jps1981
New Member
In "The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium" (the sticky at the top of this forum), it goes into detail about these later stages after cycling -
4: diatom algae
5: cyanobacteria
6: green/brown hair algae
My tank was starting to build up a nice layer of diatom algae, with a bit of green something growing as well. The levels were good, so I put an emerald crab and some hermit crabs in there to give the tank a little more life on top of the 3 green chromis. I drastically underestimated how quickly they'd tear through that diatom algae! I just figured they'd snack on it a little. There's pretty much no brown left in my tank after 3 days. Talk about efficient! This was 4 crabs in a 30g FOWLR with 40lbs of live rock, 40lbs of sand.
I was wondering if this would be detrimental to the overall process? The guide doesn't say if cyanobacteria relies on diatom algae. Will crabs removing diatom algae have a negative impact on cyanobacteria development? Or removing cyanobacteria be harmful to green/brown hair algae showing up?
The guide isn't clear on if there's a chain-of-reliance like ammonia>nitrite>nitrate. It doesn't mentioned any connection between diatom algae, cyanobacteria, or hair algae, other than them appearing in that order.
I guess I just need to know if I should take out these crabs and put them somewhere else for a while.
4: diatom algae
5: cyanobacteria
6: green/brown hair algae
My tank was starting to build up a nice layer of diatom algae, with a bit of green something growing as well. The levels were good, so I put an emerald crab and some hermit crabs in there to give the tank a little more life on top of the 3 green chromis. I drastically underestimated how quickly they'd tear through that diatom algae! I just figured they'd snack on it a little. There's pretty much no brown left in my tank after 3 days. Talk about efficient! This was 4 crabs in a 30g FOWLR with 40lbs of live rock, 40lbs of sand.
I was wondering if this would be detrimental to the overall process? The guide doesn't say if cyanobacteria relies on diatom algae. Will crabs removing diatom algae have a negative impact on cyanobacteria development? Or removing cyanobacteria be harmful to green/brown hair algae showing up?
The guide isn't clear on if there's a chain-of-reliance like ammonia>nitrite>nitrate. It doesn't mentioned any connection between diatom algae, cyanobacteria, or hair algae, other than them appearing in that order.
I guess I just need to know if I should take out these crabs and put them somewhere else for a while.
