What could eat a bunch of hair algae in a 29g?

[STiTCH87]

So my 29g has developed a vast amount of hair algae and I need some form of fish/invert to eat what I cannot remove by hand easily.

I know this doesn't "solve the long-term issue causing the hair" but I already know what that is. I had family maintaining my tank the past week as far as lighting and feedings go and, welp, keeping the light from my bedroom window shining in full blast all day instead of using the shade like I said to, and then having my T5s on for 8-10 hours for 5 days as opposed to my usual 6 really did a number on the tank along with god knows how much food they really fed even though I pre-portioned the food to serve. ALL THAT, along with how convenient of a week for my skimmer to be offline due to repairs.

Luckily with my xmas money I am finally buying an RKL to control my lighting (and heater) so I don't have to rely on others to maintain my multi-thousand dollar tanks anymore.

I'm trying to avoid crabs since I know they like to pick at corals and if hungry enough, ornamental shrimp or even fish because my tank is very, very docile and I don't need no bullies. Was thinking a sea hare or nudibranch. Which would be most effective?

Open to any other suggestions as well. Just please, don't suggest chemicals like that API stuff because not only do I wish to avoid chemicals, but in the case of hair algae, they don't even work anyways.

 

[aiaman]

have you tried turbo's?
I (knock on wood) don't have any algea problems, cause I have a great clean-up crew
turbos, narcissus snails and hermits & brittle star
The turbos are gigantic now and have been with me from the start

 

[s_kelley]

Get a brs gfo carbon reactor. Use it when u have an outbreak until it is under control then they are very easy to disconnect when u don't need it

 

[ava420]

2 emerald crabs wiped out my 55gl in two weeks... mine don't bother any of the sps or lps

just read through the rest of your post... strike the crabs haha sorry.

 

[JayM]

as long as you are willing to give it up once the algae is gone, get a sea hare, and then pass it along to another algae-infested member

 

[nichols]

Ditto on the sea hare. It will quickly clean up a 29. You will need to rehome it once the food source is gone.

as long as you are willing to give it up once the algae is gone, get a sea hare, and then pass it along to another algae-infested member

 

[STiTCH87]

Guess I should mention my CUC. Have in a 29g, one large turbo snail, a baby turbo, 2 peppermint shrimp, 3 nassarius, 2 red legged hermits, 1 blue legged hermit, an astrea snail, an orange spotted goby, and a jester goby.

EDIT: Been very much thinking about a sea hare. Anyone on here have one or want one after me? And not that i'd ever try it, but is it possible to supplement one's diet when all the hair algae is gone? Maybe I could grow hair algae on purpose in a secondary tank? I really think LFSs should all have one to rent, like a carpet vacuum at the market, lol.

 

[nichols]

I got one to cleanup my 210. Cleaned up the 210 in about 3 weeks, moved into a 55 fuge, cleaned it out in about a week, into 30 fuge for a few days and the food supply was gone. Between the combined tanks, there wasn't enough food to keep it long term. After it started losing weight, I gave it to another member.
In short, you won't be able to keep one long term.

 

[Reefer Magreefer]

Pincushion urchins have worked for me.

 

[STiTCH87]

Yeah that's another one i've contemplated picking up. Actually either way i'd be likely to atleast get one of those pincushions because I very much like them.

Maybe i'll be able to find an LFS that would be willing to buy back a sea hare after I buy it from them, even if for a discounted price. Not sure if anyone on here would pick it off me after it's done it's job in my tank.

 

[7IHd]

My tuxedo has eaten some of the shorter hair algae in my tank and he motors ALL around my tank. They're much more attractive than the regular pincushions imo, though mine is a notorious zoanthid stealer haha.

 

[STiTCH87]

What do you mean by zoanthid stealer?

 

[7IHd]

Well, he has a zoanthid frag on his back and has since I got him. And whenever I put a new zoanthid frag in a couple of weeks ago, it was a bit loose on the base, so he managed to pry it from its base haha. But I recovered them and glued them on very tightly, so he wasn't able to get them off again (he tried). He hasn't touched any of my other frags, though, and just wears the green zoas he came with. (His name's Spike, my gf's daughter named him after the Buffy character haha).

 

[STiTCH87]

Lol that's awesome. Do you have a picture of this "decorator urchin" as he seems to be? Sell him to a n00b as a new species of urchin, hah.

Yeah I definitely want an urchin of some form. Probably a red pincushion.

 

[nitr8]

Get a brs gfo carbon reactor. Use it when u have an outbreak until it is under control then they are very easy to disconnect when u don't need it

+1. I've heard a lot of good things.

 

[MrCote]

My coral Banded shrimp picks at hair alagae all over my tank. He reaches into crevices with his claws and cleans everything out. I just added a new coral to my tank that had some hair algae growing out of it and I watched him go over to it and clean pretty much all of the hair algae off.

 

[stingythingy45]

I've used the green phos removal foam pads that fit in a hob filter and had it work.
They're not very expensive and come in a sheet that you cut to size with sissors.
Just make sure the water can still overflow the pad without going over the filter wall if it plugs up.
Change every couple of days.This seemed to work in a 20L frag tank.

 

[STiTCH87]

I don't run any filtration. Just a skimmer, which is currently offline. =\
If all goes according to plan, I wanna get my skimmer up and running again, then get a sea hare to eat all the hair algae I can't manually reach, and then return or sell him.

 

[stingythingy45]

If the skimmer was offline for a while then i'm sure this helped the HA grow,not just the sunlight.

Anyways,here's what the sponge pads kind of look like.

http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+8057+4343&pcatid=4343