Algea Issue

[zanoshano]

My tanks collected a lot of algea within the last week or so, im wodering what to get to handle the problem. hermits, snails...etc? im wondering what you all have in your tank to deal with algea, i want to know everybodys experiences with different species, to help me make my decision on what to do to my tank. thanks

 

[DustinKeating]

aah, i think he spelt *** instead of add...

On the other hand, sorry i've no advice.

 

[SALTY WATERS]

What type of algea R U havin' trouble with? Have U check ur water quality lately? Blue leg hermit, Sally lightfoot and Emerald crabs are all very good as clean up crews. As well some Urchins are handy to. It all depends on the type of algea for example the hermits are not going to do anything for bubble algea ware as the emerald will eat this up. So I would recomend finding out what algea u r dealing with and go accordingly. do u have pics so maybe we could help you identify the algea?

 

[seastaar88]

what kind of algae is it?

have you tested your phosphate levels? what are your other water perameters?? if you don't already, go buy some test kits!

to help with algae, my first suggestions is to buy ROWA PHOS! it works miracles!!! it's an iron-based phosphate sponge.

do you have any inverts in your tank already? trochus snails are great with algae on the glass.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

My tank is like 7 month old, got maybe all algae possible. First 'got diatoms, the brown patches. Will clear with time. After that 'got long hair algae, brown or green. Uncool algae. Then green spot. Hard to clear the glasses. Still have some, but it's fading. My tap water contains phosphates. I switched to RO/DI and it's slowly disapearing. Same thing for cyano. Had some but now only a small section of my tank has a little bit. I have 11 snails, and it's ok for my 55 gallons. Don't wanna add too much 'cause they could die of starvation. The best cleaners are nassarius, but they're small. They tend to prefer the glasses, unlike the others except for a enormous turbo snail. Avoid turbos if your corals/rocks are fragile. For their efficiency and size, the best deal i think are astreas. They work night and days.

 

[1979camaro]

all of these suggestions are right on, but you will never get rid of the algae problem if you do not first find the source. its getting nutrients from somewhere so test the water you use for water changes/make up for phosphates, silica, etc and make sure you are not overfeeding. Once you eliminate the source, the algae will begin to disapear just like it has for kahluazzz

 

[dbacksrat]

my tank looks like the amazon because i have phosphate problem--probably from overfeeding
currently, i have 1 turbo snail, 2 astrea snails, 15 cerith snails, 15-20 dwarf blue legged hermit crabs, and an emerald crab in there to combat the algae
also, my yellow watchman goby will occasionally chomp on algae when he feels like it

 

[zanoshano]

i have been trying to feed less at a time this week. I think thats the main source of my problem. Im mostly dealing with long hair algea, on the top of my substrate (sand).
I had a baseball game this morning, but it got cancelled, so i went to the LFS on the way back and i picked up 3 snails, i aleready have one blue leg hermit, and one red hermit, im not sure what it is. I also have some patches on the glass, some spots thicker than others. I plan to make one more trip to the LFS sometime this weekend.

 

[dbacksrat]

zanoshano that sounds pretty much exactly like what i'm dealing with
try taking a sample of water to the lfs for a free test--they can determine if PO4 is your culprit and what you can do about it

 

[SALTY WATERS]

Only on blue leg...how much live rock do you have? you should have at least 1 for every lb of LR, to make much of a difference. And like 1979camaro said you need to find out the root cause of the algea to properly correct the problem.

 

[dbacksrat]

i was suggested 1 hermit per US gallon of water--but the 1 per lb of LR sounds like pretty much the same rule
and what kind of snails do you have?
and one more thing--i just noticed your sig--12 damsels cycling a 38 gallon tank? FOWLR means fish only with live rock--the live rock does the cycling for you...12 damsels is a hell of a lot of fish to be in a tiny 38 gallon--and the fact that they are damsels does not help
i hope you plan on taking back the damsels ASAP or else you will have one big piscicide (aka fish blood bath) on your hands

 

[zanoshano]

yeah i plan to get a lot more. Im thiniugnt hat im gonna get a package deal at my LFS. Cuz ill get like 8 blue legs, 8 scarlet, 10 turbo's, and like 3 emerald crabs ( i like) for like 35.00...I have about 20 lbs of LR right now.

 

[dbacksrat]

what tank is this all for? 3 emeralds might create a territory problem--if you dont feed enough, they have been known to go after fish as well--and for $35 that is no deal (my lfs charges $10 per crab, and a quantity discount would make sense)--but i guess prices are higher in cali
10 turbos is a lot a lot a lot of snails for a tank--i would recommend 1 per 10 gallons of water only because once the algae problem is gone, they will starve
i would get the hermits though--those guys are amazing

 

[zanoshano]

ok, so guess i wouldnt be getting the package deal. They only have one size package, and its supposed to be for a 55 g, i have a 38. So would you say...4 turbos, a bunch of hermits, and two emerald crabs? or only one? I like the blue leg hermits, i also have a buch of abondoned shells for them from another tank.

 

[1979camaro]

try:
1 turbo at the most
1 emerald crab
5 of the smaller hermits
5 astreas

and take the damned damsels back...they are probably the problem, that many fish = a lot of feeding + a lot of pooping = a lot of nutrients = a lot of algae

are you doing water changes regularly? Also, another thing to consider is water flow...if you aren't getting enough circulation algae will tend to develop.....

I know we have talked about this before regarding the damsels: your LFS is run by a bunch of morons because 16 crabs,10 turbos, and 3 emeralds is way too much for a 55

 

[zanoshano]

ok, well as i said before i tried to take them back, but he wouldnt buy them back from me. Ill see my friend zach wants them cuz he's starting a tank right now. I do like 20% water changes weekly.

 

[S.Reef]

For the diatoms in the sand bed I would get a little sifter goby. Maybe a diamond or something. A Yellow Tang for the hair algae on the rocks. And Astrea snails, and some a few emerald crabs for the rest.

 

[1979camaro]

i think a 38g is too small for a tang...could also try a sand sifting star for the sandbed

 

[zanoshano]

thanks guys. i got 20 blue leg hermits today. i plan to add more stuff soon.