Whats a decent clean up crew for a 75G?

[john90009]

As the title says what do you think would be a decent sized clean up crew to battle hair algea and keep everything clean? Iv had a tank for almost a year and my new tank(the 75) for 5 months but im still having hair algae problems on a minor scale and i need to set up a decent clean up crew.

[walkthedog]

If your LFS sells snails at a good price grab a few mexican turbos. They will mow hair algea down. I keep a few hermits but others don't like them. Stay away from urchins. They will eat the purple stuff. Most of the online "packages" have too many of everthing. You want enough that they can clean up algae and food that might settle on rock or sand. If you dont' have a good LFS you can build your own at www.liveaquaria.com Shipping is free on CUC if you order 60$ or more.

[0b1]

i haven't seen any critters go after hair algae. have your tried phosphate remover, new lights, water changes and all the other fun stuff?

[singold]

+1 keep eye on phosphates level, water changes & not overfeeding.

[swpassion]

A phosphate remover will most likely resolve the issue, I also use mexican turbos, black turbos, asteria and a conch snail. A sea hare will devour hair algae but if stressed will release toxic ink like substance in your tank, I have never had it happen, but it is possible and I have have sea hares for years, a group of ffiends and I pass it around to clean our tanks. A kole tang is also a algae eating machine.

[john90009]

I am going to get my phosphates checked by a meter because salifert test kit said it was zero but it must be something in there.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by john90009
I am going to get my phosphates checked by a meter because salifert test kit said it was zero but it must be something in there.

quite often the test will yield zero--in alot of cases the hair algae is consuming nitrates and phosphates as fast as they are being introduced to the tank.

Here are some tips on how to eliminate nuisance alage:


Capn's collection of shock and awe against algae

Most of the time algae is the symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.

Algae needs three things for the process of photosythesis to occur--carbon dioxide, light and food. If we could completely remove one of these elements it would not be able to survive.
Unfortunately in our reef tanks it is difficult to remove light and carbon dioxide completely but we can sereverly limit its food, mainly nitrates and phosphates.

If you have an algae problem then it should be approached in a way that limits the nitrates and phosphates in your water column

This is a combination of steps and practises rather then one magic bullet that will kill off all the algae in your tank.

Here is a list of practises that have been mentioned through a great number of posts that I have been proactive in and hopefully if they are together they might help

1. Feeding techniques----always feed less at one time but feed more often if the species of fish requires it. My fish always look hungry and so does my dog--they learn how to scam us humans very quickly.
Rinse off frozen prepared foods like brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. Quite often they contain phosphates and nitrates from die off in their holding tanks.

2. Flow rates and directions of flow can make a big difference
A rate that is quoted here quite often is that you should have between 20-40 times your tank volume in gph if your tank is mostly lps and even greater if mainly sps corals. There are still some expections with lps corals--you need to be on top of the husbandry requirements for each coral you have and place them accordingly.

Organic laden water slowly rises from the bottom of the tank to the top where it is skimmed off by various methods such as an overflow. Skimmed water is usually sent back to lower levels of the tank from the skimmer or sump via various ways such as loc lines.

In practical words this means that in the tank your flow should be directed to always enhance the above natural flow in the tank.
It should for a circle or semi circle and be pushed down, across the substrate up to the surface--across the surface--churning it up and towards the overflow

3.flow rates in the sump
The perfered answer for this question is between 5-10 times the total volume of your water column.
More importantly it should match the flow rate of your skimmer.
Otherwise unskimmed organic laden water is returned to the lower levels of the tank where it has to slowly make its way to the top like I desribed in the above flow senerio. This gives algae a second chance to have another lunch
This is also where flow rates and directions in the tank also help in this particular situation by getting the water back up to the top and out the overflow faster again.

Flow rates both in the sump and the tank are very important in the filtering process

4.Method of cleaning or tank maintenance
water changes---Randy has written in one of his articles that the ideal water change to remove nitrates is 30 per cent once of month
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php
other reefers have stated that immediate or every two week 20 percent water changes will reduce phosphates and ammonia quickly.

cleaning the rockwork and substrate--once a week take a turkey baster and lightly baste the rock and substrate with it. this will get dissolved organics, phosphates and nitrates back into the water column where they can be filtered off instead of collecting and adding to the algae smorgasboard. Once again flow is very important in this also.

change your protein skimmer cup every other day

if running a filter sock change it everyother day---soak it in bleach and run it through a wash cycle with no soap. Let them dry in the air and the clorine will evaporate

5. tweaking equipment. Try not to run bioballs in filters. Replace them and all filter media with nothing!
The best use of a canister filter is to run straight carbon in it.

take skimmer pumps apart once a month and clean out the air venturis--make sure you have lots of air being combined to give a good foam column. This helps reduce organics but it also helps displace carbon dioxide with oxygen and keep your pH stable.

Once you have your levels of phosphates and nitrates in check then you may want to consider

1. running carbon and phospban in phosban reactors. the advantage to these is the water is forced through the entire media and can't take the easy way around the outside as when the media is put in a bag. Carbon can adsorb some phosphates and nitrates and the carbon is used by active bacteria in the tank

2. setting up a refugium with chaeto algae. You will need a good size refugium 20-30 gals and about 2-3 months of intensive cheato grow for it to make a noticeble difference on phosphates and nitrates. and the other advantage of a refugium is you get a larger and more variety of copopods, other inverts and good bacteria for the water column
There are many examples on this thread:
Refugiums the good bad and the ugly
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...hreadid=1349443

3. finding critters that eat algae. I leave this till the last because it is a problematic solution to algae. the critters don't always do what they are suppose to do. Putting some inverts in to eat a particular algae is great at the start but what do they feed on after they have eaten their specific food source.

4. another method that is cropping up alot more now is the use of magnesium. Magnesium should be at 1300ppm in a reef tank to support a level over 400ppm of calcium. some reefers have reported great success with cranking the level of magnesium to 1600 pppm for two weeks. the aglae dies off and none have reported any death to corals, inverts or fish.
This is discussed in detail on this thread:
A solution to Bryopsis
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...hreadid=1113109

Excellent threads on fighting alage

Phosphate starvation
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...hreadid=1383158

should I add a phosphate reactor
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...ghlight=phosban

how to remove phosphates
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showt...ghlight=phosban

[H2oH2o]

Reefcleaners.org is a great site for snails, inverts, and macroalgae. I just ordered 100 snails, different kinds for $55 shipped. They also have free shipping on $100, thats a butt load of snails though. Check the site out, its the cheapest I have foundso far. My shippment ships tommorrow I cant wait to get them to work.

[CoRPS]

Someone said not to use a urchin. I picked up an urchin a month or two ago and have had no problems with it eating coraline.

I'd go with about 10-15 astreas, 5-10 trochus snails, 2-5 nassarius snails, 1-2 conchs, 3-5 cerith snails.

[THE ROOK]

+1 Reefcleaners.org

Got about 100 snails/crabs & most were & are still alive.

Make sure to get a couple of the emerald crabs. They're just cool but you don't see them too often.

[Alaskan Reefer]

50 margarita snails should do the trick. Urchin is a decent idea, but they do knock stuff over and do eat coraline -- which would be fine except that in eating it they make it spread worse so more scraping and balancing alk/ca/mg fun if you get one.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Alaskan Reefer
50 margarita snails should do the trick. Urchin is a decent idea, but they do knock stuff over and do eat coraline -- which would be fine except that in eating it they make it spread worse so more scraping and balancing alk/ca/mg fun if you get one.

Margarita snails aka Mexican turbos have a history of not doing well in tanks with water temps 78 degrees and above. They have trouble adapting to that temp as they come from waters that are much cooler.

I'm not saying not to use them because they are great algae eaters however I wouldn't recommend purchasing 50 of them.
I purchase 5-10 at a time and they usually last a couple of months.