brandontucker407
Reefing newb
what animal eats algae fast!
what animal eats algae fast!
- Thread starter brandontucker407
- Start date
BL1
.............
Urchins eat algae fast, they've cleared out massive amounts of plant growth on the west coast. Also, my first blenny cleared out an entire tank of hair algae in a week
Hiker4twenty
Reef enthusiast
Sea hares are supposed to be the best for algae eradication. Also you need to find out the cause of the algae and clear that up.
yote
In Memoriam
+1 Dave
Urchins and hares are probably the fastest.But you still need to remove as algae as possible by hand and figure out where its nutrients are coming from.
Urchins and hares are probably the fastest.But you still need to remove as algae as possible by hand and figure out where its nutrients are coming from.
bjohanson1234
.........
Also, what kind of algea? I am assuming green hair algea. But there are so many kinds of algea in marine tanks and some animals only eat a specific kind.
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
True that some species are particular to certain types of algae, but if you have any dinoflagellates mixed in there, it can be toxic to most of the species that will eat algae. I lost several algae terminators during my battle.
Bifferwine
I am a girl
Me too. When I had dinos, I lost a lawnmower blenny, several snails and a few urchins. Basically anything that touched them.
imdaring
love my reef
lawn mower blenny
mennazeher04
Reefing newb
Can I be stupid for a moment and ask what dinoflagellates are?:question::shock:
andysgirl8800
Blenny Badlands
Dinoflagellates, A.K.A. "Dinos" are a particularly nasty outbreak that can occur in your tank. Some varieties can slightly resemble hair algae. They can grow very fast and can often cover any surface in your tank, to include powerheads, cables, rocks, glass, etc. If you look closely, you can see little bubbles in or on the ends of dinos.
Many types of dinos are toxic and can slowly poison any of the vegetarians in your tank that try to eat the hair algae and end up ingesting some dinos too. Dinos have, in some theories, been blamed for the death of the dinosaurs and some outbreaks in coastal or reef areas have been called the culprit in mass fish deaths.
Dinos can often bloom up at the same time as an algae outbreak as they are also photosynthetic and also feed on surplus nutrients. They can be very difficult to erradicate, as many members on this forum can attest to. :) This article contains some more detailed and scientific info, if you're interested.
Dinoflagellates
Many types of dinos are toxic and can slowly poison any of the vegetarians in your tank that try to eat the hair algae and end up ingesting some dinos too. Dinos have, in some theories, been blamed for the death of the dinosaurs and some outbreaks in coastal or reef areas have been called the culprit in mass fish deaths.
Dinos can often bloom up at the same time as an algae outbreak as they are also photosynthetic and also feed on surplus nutrients. They can be very difficult to erradicate, as many members on this forum can attest to. :) This article contains some more detailed and scientific info, if you're interested.
Dinoflagellates
