When the algae in your aquarium become a nuisance, consider this a sign that something is wrong in your aquarium. Algae need light and nutrients to propagate...so check these factors:
First, check your light levels. Correct kind of lighting? Kept on too long, tank too close to a window, allowing for extra sunlight?
In most cases, excess algal growth is casued by "too much fertilizer" in your tank. High nutrient levels. Have you done routine water changes? Is your circulation and aeration adequate? (About 3 power heads in different locations to produce current, ) Check nitrate levels, then check pH, carbonate hardness, and phospate. Most fish shops will do this for you if you are a regular customer.
If parameters out of balance, correct those.
You are on the right idea to control your "nutrient level" with garbage-eating critters. Hermit crabs, ser urchins, snails are all garbage removers. I have a sally lightfoot crab, lots of hermit crabs, snails, and two serpent stars who are all reef safe and help eat extra nutrients, like left over food, detritus, algae in the tank. However, if you have the brown mucous slime covering most of the bottom and the tank contents, this algae must be physically removed with a siphon, and you should conduct a 50 percent water change over several days.
In my fish only tank I have 2 horseshoe crabs which imbed in the sand and surface about every two weeks. You must have at least a 2 inch sand bed for these critters. Gravel bottom will not do. You must decrease th amount of detritus in the tank so that your filters are not overwhelmed. By detritus I mean a combination of fish wastes, uneaten food that sinks and decays on the bottom. If not removed, this waste breaks down into ammonia and overwhelms the nitrogen cycle. This result will in turn disturb your water chemistry and ultimately harm your fish.
I do not vacuum by sand bed, because I would only be throwing sand away. My sand is two to three inches thick and contains beneficial bacteria which serve as biological filters. I would get a large population of hermit crabs, 25 blue legged babies, a few large turbos snails and several serpent stars. Also small brittle stars may be okay. But, don't count on them eating the brown algae, they will keep the decayed material down so you don't grow the bad stuff.
Do you have lots of live rock? How long have you had it? Live rock may not be mature yet in housing all those microscopic organisms that break down waste. It must go through a cycle of maturation. In the end it has a very positive impact on the stability and biological balance of your tank. It took me 6 months to a year to get rid of all the algae blooms, including brown slime, then later the green hairY type. PATIENCE.
These are some ideas. Hope it helps.
c-c
02-08-2007, 03:20 PM
Sand stirring crabs? 
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