Hey, I have been having some major problems with hair algae and cyano that grows on top of the hair...Its been driving me crazy for the past few weeks. I just did a major water change to my 30 gal tank. I put in about 4 scarlet reef hermits and 3 emerald crabs. I ripped off most of the hair with my fingers and removed what i can of the cyano. Thiink these hermits and crabs can keep it all under control??? I have in my tank a flame angel, purple firefish, bi color bleeny, and an algae bleeny... What do you guys think???
Few ???s
- Thread starter Mr.5150
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kidafius
Aquarium Advice Freak
I think you did the right thing by removing it. Sallie Lightfoot crabs or nudibranch will munch the hair algae, but you should siphon the cyano out, if possible.
reefrunner69
Aquarium Advice Addict
What are your water parameters? Specifically Nitrate and PO4.
Are you using RO/DI water for waterchanges and top off?
Do you use a protien skimmer?
Are you using RO/DI water for waterchanges and top off?
Do you use a protien skimmer?
Hey thanks for all the help so far guys...I use a sea clone protein skimmer. And i only use RO/DI water from a Pure Water store. I have seemed to removed most of the cyano and the hair algae...well some of it is still in there...I can't seem to remove it all by hand...Think the hermits and emeralds can take care of it from growing back??? Any other help is appreciated...Thanks!
S
steve-s
Guest
Even though purchased from a "trusted" source you should still test it as a possible contributor. What they determine as sufficiently pure may be open to interpretation.Mr.5150 said:
I would also look into the types of foods you feed the tank as well as frequency of use. They can often be a part of the problem.
Keeping the algaes at bay with manual removal can often help alot. Many animals meant to this task will often ignore these types of algaes if too long. I would also suggest some cerith, nerite and turbo snails for your other algae issues as the crabs will have no affect.
How old is the tank?
Cheers
Steve
The tank is about to be a year old...The water i get from the pure water store is tested and it is pure. I feed only live brine once every other day. I had turbo snails but the hermits killed them and took their shells. I mannually removed most of the hair algae to keep it short. The emeralds seem to be plucking at the algae on the rocks and they seem to be eating them...What do you think...Can i aviod the algae problem from getting worse???
S
steve-s
Guest
Brine even though live will not offer much in the way of nutrition for your animals. Only newly hatched brine will have anything to offer as a food source. I would suggest switching to a fortified flake or other quality prepared marine food.Mr.5150 said:
Providing you keep up with the manual removal, the animals should do the rest except for the film/slime algaes. They will have to burn themselves out as the crabs will have little impact on those.
If the "pure water store" supply has been tested, then I am guessing you have the appropriate test kits for NO3 and PO4? What are the readings from your main tank?
Cheers
Steve
