HA eater

[Mperkins92]

I'm planning on heading to the lfs later today to pick up a fish to eat my HA. I've got a 90 gallon reef tank 4'. The only fish in there are a six line wrasse and a lawnmower blenny who hasn't taken a liking to the HA. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thankyou!

 

[Mperkins92]

 

[PSU4ME]

Tangs are good algae eaters but i would try other means before getting a fish for it.

To answer your post, try a blue spot hare.

Personally I would try to target why the HA is growing and cut off its food source (bad lights, water quality, overfeeding etc).

 

[Mperkins92]

I had some problems with water quality and it grew quite fast after i lost my tang. it seems like its stopped growing now, but i figure a fish for it would be best so that he'll get rid of it and always have a little HA snack when i'm not around

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Here what I would try... these snails would make a serious dent in it, along with good husbandry

18 - Ceriths, 18 - Nassarius, 18 Margarita Turbos, 18 Astrea & Banded Trochus and 12 Mexican Turbos or so...

My Starry Blenny & yellow tang both love algae, but I have so little, I have to add nori daily

 

[dmatt88]

Emerald crabs r good munchers. If you have proper qt procedures a tang can b invaluable in ridding unsightly ha.

........the mayor has spoken

 

[engineer goby]

I agree with everything above. Start siphoning out as much as possible and do some aggressive water changes. Maybe consider running GFO, thats how I deafted my HA outbreak. I also have a tang who picks at it along with ceriths and nassarius snails who keep it under control. I used turbo snail and they destroyed it you could actually see big trails they went thru but for whatever reason they always died on me.

Good luck.

 

[steved13]

+1 on finding the source of the nutrients.

I'm a big fan of the Mexican turbos, they leave nothing but clean rock in their wake in my tank.

 

[ReefApprentice]

Starry blenny eats it like crazy.Dont think it would like your lawnmower much.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Starry blenny eats it like crazy.Dont think it would like your lawnmower much.

Good point !

 

[lbiminiblue]

are starry blennies easy to care for? Are they pod eaters?

 

[ReefApprentice]

they eat pods that are swimming around.They need tank covers.mine jumped twice and caught him in the act.Got a cover month ago.Love any type of alage.

 

[lbiminiblue]

but they'll eat frozen or pellets?

 

[ReefApprentice]

frozen,flake,IDK pellets but probuley yes.Look for a dark FAT one.Skinny ones have parsites as mine just got out of qt from them.

 

[FishBro]

First-
Find the source of nutrients, as stated above.
Second-
Get a better CUC, in my experience, Zebra Turbo snails knock out hair algae in under a week. It is incredible. I would show you before and after pictures, but unfortunately I'm not at a computer that can appropriately due that.

IMO-
I would not get a fish for this task, Motile Inverts (snails and such) are better suited for it.

 

[Mperkins92]

Did not expect so much good advice.
I wish I would have known about the starry blenny sooner but I've already got the yellow tang in the tank (I paid $65 for one that had been quarantined since February) he's taken a liking to the HA.
I agree with the opinions I need to find the source of the problem. I should be able to begin testing tomorrow.
Since it was growing only on the substrate I hoped I could wait for it to stop growing (use up its food) then easily siphon it out. However a small patch has spread to the rock so I'll start treating it more proactively. Thankyou all so much for the quick advice. Pending the tangs progress on the HA and test results over the be week or two I will then decide how strong of a cuc to get.

 

[FishBro]

Phosphates could very well be causing the problem. Do you check for those?

 

[redneckgearhead]

Adding another animal to eat the HA, IME is a giant waste of money. I used the nutrient removing power of HA to my benefit and built an Algae scrubber. Great Info on here http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/diy/71426-algae-scrubber-basics.html Every HA thread on here someone asks the same questions about lighting, RO/DI, and nitrates/phosphates and usually those test indicates low/none, why? Because the HA is very very efficient at using these nutrients. The scrubber takes that cheap, efficient power and uses it for good instead of evil. It takes the HA and gives it a better place to grow instead of your DT it grows in the scrubber, then the algae is harvested weekly taking those nutrients with it. They are cheap and easy to build and IME work beautifully as well as providing a huge food source for pods.

You must remember any animal that you buy to eat the HA will release the nutrients right back into the water column as waste.

 

[FishBro]

Adding another animal to eat the HA, IME is a giant waste of money. I used the nutrient removing power of HA to my benefit and built an Algae scrubber. Great Info on here http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/diy/71426-algae-scrubber-basics.html Every HA thread on here someone asks the same questions about lighting, RO/DI, and nitrates/phosphates and usually those test indicates low/none, why? Because the HA is very very efficient at using these nutrients. The scrubber takes that cheap, efficient power and uses it for good instead of evil. It takes the HA and gives it a better place to grow instead of your DT it grows in the scrubber, then the algae is harvested weekly taking those nutrients with it. They are cheap and easy to build and IME work beautifully as well as providing a huge food source for pods.

You must remember any animal that you buy to eat the HA will release the nutrients right back into the water column as waste.

So improve your filtration system. Skimmers are a great nutrient export tool, same with Cheatomorpha algae (spelling). You can put Cheato in your fuge and it takes up all the nutrients so the HA cant grow. That, along with a boosted CUC will do the trick, IMO, but its up to you, OP.

redneckgearhead-
I do see where you are coming from though, but an easier option is available for nutrient export (i.e. macro algae in sump on a reverse photo-period).

 

[redneckgearhead]

Was you talking to me? or the OP? Skimmers are a great nutrient export IF you catch the nutrients before they get broken down into nitrates/phosphates.