Green hair algae--thanx for the advice

[David Moyer]

My tank has been running for about 5 weeks. I had a bad case of gha--so much I didn't like my tank any more. I asked u guys for advice and it pretty much worked. 95 percent of it is gone. I did 2-3 water changes a week and got 2 emarald crabs. Tank looks clear and pretty good. Thank you. I think I'm gonna continue to do 2 water changes a week (distilled water).
I'm a little worried about the emarald crabs now. Since there is hardly any more gha, r they gonna start eating other thinks. I got some hermits, some snails, a feather duster, and just got some zoas, Kenya tree, and my favorite ( so far), pulsing xenia. R my corals doomed by the emarald crabs? Should I try to get them out(probably impossible)? Or just let nature take its course?

Thanks again for all your help. I'm sure I'll need again, and again, and.....

 

[fort384]

Emerald crabs have in some cases been known to eat soft coral, but it seems to be pretty rare. If you offer supplemental feedings it will probably be fine.

 

[ktomminello]

I swear by turbo snails, I had a horrible case, I love crabs so I got a mith and a few dwarf blue foot hermits- they hardly did anything in 2 weeks, bought a turbo snail and a few astreas and 4 days later it was manageable again. Just my experience.

 

[David Moyer]

So far I had bad luck with turbo snails. Don't know if my aquarium (biocube 14) is to new for them or not. Everything else does ok, except for those turbo's.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Turbos will eat it but they also knock over corals and even unstable live rock. I avoid them just because they can create a new problem after helping solve another. It may take them some time to topple things but once it happened a couple of times that was it. Evicted. If things are improving that much right now then you may be very close to regaining control of the algae. Just never overfeed. Hair algae can go instantly into overdrive in small skimerless tanks with only a little to much food.

If you can get the emeralds out you may only want to keep one. The others may need to much food to keep them happy once the algae is taken care of. Having to add food just for the CUC can sometimes be counterproductive. Honestly, a 14 should struggle to support one once the tank comes into balance.

 

[ktomminello]

Turbos will eat it but they also knock over corals and even unstable live rock. I avoid them just because they can create a new problem after helping solve another. It may take them some time to topple things but once it happened a couple of times that was it. Evicted. If things are improving that much already then you may already be very close to regaining control of the algae already. Just never overfeed. Hair algae can go instantly into overdrive in small skimerless tanks with only a little to much food.

If you can get the emeralds out you may only want to keep one. The others may need to much food to keep them happy once the algae is taken care of. Having to add food just for the CUC can sometimes be counterproductive. Honestly, a 14 should struggle to support one once the tank comes into balance.

I have to agree, but even 1 emerald crab isn't a good idea if you want corals, unless you are feeding him, but I guarantee that will lead to poor water quality without constant monitoring. If snails won't live in your tank there is a possibility that your tank is in the last part of its cycle- snails are VERY sensitive to nitrates and would die if exposed to the final trate spike in a cycle.... I do understand avoiding the bumbling nature of a turbo snail, ceriths or astrea are great for smaller tanks.... Dwarf hermits are pretty cool too