The cure to hair algae

[mengyang_neo]

HI guys, I think i found the ways to cure hair algae.

First of all I think most of the people has read reading about keeping water free of PO4, nitrate and low nutrient, etc......

I also read all the above but hair algae still come and look for me, so prevention is not good enough will have to cure it, I tried plucking them every few days, very tiring job and the hair algae actually grow more. Hence I surf the net to see which animal actually it hair algae!!!!!

The answer is sea hare, but a lot mention they are not easy to keep and will die after a few days or when all algae is gone. So I tried my luck, and get the sea hare. Very effective worker, start plucking and eating hair algae the moment it go into the tank. But the plucking is not clean so that is where my black sea urchin and powder blue tang come in. Powder blue dun eat long hair algae but after the hair algae is trimmed, he will go and peck.

Hence my conclusion is to clear hair algae must have a package of cleaning crew, sea hare to trim the algae, sea urchin and tang to finish off the rest. For me, I feel hermit crab and snail is not useful for hair algae, and hermit crab will kill snail for shell.

Hoped the above information is useful and the best for people still fighting hair algae( our common enemy!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[mengyang_neo]

Picture from the net, this is how a seahare look like. Very gentle creature. =)

[spkentchai]

HI guys, I think i found the ways to cure hair algae.

First of all I think most of the people has read reading about keeping water free of PO4, nitrate and low nutrient, etc......

I also read all the above but hair algae still come and look for me, so prevention is not good enough will have to cure it, I tried plucking them every few days, very tiring job and the hair algae actually grow more. Hence I surf the net to see which animal actually it hair algae!!!!!

The answer is sea hare, but a lot mention they are not easy to keep and will die after a few days or when all algae is gone. So I tried my luck, and get the sea hare. Very effective worker, start plucking and eating hair algae the moment it go into the tank. But the plucking is not clean so that is where my black sea urchin and powder blue tang come in. Powder blue dun eat long hair algae but after the hair algae is trimmed, he will go and peck.

Hence my conclusion is to clear hair algae must have a package of cleaning crew, sea hare to trim the algae, sea urchin and tang to finish off the rest. For me, I feel hermit crab and snail is not useful for hair algae, and hermit crab will kill snail for shell.

Hoped the above information is useful and the best for people still fighting hair algae( our common enemy!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I agreed that a team of cleaning crew is needed....hermit crab stay in one spot for too long and they ka chiao corals a bit also....

so far, Sea Urchin and Tangs are the best....haven got chance to try sea hare yet....good choice bro...

[mjck]

Is there a dwarf sea hare available in the shops? Those sea hare commonly available i saw are too big for my tank.

[zico]

Are urchins reef safe? I ve never kept one before.

Will they roam around and poke around the corals?

[spkentchai]

Are urchins reef safe? I ve never kept one before.

Will they roam around and poke around the corals?

So far, they move around at rock area and on glass...never ka chiao the corals like the crab does.

[mengyang_neo]

Is there a dwarf sea hare available in the shops? Those sea hare commonly available i saw are too big for my tank.

Are urchins reef safe? I ve never kept one before. Will they roam around and poke around the corals?

There is no dwarf sea hare but u can find small one. if your tank is not big enough, best not to try, I heard seahare dun do well in nano tank, it die and crash the tank.

Black Sea urchin is reefsafe, so will not poke the coral but they will roam around the tank, so best to constantly trim the urchin so that it is small enough to go into small area.

[sherman]

I think can include abalone also

[engineer]

Abalone abd snails are good helpers in my nano tank. Hermit crab really disturb coral when they crawl around.

I think can include abalone also

[qicheng]

Where can I get live abalones?

[Harlequinmania]

For fish, you can consider keeping rabbit fish since they are good algae eater.

[sherman]

Oop something new I learn.

[mengyang_neo]

For fish, you can consider keeping rabbit fish since they are good algae eater.

Yup but rabbit fish is not really reef safe, so best not to add into reef tank. Fowlr will be good.