hermit question?

In my 20 gallon i have both normal red hermit crabs and smaller blue hermits. i have noticed some small amounts of algaes in my newer 3 gallon and i was wondering what type of hermit would be the best way to control this? i was just going to take a hermit or two from my 20 and switch him over. any other algae control ideas? i would really like to keep this under control or to eliminate it as soon as possible. for the record, yes i am using ro/di water.

 

What type of algae is it? That's important in choosing what you put in there to get rid of it. You want to make sure that you are adding something that will solve the problem.

 

exactly. thats why i come here. lol it almost looks like GHA but i know for a fact it is not. the algae strand itself is much thicker. i would get a picture but it is a very small patch and it wouldnt be useful at all really.

 

I've never seen hermits actually work on hair algae directly. IMO the best common hair algae cleaners are turbo snails but they get big and are pretty clumsy and can knock things around. I find cerith and trochus snails are the second best cleaners although depending what type of algae it is the snails may or may not touch it.

 

how about a couple emerald crabs? mine seem to be constantly picking at my live rock, and I have heard they can control hair algae to some extent.

~Will.

 

+1

i purchased two emerald crabs for my 37 gallon and my lr has been squeeky clean since ive had them, just make sure there is enough to satisfy the apetite of an emerald crab though. they arent sand sifters like hermits are.

 

i think i will go with another emerald crab. the emerald in my 20 does a good job of cleaning. its just that there is so much for him to clean at the moment. lol thanks guys.