JGon Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 What's the best critter to use against GHA?? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inland Reef Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Sea Hare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysiomorpha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJohnson Posted August 10, 2015 Share Posted August 10, 2015 Lawnmower blenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Urchins and more frequent water changes and use a toothbrush or something similar to manually remove it with the water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 Nutrient control Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 +1 Jestep Buy five turbo snails at Petco for $1 each and lower nutrients...done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I found that the snails like other algae more than hair and will only eat that when they have to... I guess it's the "eat your vegetables" equivalent. However, our tuxedo urchin mowed the hair algae down like it was dessert! That being said, you should definitely look into your NO3 as well to make sure it's not a nutrient problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGon Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 Thanks guys! Will look into all that and do some more manual removing. [emoji4] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Sea hares have always worked wonders for me. You probably won't be able to grow the algae fast enough in your tank to feed it! Now I use sea urchins and water changes since you need to control the source of the problem as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 Lettuce sea slugs do a pretty good job at eating hair algae and they are smaller and more attractive than a sea hare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGon Posted August 16, 2015 Author Share Posted August 16, 2015 How often should I be doing water changes?? Sent from my SPH-L520 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 As often as needed to keep your nutrient contents at a level you find acceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 How often should I be doing water changes?? Sent from my SPH-L520 using Tapatalk The main purpose of a water change is to export nitrates. Sure there are other benefits as well, but none of them justify a water change because they have easier means of correction. For example, you would never to do a water change to increase Alk or to add trace minerals because dosing is easier and cheaper than salt. In the ocean anaerobic bacteria do the bulk of converting nitrates, but the vast majority of aquariums cannot support this type of bacteria, or not enough of it, to take care of the job. For most of us there are only preventative measures and manual removal. Preventative measures include skimming, refugium sections and biopellet reactors. In all cases we're trying to remove the organics before they can break down into the final product. If you don't have any of these than manual removal, through water changes, is really the only way to remove nitrates. Every tank is different. A weekly water change in a 20g tank like yours will cure every problem you'll ever face. In a low nutrient producing system you could change out 2-3g every two weeks or even every month and be fine. A water change in a larger tank would cost a fortune if it were done every week. In that case you might look for an alternative to help export nitrates. So the answer to your question really is, only you can know the answer. If you have a lot of SPS then they fade in high nutrient systems, while LPS start to die in low nutrient systems. In my experience, if you have cyano, GHA or have to clean your glass more than once a week then you aren't doing water changes enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 +1 tuxedo urchin. They're slow though you may need a few Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12_egg_omelette Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 JGon - I see you're profile says you're in a 20 gallon, that's pretty much on the nano size. In the nano community, water changes are big for us, it's just so easy to do a good percentage of total water volume in a couple minutes. A lot of us also run filter floss, chemipure elite + purigen or filter floss+Chemipure Blue which helps a lot. You should be able to do maybe 2 liters every other day and be perfect. I get away with not using a skimmer at all, but now that we're at the in-laws I have a skimmer because I'm trying to reduce the amount of annoyance to them with the nano. It's temporary housing until we're ready to make out big move in a couple of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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