Frag tank janitors?

FarmerTy · Mar 14, 2016

Hey all,

What are people using for their frag tank janitors? I'm used to having fish and inverts cleaning up my display tank so theres hardly ever any in my DT but my frag tank I plumbed into my system is starting to get algal growth.

It's only 12-14 gallons so I'd be hesitant to put any fish in there but as far as inverts that dont knock everything over, what are you guys using?

reefndude · Mar 14, 2016

I had same issue when I plumbed my frag tank to main system...algae explosion. I put some snails, trochus, astreas, and ceriths. Also added a lawnmower blenny. I was told the new egg crate was the cause of the algae bloom

FarmerTy · Mar 14, 2016

My frag system is actually all acrylic, even the frag racks so at least in my scenario, that's probably not the reason but I can see with egg crate, as it happens in my sump from time to time when the eggcrate down there gets overgrown with algae.

I actually encourage algae to grow for my decent tang and angel population. It works well when in the DT where they can mow it down daily but it's screwing me over in other areas like the frag tank and the lit frag area in my sump. I'll try a couple smaller snails and see if that helps out! Thanks for the suggestions!

Viracon13 · Mar 14, 2016

I've tried a lawnmower blenny twice and it died after 3 months or so. It only seemed to feed on film algae on the glass, not the short hair algae that I wanted to get rid of; maybe that's why it died. I have a few snails in there now but they don't touch the short hair algae either, I just remove it manually at this point. Would love to get a small tang or dwarf angel in there to do that but it's only 15 gallons. Anyone have luck with another fish?

FarmerTy · Mar 14, 2016

Yeah, I wish a foxface stayed about 1-1.5" long. Can anybody start breeding them to be smaller please?

Kungpaoshizi · Mar 14, 2016

I like to keep peppermint shrimp in mine in case of aptasia.. No fish tho.

Paul B · Mar 14, 2016

These manatees eat a lot of algae. Great for a Nano

mcmc1717 · Mar 14, 2016

Paul B said:
These manatees eat a lot of algae. Great for a Nano

Those will work very well indeed

FarmerTy · Mar 14, 2016

Paul B said:
These manatees eat a lot of algae. Great for a Nano

Oh sweet, forget the 1" foxface, someone breed a 1" sea cow!

steiger33 · Mar 14, 2016

I would love to have the cow of the ocean such a gentle creature. Please breed a 1".

cginter · Mar 14, 2016

I always see Small yellow tangs and or yellow eye kole tangs in frag tanks at coral shops.

Davesgt · Mar 14, 2016

Sally lighfoot in my frag tank and it's loaded with nutrients but algae does not have a chance with it. I can place a frag from friends who have algae bad and it will be glowing clean the next day.

FarmerTy · Mar 15, 2016

Davesgt said:
Sally lighfoot in my frag tank and it's loaded with nutrients but algae does not have a chance with it. I can place a frag from friends who have algae bad and it will be glowing clean the next day.

Thanks for the suggestion! I've never kept one but I'll give it a try!