Best GHA Eating Fish

[Willbiker]

I've found fish to be useless for algae control. Mexican turbo snails absolutely demolished my hair algae issue however the main way I beat it was to improve my nutrient export. 10% weekly water change, decent light on chateto in fuge, decent size skimmer and GFO in a reactor. However I went too far and stripped almost all my phosphate and nitrate which caused a bloom in dinos. So if I were you, look at improving your neutriant export and get some snails in there . Don't use chemicals, do it the natural way with patience.

 

[CrazyCarlitos]

If u have gha issue, than u have a excess nutrient issue that u need to fix ultimately.

imho no fish, shrimp, or snail will get rid of large amounts of gha... and since ur rocks are glued, u cannot do manual removal.

I am not a fan of vibrant.. so my recommendation would be Fluconazole.
It can help rid of the gha in ur tank pretty fast. U should start seeing results within a week.

u would still need to deal with the nutrient issue, or gha will come back.

here is the link. It’s pretty ez, and pretty safe for tank inhabitants. Ymmv. I don’t know why more people don’t use it.

good luck!

Bryopsis Cure: My Battle With Bryopsis Using Fluconazole

The Poll In This Thread is For Bryopsis Only not GHA,Turf,Bubble Algae or any other Algae The 2 week treatment is for Bryopsis algae. For GHA,turf algae and bubble algae it may take as long as 4-6 weeks to kill. GHA,turf algae,bubble algae are different than Bryopsis algae. Bryopsis algae will...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Post a picture, you've asked about GHA last week and got tons of answers

 

[EvanDeVita]

No. If you get one, it is almost like a unicorn. An army of urchins, ceriths and turbos work better - not one or two, but a bunch since they all want to eat the easy algae first. Sea hare and lettuce sea slug work well too, but are not always long lived. You will have to give away most of the urchins and snails once they do their jobs.

I am talking like 8 pincushions, 150 certiths and 100 astreas.

I disagree with what you said about sea hares- they are the best thing for GHA IMO. My LFS essentially rents them out until someone's gHA problems go away. I tried one on my 30 gallon and it decimated all the GHA in six days.

 

[Jon_W79]

I think that a foxface would be the most likely to eat hair algae(and possibly even bubble algae).They are pigs, and I think that a lot of them will eat hair algae if they get hungry enough.

I believe that my one spot foxface eats hair algae and bubble algae.

 

[jda]

You disagree that I said that they work well? If you can get one not to waste away or disappear, they are awesome and hardy. Most die quickly and some people never see them again after they put them in their tanks.

 

[40g Nano]

What do you mean by nutrient export? What else can I do? I have a fuge with a big ball of chaeto and dont feed much.

Will a scopas tang be good for GHA?
I haven't seen any small foxface.

I also don't want to chance poisoning my tank with a sea hare

I don't want to put any chemicals into the tank either.

There is only 3 fish and

 

[40g Nano]

I would like to get another fish

 

[mindme]

Urchins are your best best so long as you don't have an branching LPS in the tank.

I can get pin cushion urchins at my LFS for like $5 each. 1 urchin does the work of like 20 snails, and when they clean a rock, they clean it back to the white.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Why no photos?

 

[Pistol Peet]

What is the best algae eating fish?
Foxface or some type of tang? Also, is a scopas or sailfin good algae eaters? What about a kole tang or tomini?
Thanks!

Lawn mower blennies work good for this also i would add 1 of them i have 1 it does a very good job devouring algee

 

[40g Nano]

I have a pincushion urchin, and i cleaned tank earlier today

 

[40g Nano]

Also, the fish needs to stand its ground against the six line wrasse as it nips fins if too close to territory

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Just looked at your build thread, very nice setup, are you not running a skimmer? If not, this maybe a reason your having GHA problems.

 

[40g Nano]

Thanks for the comment!

But this is a different tank

it is an AIO 40 with no skimmer.

 

[Crashnt24]

My foxface will nip at it occasionally. Not enough to make a dent. My Tomini tang won't touch it.

I have tried almost everything except a sea hare. Best practice would be to manually remove it every week until coraline can take hold and not let it grow. Oh and a good fuge or ATS

 

[40g Nano]

I got a good fuge

Any scopas tang owners?

 

[Orm Embar]

If you want to control nuisance algae with something that eats/removes it (fish, snails, hermits, sea hares, etc), that still doesn't remove the underlying conditions that cause it to grow. While I agree with having a good cleanup crew (snails generally, as they do clean things and don't cause issues unless they are Turbos that knock stuff over or Astreas that can't right themselves and need to be rescued), I would also boost nutrient export.

2 articles as to your options:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium

Introduction Nitrate is an ion that has long dogged aquarists. It is typically formed in aquaria through the digestion of foods, and in many aquaria it builds up and can be difficult to keep at natural levels. In the past, many aquarists...

www.reef2reef.com

Phosphate in the Reef Aquarium

The phosphorus atom is one of living matter’s basic building blocks. It is present in every living creature and in the water of every reef aquarium. Unfortunately, it is often present in excess in reef aquaria and that excess has the potential to...

www.reef2reef.com

I'm personally a big fan of refugia/chaeto nutrient export (or maybe trying Ulva), but there are multiple ways to skin the proverbial cat. For an AIO, maybe some Dragon's Breath in the main tank as macroalgae competing for nutrients, or a HOB chaeto reactor since you don't have refugium space? Maybe a tiny algae scrubber on the tank wall?

Also, BRS had a video about cleaning filter media (mechanical) can reduce nitrates by up to 30%, so that's a very low cost if more labor intensive way of doing things.

BRStv Investigates: What do your filter socks actually do?

Today on BRStv, we have a brand new episode of our series, BRStv Investigates. In this series, we explore popular reefing theories, products, methods, and what the manuals are missing, with a focus on putting them to the test! On this episode we are taking a look at filter socks, and can they...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[zuri]

thread is interesting getting some popcorn out/// tang police out in force today xD

 

[40g Nano]

Like I said, my friend has a 180 that would be glad to take the fish when it outgrows the tank