hair algea, lawnmower blenny,? others

[Jahn]

i know this has been discussed before.
hair algea control
lawnmower blenny did such a good job he died ( wouldn't take anything else)
wondering what else might be good at eating it and would take other foods too.

 

[Amazon]

I've heard that a foxface rabbitfish can help.

 

[stingythingy45]

I never had any luck with a LMB eating HA.Even when it was short.
I'd focus more on removing nutrients that feed it as well as phosphates.
Look into running a phosphate reactor.
I also keep my calcium,alk and Mg. high so that coralline algae claims the rock surfaces.

 

[cakemanPA]

My Orange Spotted Rabbit Fish is a PIG with any sort of algae growth. But his favorite is green hair algae. He has cleaned it all out of the tank. I pluck the bits from the overflow and feed him nice green snacks. But like I said he eats everything and I have never seen him bother anyone or anything else in the tank.

 

[jbishop]

I had a lawnmower and that works awesome, accepts other foods(lucky i guess).

I also have a Tomini Tang that does a good job too, im not sure if that is common.

 

[alpha0r]

A yellow tang will much down on hair algae. But if your problem is severe, you might try to treat the cause (high organics) rather than control the symptoms (nuisance algae).

 

[BigDora]

Turbo Snail

I just added a turbo snail because the hair algae was really starting to get a hold on my rocks. In the past 2 days, the one snail has completely cleaned the algae off of one big rock. I'm thinking about turning on the lights for longer to get some algae back.

 

[Ray]

Seahairs, that is all they eat
I have also used mex turbo snails as well as a few fish, both kinds of rabbitfish and various tangs but the fish were always hit or miss.

 

[alpha0r]

Mexican turbos eat algae like crazy but it has to be short. The only bad part about them is they are big and strong so they knock stuff over.

You could also try skimming wetter and feeding a bit less. Even better you could add a fuge.

 

[phaedraeos]

I've heard that a foxface rabbitfish can help.

Mine cleared up my hair algae problem in less than 48 hours after introduction

I too now take hair algae and green algae out of the fuge and feed it to him as a snack, since there's none left in the main thank!

 

[beireefer]

i sometimes find my ghost shrimps, collected locally, eating algae off the gorgonians and off the snail shells, and i hate the way astrea snails leave marks on the glass after eating brown algae

 

[jbishop]

i hate the way astrea snails leave marks on the glass after eating brown algae

Agreed.

A good CUC is a must.

 

[maurod]

The absolute, bar none, hands down grazer of algae - mexican turbos. I've seen them eat chaeto like spaghetti and mow down rocks of bryopsis in a night.

 

[CamaroJWeed]

I have tried to go the path of finding something that would get rid of it and ended up just using the advise of some of the other posters...get rid of the source...i started over skimming, feeding less and use a nylon brush to remove as much as I could, i then bumped up my kalk dosing to help push back any trace amounts of phosphate (and my readings were always zero, but I knew it was there) i changes my phosban more often, and eventually it never came back...

My Orange Spotted rabbit,4 tangs, (and several other grazers) and crabs and snails would usually not touch the stuff(at least not enough to keep the growth down)...they were usually happy waiting for what ever I was going to feed them...so I did the above and within about 3 weeks of really focusing on this, I have not seen it since...

I would avoid getting a fish to fix this, every fish is different, even the same species, so it is hit or miss if it will work, and even if it does, once it is gone, there is no guarentee you will have a fish that will live on supplimental food...

JMO

Jason

 

[dsiu25]

i sometimes find my ghost shrimps, collected locally

that sounds interesting.. where do you collect them?

 

[ReeferMedic]

All of the above are good suggestions. Orange Spotted Rabbitfish are by far the best hair algae/bryopsis eaters in the Rabbitfish Family imo/ime. I have 3 different species of Rabbitfish in my system and they all eat it. They get quite large though. I've found that long spined diadema urchins are fantastic for hair algae and bryopsis control also.



http://www.diadema.org/

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/diadema.html

 

[biggyclops]

The absolute, bar none, hands down grazer of algae - mexican turbos. I've seen them eat chaeto like spaghetti and mow down rocks of bryopsis in a night.

AGREED! i had one in my refugium and had to take it out.. it was a buffet of cheato for that guy

 

[jamesdong009]

I was battling hair algae for years. I tried sea hares, a yellow tang, an assortment of snails, and other inverts.

All of the above kept the HA under control, but nothing really erradicated the algae...that is until I got a Foxface. Within a week, I had nothing left.