dbowman5
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lawnmower blenny will chomp on the glass algae. he does not clear it off like a scraper does on the front glass but keeps it down to where i can see through it on the side glass.
Is Bicolor Blenny a Good Idea?
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That I don't know, you'll have to ask others who have them.
ReeferWarrant
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I have a blue tuxedo urchin and it absolutely demolished my algae problem. That said it rearranges the frags like mentioned. Between it and a bunch of dwarf blue leg hermits those helped. I have a bicolor and everything mentioned is right. He has great personality and his hole and small vicinity of it is pristine, but it wont solve your problem. Youre likely dealing with nutrient uptake issues (Nitrates and PO4). I had the same issue and had to start using chemicals and water changes to get the numbers right. Vodka dosing was good for Nitrates and using Phosban for Phosphates.
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Dark_Knightt
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Yes i
Yes i would assume i have high phosphate levels. I havent been able to test them cuz i havent bought any phosphate tests but i do know my nitrates are under control (0). I just did like a 65, maybe 70% water change. Should help, if not ill prolly go buy a phosphate reactor
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My understanding is that water changes don't lower phosphate levels, if I am wrong can someone please clarify if it does or not
ReeferWarrant
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@NashobaTek, yeah it's a weird one. From what I gather, they are absorbed in the rockwork and slowly leak out. Additionally heavy feeding adds to them. Larger aquariums get by with this by having a refugium with chaeto, I have had horrible luck with chaeto so I'm going the chemical compound route. I've heard good things about doing GFO, and I'm currently pretty low on mine using Phosban.
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I used a whole 2l bottle of phosguard and it never got below 1 on API. Bad test to use I know. How would I go about testing the rocks for it? The tank was started with dry rock and live sand and my pinnatus batfish eats grated frozen human shrimp along with fresh hatched brine shrimp. I have pods for the mandrins and I got the reef tune up crew from ipsf. But I still have to do major algae removal by hand. I have never had a tank have algae this bad or long. Lol
But, than the last tank was way back when under gravel filters dead coral skeletons were the norm (70's). I have tried macroalgae myself and it just gets over run by the GHA and cyano.
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Dark_Knightt
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Ik this is irrelevant to the thread but what size tank do you have? Im a huge mandarin fan, and ill prolly try adding a captive ORA one to my tank with lots of pods
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This one is a 125, it's got 3 mandrins. A male and his harem. The research I did said that a male will spawn with every female in his territory.... So I got him 2 girls and they all hang out together all the time. Every now and then I find one on the other end of the tank. Once we get moved I will probably add another female or so. Plus I will have some in the seahorse stable which will be this tank, the fish will get a 210 or bigger
outerbank
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I love redlip blennies and they eat a lot of algae. They will not totally clean glass though and at times get in battles with tangs. When established, they turn a very dark brown, almost black, with bright red lips. They settle in looking a lot better than the timid light color seen in most retail online pictures.
Bicolors are super cool but do not eat as much algae IME.
Bicolors are super cool but do not eat as much algae IME.
ReeferWarrant
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@NashobaTek, correction I have Phosguard that I am using as well. The directions are weird on it, youre supposed to take it out and replenish until it meets the numbers you want. I was super hesitant with it, after the first couple changes I saw results. I was at .40 at one point and then got down to .10 last I checked in a matter of a couple of months. I was also doing Vodka Dosing at the same time which may have factored in on the reduction. Then again I have a 32 gallon tank, so I feel like the results will be more immediate with a smaller tank.
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@ReeferWarrant , yep changed it every 4 days like it said, but when I started my phosphate was way high... 10 according to the API. Lol
ReeferWarrant
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My LFS swears by GFO, once I'm out of PhosGuard I'll change over to that.
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I think I will too once I get moved. Right now everything is happy. Including the feather duster I thought had died. It just popped it's head out of the red pipe organ skeleton it was on.
