Herbivores in a Nano Reef

[Ebslinger]

Question: What are you using for Herbivores in your Nano Reef?

My Dilemma: I need to add to my clean up crew but am a little unsure as to the next addition. In the old days I would have just tossed a bunch of Mexico Turbos in there and called it good... but that doesn't seem like the right answer for a nano tank.

Tank is a Red Sea Reefer Nano (21 gallon display) filled with soft corals.

I currently have:

1 Emerald Crab
4 – 5 Cerith Snails
4 – 5 Nassarius Snails

Other Tank inhabitants:

2 Clown Fish (Ocellaris)
1 Blood Shrimp

I don’t really have an algae issue, but a there are a few spots of hair algae here and there. Although to be honest it's mostly dead (or on it's way) and turning white. I would like to up my current Nitrate and Phosphate levels… both stay almost at 0 (or at least undetectable on my Red Sea test kits.)

I know if I start adding nutrients to the tank, it's going to have more algae growth, hence the need to add a better clean up crew.

Please don't say a school of yellow tangs..

Have been thinking about some hermit crabs but have had a few bad experiences in the past with them bulldozing corals.

Thoughts?

 

[Coralreefer1]

Try a Black Diadema Sea Urchin.

 

[Ebslinger]

Try a Black Diadema Sea Urchin.

I'm not sure an Urchin with 5 inch spines really fits my idea of an addition for a Nano tank... Anything else?

 

[Pbh-reef]

A couple of trochus snails would be ok. A tailspot blenny or close relative like the two spot or pictus blenny would work. A rainford goby will eat hair algae but can be harder to keep in tanks that aren’t well established with algae and micro fauna.

 

[KorD]

Pencil urchin. I had one in my 5 gal nano.. I over fed the tank so I could keep it happy with food..
It was fun to just lightly pluck him from the glass and put it on the rock I wanted cleaning. You could actually see how clean the rock got as it moved along.. sort of like someone mowing the lawn.