My algae has algae: how to delicately clean red grape macro?

Tamberav · Dec 10, 2022

Here are my other suggestions although I haven’t personally used these snails but have ordered other items from this shop. This place cultivates macros and inverts.

They list all their snails by what they clean, sand, rocks, or macro algae

Nebula

Nebula marine snail for sale. New snail discovery made available by Rusalty team for the first time in the aquarium trade hobby. Nebula snails are a very hardy reef safe snail that is very energetic for it's small size.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Mini Turbo

Mini Turbo snails for sale for saltwater aquariums offered only by Rusalty. New saltwater snail type for sale by Rusalty never before made available in the aquarium hobby with a steady supply.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Dove Snail

Dove snails for sale are a great algae eating snail. Get Dove snails to control the nuisance coating algae that grows on your macro algae preventing it to grow to it's full growth potential.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

And these are shrimp that clean macro but they are small so depends on fish

Green Lantern Shrimp

Our RUSALTY Green Lantern shrimp for sale are available for the first time in the aquarium trade.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

You could always drop them an email to see what they suggest.

mizimmer90 · Dec 10, 2022

Tamberav said:
Here are my other suggestions although I haven’t personally used these snails but have ordered other items from this shop. This place cultivates macros and inverts.

They list all their snails by what they clean, sand, rocks, or macro algae

Nebula

Nebula marine snail for sale. New snail discovery made available by Rusalty team for the first time in the aquarium trade hobby. Nebula snails are a very hardy reef safe snail that is very energetic for it's small size.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Mini Turbo

Mini Turbo snails for sale for saltwater aquariums offered only by Rusalty. New saltwater snail type for sale by Rusalty never before made available in the aquarium hobby with a steady supply.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Dove Snail

Dove snails for sale are a great algae eating snail. Get Dove snails to control the nuisance coating algae that grows on your macro algae preventing it to grow to it's full growth potential.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

And these are shrimp that clean macro but they are small so depends on fish

Green Lantern Shrimp

Our RUSALTY Green Lantern shrimp for sale are available for the first time in the aquarium trade.

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

You could always drop them an email to see what they suggest.

This is awesome! The description of the nebula snails sound perfect!

mizimmer90 · Dec 10, 2022

mizimmer90 said:
This is awesome! The description of the nebula snails sound perfect!

Arggg but I just noticed they're sold out

Tamberav · Dec 10, 2022

mizimmer90 said:
Arggg but I just noticed they're sold out

Ya

not sure how fast they restock but the mini turbos looked good too. Maybe email them to see when they will have more?

JoJosReef · Dec 10, 2022

mizimmer90 said:
Haha glad the urchin is happy! Does the GHA eventually cover all the new botrycladia?

It would if the urchin didn't get to it first. For now I've got Botrycladia transfers on hold hoping the urchin and turbo take care of the GHA--they are not. Thinking of just taking 80% water down and scrubbing all rocks off with towels and toothbrush till only little bits remain so they can polish it off.

In any case, wish the urchin would focus on the codium instead. That stuff grows so fast the urchin'd only have to sit still and let it grow into its mouth!

Gluck with the GHA clearing--some smaller snails seem to do a good job cleaning macro without breaking it.

Subsea · Dec 11, 2022

<head> <title>The Florida Cerith Snail : Lowest Price Online!

cerith snail, extra large cerith, stocky cerith

www.live-plants.com

<head> <title>The Florida Cerith Snail : Lowest Price Online!

cerith snail, extra large cerith, stocky cerith

www.live-plants.com

While you are at live plants, check out their ornamental sponges and gorgonion. Both of the above snails will clean off nuisance algae growth on/in the biofilm on macro surface. Here is a blue leg hermit climbing red tree sponge.

Fish Think Pink · Dec 11, 2022

mizimmer90 said:
Thanks again for the reply! I haven't thought much about sea slugs but they look pretty cool! Do you have any? Are they guaranteed to die in my small tank?

I'm learning that nothing likes eating the hair algae lol. I've been pretty meticulous with scrubbing it and doing water changed though. I just don't want to have to get rid of my infested red grape

Depending your fish, they could be eaten before they do anything.

When you don't have any bryopsis left, they'll starve

jabberwock · Dec 11, 2022

mizimmer90 said:
When I first put them in the tank, they all lost their grapes. It's been a little over a month and they're starting to get their grapes back, except now they're covered in hair algae! I wonder if they'd grow faster if not infested lol

How fast does yours grow?

Not very fast. Maybe three or four new grapes a week. When I first got it, it struggled and that is when the GHA landed on it. I lowered my lights (by this I mean I moved them closer to the water which = increased intensity) and it started to do much better. New growth is free from GHA, old growth gets periodically trimmed, but not a lot.

Subsea · Dec 11, 2022

@mizimmer90
If you are committed to manicuring Bortacladia, consider an algae cleaning tank stocked with grass shrimp and mollies. When I lived near the coast, I would collect green mollies & grass shrimp whenever I went fishing.

Subsea · Dec 11, 2022

I grew Bortacladia in a 55G monoculture tank. When it got contaminated with GHA, I tried differrent dip duration and concentration of peroxide. Bortacladia is much more sensitive and always died before any harm to GHA. When Bortacladia went sexual and I converted tank to Gracilaria Hayi, two years later red grapes were growing everywhere including inside of HOB.

mizimmer90 · Dec 12, 2022

Fish Think Pink said:
Depending your fish, they could be eaten before they do anything.

When you don't have any bryopsis left, they'll starve

Sounds cruel

mizimmer90 · Dec 12, 2022

jabberwock said:
Not very fast. Maybe three or four new grapes a week. When I first got it, it struggled and that is when the GHA landed on it. I lowered my lights (by this I mean I moved them closer to the water which = increased intensity) and it started to do much better. New growth is free from GHA, old growth gets periodically trimmed, but not a lot.

That's about my growth now that they're coming back. Took over a month to start regrowing after the initial shock though

mizimmer90 · Dec 12, 2022

Subsea said:
@mizimmer90
If you are committed to manicuring Bortacladia, consider an algae cleaning tank stocked with grass shrimp and mollies. When I lived near the coast, I would collect green mollies & grass shrimp whenever I went fishing.

What's a grass shrimp?

Not a big fan of the look of mollies. I did get a lawnmower blenny and a hectors goby which I love but are not eating the algaes on my algae!

Considering some of the other options for snails/Shrimps people have posted but I'm having a hard time finding them in stock anywhere

Court_Appointed_Hypeman · Jan 2, 2023

Can you eat the grapes?

mizimmer90 · Jan 2, 2023

EvanEggleston said:
Can you eat the grapes?

My fish have tried but spit them out

Nemo&Friends · Jan 2, 2023

When I first got a shipment of macroalgae, i also lost all the grapes, and then a lot of the algae got eaten by snails or worms, it was an long established tank, and I had returned my starry blenny to the lfs, as he was eating the algae. I was really struggling for a while, but finally everything is doing well, the green grapes are establishing themselves, and even a very small red grape plant maybe 1 inch tall is starting growing on my rock. I do not know if seeded, or if a small fraction had survived and attach itself, but I am excited. I think you are doing well, as it took me one year for me to turn the corner.
I have read that dove snails, are great to get rid of algae on the algae. they are small and can climb on the macro and graze on the pest algae. I have not tried yet, but I did try to find a source for them, and they are hard to find. I suspect I have cyano growing on my algae, so I shake it off and net or siphon it out. It is getting better now.