Best eaters for hair algae?

[runway1]

I've heard crabs, tangs, snails and sea hares. I'm doing the right things to keep my hair algae in check (hand removal, PO4 low, etc.) but for the eaters, what works best?

My sea hares gobbled the stuff up and dissappeared the next day! Bummer. Thanks all.

 

[Hara]

actually, you have 7 fish in a 55 gallon tank. I would think you should be seeing some serious nitrates. That would contribute to the hair algae. Phosphates should be zero. Other than that, crabs, snails and seahares.....I like sally lightfoot crabs for this task

 

[schoeplein]

Turbo snails consumed the entire back wall of my tank (which was covered with a thick slime of green hair algae, I never cleaned it) in 3 days....

 

[runway1]

Hara, I did see a spike in NO3. The fish consume every bit of their food and there are plenty of crabs for leftovers. Would this scenario still raise NO3's? From what, fish waste? Thanks again!

 

[schoeplein]

Yup! Lots of fish = heavy skimming & consistent water changes.

 

[Hara]

yes, the waste matter will do it.

 

[runway1]

I have about 10"-11" of fish in my 55 with another 10 gal of sump water. That makes no more than 1" of fish per 5 gallons of water. That's a conservative calculation, it's more like 6 gallons per 1".

Anyhow, that should be a comfortable and suitable load, correct?

 

[Jason]

If you didn't have so many fish I would say a Lawnmower blenny.....

 

[Hara]

That's a conservative calculation, it's more like 6 gallons per 1".

you have 65 pounds of rock and 75 pounds of sand....water displacement being what it is..you do not have that many gallons of water per fish.

 

[runway1]

Yeah, good point, Hara