fast Fred]

I think it's more important to find a cause and a cure for the problem, rather than just treating a symptom.

[Greg129]

Fastfred - I'm trying to find the cause and the cure. This just happens to be the treatment of a symptom thread. ;).

[Sk8r]

For glass, margarita snails. For rock, trochus. For sand, hermits and fighting conch. I have great misgivings about 1 emerald crab, let alone 5.
Very few creatures will eat long hair algae. Give it a trim with a toothbrush (wind and yank) and they'll go for it a lot better.
Also watch your downflow teeth: this can block up when hair algae is cut loose, and it can cause overflow. Toothbrush.

[Andrew]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7139620#post7139620 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeffaroo
alge bleny (10 bucks)
emrald crabs (6 bucks)
if I was you I would go with 1 alge bleny
and 5 emrald crabs

<img src="/images/welcome.gif" width="500" height="62"><br><b><i><big><big>To Reef Central Jeffaroo</b></i></big></big>

I wouldn't go adding a fish to the tank like recommened. Go with some turbo snails or an emerald crab. Figure out why you are getting the hair algae first.

[Mariner]

How long has your tank been set up? What kind of cleaning crew do you have in there now? If your tank is young and you're low on cleaners, a little hair algae is pretty normal.
Personally, I've found the big mexican turbo snails to be better than the astrea snails at eating short hair algae.
HTH,
Mariner

[londonloco]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7140050#post7140050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
For glass, margarita snails. For rock, trochus. For sand, hermits and fighting conch. I have great misgivings about 1 emerald crab, let alone 5.
Very few creatures will eat long hair algae. Give it a trim with a toothbrush (wind and yank) and they'll go for it a lot better.
Also watch your downflow teeth: this can block up when hair algae is cut loose, and it can cause overflow. Toothbrush.

I second the toothbrush. I had a problem w/long hair algae on the back end of my tank and rock. It took 1 hour with a toothbrush, cleaned the overflows out, and it's all gone.

[Greg129]

The tank has been setup for two months. The algae started about two weeks ago. The tank didn't cycle because I used cured liverock from a previous setup. Do I need to QT the snails that you all have recommended? I have no cleanup crew or fish or corals yet. Thanks.

[Sk8r]

I've never qt'd a snail or crab---maybe I've been lucky, but I've never had a problem. Just be as careful to drip-acclimate as if they were expensive fish. Shrimp, particularly, are subject to osmotic shock and can die if not acclimated very slowly (set the bag in bucket and add a turkey-baster full of tank water every 15 minutes for an hour or two.

[Mariner]

Ok, now we're on to something :D Sounds pretty normal for a two-month old tank.
Get a clean up crew in there!
You don't need to QT them IMO, but you should acclimate snails VERY slowly (adding a little tank water to the bag, dumping a little down the drain -- or some similar process -- over an hour or two).
HTH,
Mariner

[Herpn]

Is it green or redish brown? It sounds like it may be Cyano and not just hair. I think you phosphates may be too high? Are you using RO water or tap water?

Try runing some phosphate sponge through a hang on back filter.

Good luck.
Chuck

[Greg129]

It's green and I used RO water to fill the tank and I am using it to top it off. Thanks, Mariner. I didn't know that it was normal for a tank to start out algae free then go algae crazy two months later. lol.

I'm not sure how I would get phosphates if I am using RO and don't have any stock yet. I'm running activated carbon. Would it hurt to add the phosphate remover as well? I'll pick up some snails tomorrow.

[Herpn]

Ya hold off on going crazy. Let it cycle for a bit..

Sounds like hair algae..

Good Luck.

[Greg129]

Let what cycle? My tank didn't go through the nitrogen cycle because I used live rock from a previous setup. Do you mean algae cycle?

[irisheyes]

A Lawnmower Blenny is great, but does better if you pull out the long stuff, as Sk8r said. They eat all day and have great personality. I really like mine!

[Herpn]

Generally when you set up a new tank it will cycle. I set a new tank up and used much or my old equipment, water, rock etc. I had a small cycle.

[Greg129]

I checked the water parameters last week and they were fine. I'll test again tomorrow to double check. Thanks for everyone's help so far. I'll keep you all updated. I plan on buying snails tomorrow.

[Kimmy]

The sea hares rock. They are so ugly. My sea hare just gobbles the stuff..eats it right off the backs of my snails.

[Silencer]

I would let it go for now. My tank also got some hair algae at about the 2 month mark. It grew a lot for about 2 weeks then kinda died away over the next 2 weeks. For a few days during the peak I would stick my arm in and grab huge bunches of it and pull it out of the tank, but that's all I ever did to combat it. Tank was fairly ugly for a few weeks but now it's all gone and I don't have any creatures that are going to starve cus they ran out of food.

[tkenm377]

Your best bet you be to pick out as much as you can with your hand, or get some rubble rock to deprive it of sunlight because your lights are what is fueling the growth of the hair algae; after you do this then I would suggest letting a mithrax or a lawnmower blenny go to town.

[Kimmy]

I assume you are refering to the sea hare starving? My hair algae is almost gone and my sea hare is munching on an algae strip hanging from a clip right now as we speak. The Tang is bugging him for it too. My tank has been up for years and it didn't have green hair algae until I bought that huge rock with the algae on it. I agree that finding the cause and fixing it is always the best solution to a problem. I was simply stating that the sea hares do love the stuff!!:) Kimmy

[Alaskan Reefer]

Harvest by hand / toothbrush, then have a mexican turbo or two finish off the job. Getting rid of the problem is definitely the priority, though.

As far as sources for phosphate, so you feed frozen shrimp or the like? Mysis, or more specifically the juice Mysis is packed in is loaded with phosphate.

[Silencer]

Kimmy, I didn't mean sea hares in particular but was speaking more generally about a tendency to overstock a cleanup crew to quickly combat a temporary problem.

The simple fact is that most of the time these problems go away by themselves with little or no intervention required.

[Kimmy]

I agree..I really do think the sea hare is a cool creature though.:)