High Tide Aquatics

Dealing with hair algae

I am not a big fan of these volatile helpers. They seems to starve quickly when there is no more algae and generally do not seem to live very long.

My reefing approach is generally more long-term focused, and adding them is more a quick solution with other consequences later.

There are enough other options to solve these issues.
 
I had a nano tank for 2 years and kept chasing nutrients and flip flopping from hair algae with high nutrients and Dino’s with zero.

I see you got algae scrubber, be careful, there is a high chance you get Dino’s with zero nutrients before your hair algae dies off My experience (algae scrubber + hair algae) = Dino’s


With my 100g I started with live rock, followed by coral, followed by herbivores. 2 years+ now never had a speck of algae, my nitrates are 30+ phosphate 0.35 ish. From personal experience and agree with @under_water_ninja and other experts: Algae = no herbivores

However, in a nano tank where you cannot house tangs: you need to be the herbivore, I.e. manual removal, no other herbivores worked well enough for me eliminating the need for manual removal.
 
Umrigark said:
I had a nano tank for 2 years and kept chasing nutrients and flip flopping from hair algae with high nutrients and Dino’s with zero.

I see you got algae scrubber, be careful, there is a high chance you get Dino’s with zero nutrients before your hair algae dies off My experience (algae scrubber + hair algae) = Dino’s

I have a dwarf angel that does a fab job among a tuxedo urchin, snails, & stomatella snail along emeralds that do a pretty good job keeping the rocks clean.

I have a 65 gal.


With my 100g I started with live rock, followed by coral, followed by herbivores. 2 years+ now never had a speck of algae, my nitrates are 30+ phosphate 0.35 ish. From personal experience and agree with @under_water_ninja and other experts: Algae = no herbivores

However, in a nano tank where you cannot house tangs: you need to be the herbivore, I.e. manual removal, no other herbivores worked well enough for me eliminating the need for manual removal.
Click to expand...
 
Umrigark said:
I had a nano tank for 2 years and kept chasing nutrients and flip flopping from hair algae with high nutrients and Dino’s with zero.

I see you got algae scrubber, be careful, there is a high chance you get Dino’s with zero nutrients before your hair algae dies off My experience (algae scrubber + hair algae) = Dino’s


With my 100g I started with live rock, followed by coral, followed by herbivores. 2 years+ now never had a speck of algae, my nitrates are 30+ phosphate 0.35 ish. From personal experience and agree with @under_water_ninja and other experts: Algae = no herbivores

However, in a nano tank where you cannot house tangs: you need to be the herbivore, I.e. manual removal, no other herbivores worked well enough for me eliminating the need for manual removal.
Click to expand...

I agree with absolute values for nutrients, but the 100:1 ratio seems to have some truth to it. Interestingly, you are a good example for this.
 
Umrigark said:
I had a nano tank for 2 years and kept chasing nutrients and flip flopping from hair algae with high nutrients and Dino’s with zero.

I see you got algae scrubber, be careful, there is a high chance you get Dino’s with zero nutrients before your hair algae dies off My experience (algae scrubber + hair algae) = Dino’s


With my 100g I started with live rock, followed by coral, followed by herbivores. 2 years+ now never had a speck of algae, my nitrates are 30+ phosphate 0.35 ish. From personal experience and agree with @under_water_ninja and other experts: Algae = no herbivores

However, in a nano tank where you cannot house tangs: you need to be the herbivore, I.e. manual removal, no other herbivores worked well enough for me eliminating the need for manual removal.
Click to expand...
 
Umrigark said:
I had a nano tank for 2 years and kept chasing nutrients and flip flopping from hair algae with high nutrients and Dino’s with zero.

I see you got algae scrubber, be careful, there is a high chance you get Dino’s with zero nutrients before your hair algae dies off My experience (algae scrubber + hair algae) = Dino’s


With my 100g I started with live rock, followed by coral, followed by herbivores. 2 years+ now never had a speck of algae, my nitrates are 30+ phosphate 0.35 ish. From personal experience and agree with @under_water_ninja and other experts: Algae = no herbivores

However, in a nano tank where you cannot house tangs: you need to be the herbivore, I.e. manual removal, no other herbivores worked well enough for me eliminating the need for manual removal.
Click to expand...
No expert here man, lol, just a well versed reefer, thank you though, you made me blush
 
Just to add some recent experience I’ve had lately, back when I had a 40B, I thought I didnt really have many options for herbivores, that would really be pushing it for a kole tang,Though I guess some blennys could be an option. I never thought about saltwater mollies. The molly I got for my current build is an absolute beast, it is super fat and has been destroying my uglies lol. I’m huge advocate for them now if you have a smaller build
 
Arvin R said:
Do your research before going with an emerald crab. They are reef safe with caution as they've been known to sometimes go after coral.
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Totally agree some emeralds are good some have munched on my corals zoas to be specific..but try and have all females if your planning on several… Males tend to go into combat mode with other males
 
PjFish said:
Totally agree some emeralds are good some have munched on my corals zoas to be specific..but try and have all females if your planning on several… Males tend to go into combat mode with other males
Click to expand...
Second this on females. They have a wider carapace plate on the bottom.
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