Green hair algae

cody2cannon · Jan 15, 2017

So I am starting to get a good amount of green hair algae and I'd like to get it under control quickly. I have 2 red legged hermits and a nassarius snail but neither really care for the algae, so I was looking into getting an emerald crab but I hear if they run low on algae they will attack my hermits and snails so what I am getting at is, are there any other good algae eaters that I can get that will be safe towards my other tank inhabitants??

FragCityCorals · Jan 15, 2017

They are not good algae eaters.. They eat very slowly and wont do noticeable damage... They will eventually attack your fish or try and eat your corals especially once they get larger..

tankstudy · Jan 15, 2017

Nassarius snails are scavengers, they don't eat algae. They like dead things and left over food.

Try turbo snails, nerite snails and cerith snails.

FME, emeralds don't target snails very often. Its actually the hermits that massacre my snails, for shells,food and sometimes for fun. These days, I'm either straight up hermits or straight snails only, mixing the two is bad on the pocket.

cody2cannon · Jan 15, 2017

tankstudy said:
Nassarius snails are scavengers, they don't eat algae. They like dead things and left over food.

Try turbo snails, nerite snails and cerith snails.

FME, emeralds don't target snails very often. Its actually the hermits that massacre my snails, for shells,food and sometimes for fun. These days, I'm either straight up hermits or straight snails only, mixing the two is bad on the pocket.

Thanks for the advice!

Roy 9121 · Jan 15, 2017

You can try a Sea hare. Only problem with them is they will eat all the algae, then you have to feed them our they die. Turbo snails are great also.

cody2cannon · Jan 15, 2017

Roy 9121 said:
You can try a Sea hare. Only problem with them is they will eat all the algae, then you have to feed them our they die. Turbo snails are great also.

I just youtubed the sea hare, I'm definitely interested but I have a 20 gallon aquarium. This guy would add to my bioload correct? They get pretty big and if I have to feed them then I am adding to it correct? And what would I feed him?

Roy 9121 · Jan 16, 2017

cody2cannon said:
I just youtubed the sea hare, I'm definitely interested but I have a 20 gallon aquarium. This guy would add to my bioload correct? They get pretty big and if I have to feed them then I am adding to it correct? And what would I feed him?

You feed them algae pellets, stuff like that. What I've done in the past is find a really small one, then when it starts getting to big, i take it to a local store i have a good relationship with and exchange it for a small one again. I'll be honest though, I've never been able to keep one alive for very long. Turbo snails are doing a good job in muy track now. Also, i bought a Yellow eyed Tang.
The main thing you need to do is find the source of the algae. Maybe your running your lights to long? Feeding to much? Do you have a protein skimmer? What type of lighting are you using?