Best Algae Eating Fish for a 55

[Nikkoli110]

I'm getting ready to set up my new 55 gallon tank. I have a 29 now, and most the live rock has a ton of this red flufy algae. It came in on a rock of shrooms and now it covers alot of my live rock. It drives me nuts because it gets stuck in the powerheads, rolls around on the sand, and grows and almost covers some corals. Every time I do a waterchange, I try to scrape and siphon it out, but it keeps growing like nuts. I was thinking of taking taking pieces out and either boiling them, or just letting them dry out in the sun, but I don't want to get rid of all the beneficial life and nice coraline thats on some of them. I really don't want my new tank covered in this stuff, so I would like to find a fish that's a good algae eater, to help cut down on some of this stuff. My new tank will be up within the next month. Any recomendations? My current livestock is a tomato clown, a yellow watchman goby, and a royal gramma. I also have plenty of snails & hermits, but none of them touch this stuff.

 

[~Flighty~]

I had the same stuff and I added some snails and hermits. The snails reproduced (especially some hitchhiker snails) and they eventually cleaned every bit of it out. Here is my http://216.235.242.50/forums/showthread.php?t=11489 post for pictures of the good guys, I always forget their real names. They are a much better bet than a fish for alge removal.

 

[denvig]

Check out this thread it may help if it's the same stuff.

http://216.235.242.50/forums/showthread.php?t=10660&highlight=cotton+candy
and here
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-12/nftt/

 

[Nikkoli110]

Its not the cotton candy stuff, but I did find a link where someone id'd it for me....

http://216.235.242.50/forums/showthread.php?t=6825

Think i might try an Urchin, didn't think about those little guys. Are they all good at algae eating? Or is there a certin kind thats good?

 

[~Flighty~]

A rabbit would most likely eat it, but might get too big.

 

[Triggerfish]

urchin may consume the stuff,,however they are also known to strip the coralline from the rocks as well..
i'm wondering if some mexican turbos would work as well..mine seem to just consume anything in their paths...