xenia growth

[fishbait]

i was really wanting to get a sea hare until i read up on them. i'm afraid they will poison my tank. has anyone here ever had it to happen? i dont know which would be worse. having algae and fish, or having no algae and no fish:mrgreen: does the algae have any adverse affects on any of my tank inhabitants? i'm assuming my nitrates are pretty high because i have a lot of sargassum plants that started coming up in my rock since day one. they are thriving very well. i have heard that they are next to impossible to keep. i dont know if that's true or not. and i also have a green macro algae growing out of the rock. i dont remember the name of it. but i guess all aquatic plants, including algae, needs nitrates and phosphates to survive? i think the greenery is pretty in the tank, even hair algae. to a point. i just wish it could be controlled and kept a minimum without totally destroying it.

 

[sasscuba]

U need to test for TDS and phosphates. Tackle the problem.

 

[sasscuba]

Sea Hare is temporary.

 

[yote]

I'll agree fish,some hair makes for a more natural look.But its way to easy to let it get outta control.Plus ive found that once you get it down,then its easier to get under control.
When I got my hare my algae was way beyond control.After 2 weeks its was all gone,and now my hare and snails get it as soon as it comes up.
As for the hares being dangerous to your system,Ive got mine off power heads,picked him and moved him outta my way for cleaning,even picked him up moved him to the other side of the tank and he's not once offered to ink the tank.Even caught my clowns trying to host him the other night.

 

[Bifferwine]

I grab my sea hare all the time. Move her to where I want her to be. I think she appreciates the help :D.

 

[fishbait]

maybe their not as spooky to own as i thought. i haven't had any luck finding one in pet stores. have you had any luck ordering one online and it being live when you get it. i kinda afraid to order live creatures online and having them shipped.

 

[sasscuba]

A healthy tank should not have a sea hare in it full time. Temporarily they are great to help you remove the hair algae. I had one for 2 weeks before it was sucked into my Seio 1500 and he was toast. Manual removal is the best. I used to have a huge hair algae problem. Find out why it is there and tackle that problem. I used to think the same thing it looks more natural with it in there....WRONG. Wait until it is gone and you will see how much better it looks.

Have you tested for phosphates? If you have a bunch of hair algae sometimes your test will show 0 because the algae is consuming it.

Get a phosphate reactor and watch what happens. They are only like $30 plus a cheap pump to run them. Within in 2 weeks of installing my reactor all hair algae was gone!

Have you tested for TDS? Total dissolved solids?

You want near to 0 as possible or when you top-off your tank you will be feeding it with unwanted nutrients from high TDS water....

I got my meter for $15 off Ebay and found out the LFS I was getting my pre-mixed saltwater from had a TDS in their RO water of 175ppm!

Now I get my own RO water from a local grocery store that has a TDS of 4ppm and make my own saltwater for $.50 a gallon.

I tested my friends water and he was getting his RO from Wal-Mart not knowing it was crap and had a TDS of 75ppm.

Once I started adding good water and a phosphate reactor the hair algae was gone.

Also you want a bunch of snails. Mexican turbo are the best to eat hair algae. Cerith are also very good. You want at least 1 snail per gallon of water to have a great clean-up crew.

In my 125 gallon I have over 150 different snails and my tank looks awesome.

You want greenery in tank add it later in natural ways through corals, fish, or natural saltwater plants.

Hope I helped.....Scott.

 

[sasscuba]

Also you want to take turkey baster and periodically blow off your live rock to remove trapped detrius so it gets into the water column and gets out of the tank by your skimmer or filter. If you don't have clean rocks the detrius within will feed the algae. If you have a really bad rock with alot of crevices you can "cook" the rock for 2 months and all algae will be gone.

You just stick the rock or rocks in a bucket with a heater and a powerhead in the dark for 2 months changing the water every week and that rock will come out looking like new. The coralline algae with still be there and the bacteria will not die off during this process.

Spend sometime on other forums also. Best information I have ever got was from Reef Central Online Community.

 

[fishbait]

thanks for the info sasscuba. i have never heard of TDS before. i had no clue on the amount of snails either. i guess my two snails aren't near enough for my 55 gallon.:D i see you're from tulsa. i'm just an hour and 15 minutes south of you. i'm sure you have been in ultimate reefs in tulsa? that's an awesome place. i went and looked around for a while. but didn't have money to buy anything. just happened to drive by and see it. my wife drug me out kicking and screaming an hour later.

 

[sasscuba]

Yes 2 snails in a 55 is not enough....:shock: ...I shop mainly at Ultimate reefs and Premier Aquatics which is one mile down the road when my wife lets me.:mrgreen:

 

[VAreef]

I only have 5 turbo snails in my 65 but also have a few stomalla(sp?), and a few astrias? No where near the 1 per gallon rule and my tank has very little of an algae problem. My phosphates and nitrates test out at zero though and I do a 10 gallon water change with di water I make at home weekly and I use a sump with a lot of macro algae in it. I did have a bad brown algae problem shortly after the tank cycled but some big water changes followed by regular weekly water changes and testing have ensured that algae problem didn't return. Don't have a TDS meter but I use my DI filter for make up water and water changes and always run it way below its 10 gallon/hr spec. I think the best defense against algae is taking away its food source vice adding in things that eat it after it has grown. I'm not exactly your most qualifed person on the subject though just what I have seen so far in my experience. If there isn't any food for the algae it won't grow. Good water chemistry and a slow methodical approach seems to be the key in this hobby.