[Jeremy0322]

As some of you know I currently have a 20 gallon temporary tank until i get the 55 the way that i want it(drilling and making the sump). I didnt have this problem until i added the lighting, and then the algae came out. It is not out of control, but there is alot of it it seems. When my check gets in I am going to go to the LFS and grab a few more cleaner crew critters like snails and stuff, but is there maybe a small blenny or goby that will eat algae, maybe a small fish that likes hair algae. I am just looking at this as an opportunity to add a little more color and life to the tank.

Temp - 78
Salinity - 1.026
Nitrate - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - Really tiny
-It is late and i am too lazy to get the card out and see what it said, but it was close to 0)
PH - 8.0
Calcium - 400(somewhere around there, dont know how the test kit is)
Phosphate - 0

I dont have an Alkalinity test kit yet, but that is one of the next few things to get. Didn't come with the tank and i was short on cash after the initial purchase.

I know some of these may be zero because of the algae consuming it but I am alright with that right now. I also just added some live sand and the bloom came around the same time of that. Can anyone think why this happened. The light went on the tank about a week before the sand went in and i started noticing it the day after the sand. All I have in there is a Ocellaris Clown and 2 hermit crabs plus around 20-30 SMALL snails that came with the live rock i got from the person i bought the tank from. I also have a Rio 600 running my skimmer and 2 Koralia 1's at 400 gallons per hour. I am assuming flow is not the problem at around 50x per hour. Thanks in advance for the help.

[dinor2]

I'm in the same boat as you are Jeremy. I just upgraded my lights, plus added another 20#'s of ls to make a dsb in my 55gal. Have one percula clown, good size cuc, until the hair and bubble algae started up.

I'm going to try hand harvesting both on Sunday while I do my water change. I figure the syphon would be helpful in getting as much of that out as possible. But I too am looking at a fish or two that would eat hair algae along with the other in there.

Would either of these fish work, anyone?

1 red lip blenny
1 sleeper blue dot goby

These guys are on my stock list, but thinking about adding one of them in the next couple of weeks.... I'd love to hear about what fish eat that hair algae too!

[Jeremy0322]

No ideas??

[pogodzib]

Most fish don't eat hair algae. The only fish that I am aware of that people have a good success rate are an lawnmower blenny, foxface lo, and tangs. The foxface and tangs require a large tank and the lawnmower blenny will only eat very short algae. Even with these fish, your chances of them eating the algae isn't very good. Hand harvesting, keeping your alk high, water quality high, etc... will help the most. Besides for that, there are other options that you could try after that such as adding a phosban reactor, "cooking" your LR, removing your LR and brushing off the algae with a tooth brush, etc...

First though, you should figure out why the algae is showing up in the first place. You say that you added light and sand and the algae could be feed from either source, along with water quality. There is a reason why many/most people say that an RO/DI unit is a must with a reef tank. With the powerful lighting, algae shows up much more often and grows much quicker if the water quality is poor. So, do you use an Ro/DI unit or tap water? Next, just to rule out the light, are the bulbs made for a saltwater tank, and not for freshwater/plants/etc..? (Don't laugh, I have seen it done before so I had to ask.) Third, was the sand that you added previously in an aquarium before? If it has, it may have detritus (waste) built up in it. Also, what size and type of sand is it and did you rinse it before putting it in your tank?

[dfurbee]

Get a lettuce nudibranch, they love hair algae. They are cheap at reeftopia.com

[dinor2]

Originally Posted by pogodzib

Most fish don't eat hair algae. The only fish that I am aware of that people have a good success rate are an lawnmower blenny, foxface lo, and tangs. The foxface and tangs require a large tank and the lawnmower blenny will only eat very short algae. Even with these fish, your chances of them eating the algae isn't very good. Hand harvesting, keeping your alk high, water quality high, etc... will help the most. Besides for that, there are other options that you could try after that such as adding a phosban reactor, "cooking" your LR, removing your LR and brushing off the algae with a tooth brush, etc...

First though, you should figure out why the algae is showing up in the first place. You say that you added light and sand and the algae could be feed from either source, along with water quality. There is a reason why many/most people say that an RO/DI unit is a must with a reef tank. With the powerful lighting, algae shows up much more often and grows much quicker if the water quality is poor. So, do you use an Ro/DI unit or tap water? Next, just to rule out the light, are the bulbs made for a saltwater tank, and not for freshwater/plants/etc..? (Don't laugh, I have seen it done before so I had to ask.) Third, was the sand that you added previously in an aquarium before? If it has, it may have detritus (waste) built up in it. Also, what size and type of sand is it and did you rinse it before putting it in your tank?

Well, I finally decided, and my husband agrees, that before I lost my lawnmower blenny, there wasn't an algae problem. And the only reason I lost the blenny was I didn't know that the half black angels do a lot of algae grazing themselves so it starved the blenny!

Sooooo, my husband has graciously offered to get me another lawnmower blenny or another blenny that eats algae for Valentines Day!

I guess it didn't occur to me before how much algae the blenny ate! Never underestimate a lawnmower blenny, I say! I'll post again how the algae is in the dt after I have added a blenny, I really think that's where mine is coming from since my water quality is excellent.

P.S. I do use ro/di water in my tank, sand was new live sand.

[Jeremy0322]

I think it was the sand in my case. After i added it i moved my heater because it didnt look nice with the way the rocks were, and i just slid it across the back of the tank. As the algae grew it made this nice little clean streak on the back that was the path of the heater, so I am probably just going to have to do a decent water change and clean the algae out of the tank. It is too small for a lawnmower blenny(only 20 gallon) but it should be all fixed now. And i used Distilled water from walmart at the moment.

[Jeremy0322]

Alright, so today i finally got sick of all this **** algae. I got home and plugged the small power filter back in, and added some Kent Phosphate Sponge(Phosphate and Silicate Absorber). I then removed a few of the really bad rocks and brushed them off with a tooth brush and then cleaned most of the sides of the tank. I was getting little hair algae pieces all through the water so decided to stop that. I then took the big light off and put the crappy one back on, it is like 10 watts for a 20 gallon, so the algae should not like that. Is there anything else that I can do, or should i just wait a few days and see what happens. If i get my check tomorrow I am going to go get some more crabs and like 5 snails so that will help.

[Jeremy0322]

Here are a few pictures of what I am dealing with.


-The wall on the right is almost covered...


- You can see it growing on one of the rocks here...

[das04j]

I had the same problem when I added my t5 sys. The best critter to get is a blue tuxedo urchin. Reef safe and cute. The only down fall is they like to also chomp on coraline. But mine seemed to just be marginal.

[Jeremy0322]

I would just like to know where it is coming from. I am almost positive it was the sand that i added, i was not aware that you were supposed to wash sand before you put it in the tank. I think it is the sand because right after i put it in i moved my heater by sliding it across the back glass and where the suction cup was slid the glass stayed clean. It just seems to weird that it all happened right after the sand and then i noticed that. I have the lights off and Kent Phosphate Sponge in the power filter, plus i cleaned rocks off and other stuff so it should be clearing up shortly hopefully. I was going to get a lawnmower blenny just because i think they are awesome but i do not know if my tank is big enough. It is a 20 long(30x12x12)

[dinor2]

Originally Posted by Jeremy0322

I would just like to know where it is coming from. I am almost positive it was the sand that i added, i was not aware that you were supposed to wash sand before you put it in the tank. I think it is the sand because right after i put it in i moved my heater by sliding it across the back glass and where the suction cup was slid the glass stayed clean. It just seems to weird that it all happened right after the sand and then i noticed that. I have the lights off and Kent Phosphate Sponge in the power filter, plus i cleaned rocks off and other stuff so it should be clearing up shortly hopefully. I was going to get a lawnmower blenny just because i think they are awesome but i do not know if my tank is big enough. It is a 20 long(30x12x12)

I'm so sorry to hear about the algae. I'm dealing with a case of it too after losing my lawnmower; which if I were you I would find a small one, it's recommended for 30gal but, if you have plenty of lr I would think it'd be fine. But here's another blenny you might consider https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/...fm?pCatId=2561

I do believe that a blenny is almost, or possibly even is, a must in a reef tank. They help control algae so well, probably depending on what type of blenny. Let us know what you find!