cleaning crew question.

i have just started to notice hair algae in my tank. it is sprouting from a zoanthid frag that i bought about a month and a half ago. i tried cleaning it by hand and not much luck. i cant move it because it has finally become attached to the rock that i want it to and that itself is a piece of base rock. as far as cleaning goes i have 3 hermits and 2 nassisarius snails in my 20 gallon. i had two peppermint shrimp but that whole deal went down in flames. what would be a good cleaner to take care of the problem before it gets out of hand? AND NO PEPPERMINT SHRIMP! haha.

 

Snails and hermits

 

my snails and hermits havent touched any algae in the tank. i dont really understand. i was thinking a shrimp or something. any ideas?

 

Well, there are a few questions to be asked first...
How old is the tank?
How old is your lighting?
Do you use Ro/Di or Tap?
Weekly water changes?
Parameters?

Snails and hermits may help, but there is another reason for that issue and rather than "Bandage it, maybe we can help you find the underlying cause... With those other questions Ive asked, we may be able to find its source and better understand your situation...

 

my tank is about 3 to four months old. i have had an algae bloom already and it has not been a problem since. i also had a problem with suspended algae but that has for the most part cleared up. my nitrates and nitrites are zero. ammonia is zero. my lights are about 6 months old. i have odysea pc component lights with 1200 k sunlights and actinic bulbs. it isnt all over my tank its just in one area. it isnt fast growing and it looks very stringy. i just want it out. haha.

 

oh and i use ro water and weekly water changes are done.

 

Check out reefcleaners.org, I just placed an order with them, and they were very helpful, I didnt realize how weak my cuc was until i talked to John. Very reasonable by the way.

 

Shrimp don't eat algae esp hair algae... Green nudibranchs work wonders on hair algae. Snails do well also IF the hair isn't too long, once it gets long they won't touch it. One algae commonly mistaken as HA is bryopsis, which it is most definitely not, really no critters eat it, you then need to fight back with elevated magnesium levels.

 

x2 on reefcleaners, I just placed an order last night.. get various kinds of snails/hermits etc.. they all have their own task.. my 55g was weak too.

after I get my order in on tuesday, I'll have a pretty good CUC finally.

55g tank

100 nassaruis snails
50 cerith snails
12 turbo snails
2 red leg scarlet hermits
5 blue leg hermits
1 white leg hermits
10 nerite snails
5 perkiwinkle snails
2 emerald crabs
1 starfish
1 fuzzy chiton

Am I missing anything?

 

100 nassarius for a 55 sounds like WAY too much to me. Personally I wouldn't add anymore than 20