Screwgunner
Valuable Member
Take as much out as you can by hand. Get your phosphates and nitrates down.
Quick question about tangs
- Thread starter John Bolden
- Start date
- Tagged users None
have a 90 lagoon, and part of the scape are 4 "Belizian Branches". Before I placed them I drilled holes for frag placement/moving
in the tank I have 2 bristle-toothed and 2 tuxedo urchins (and any number of snails)
the only hair algae in the tank is in the frag plug holes, and inside the overflow grate, where the urchins can't graze. Point is the tangs could pluck out the filaments, but they don't. As others have said, they are not a hair algae solution (in my experience).
By the way, I can't pluck it out cleanly from the holes so it just keeps coming back
and other by the way, in other tank the only thing that I have found that decimates hair algae in a Donabella sea slug, if you can get one, and if you have someone with the same problem to loan it to when he is done with yours....
in the tank I have 2 bristle-toothed and 2 tuxedo urchins (and any number of snails)
the only hair algae in the tank is in the frag plug holes, and inside the overflow grate, where the urchins can't graze. Point is the tangs could pluck out the filaments, but they don't. As others have said, they are not a hair algae solution (in my experience).
By the way, I can't pluck it out cleanly from the holes so it just keeps coming back
and other by the way, in other tank the only thing that I have found that decimates hair algae in a Donabella sea slug, if you can get one, and if you have someone with the same problem to loan it to when he is done with yours....
Hankcorals
Valuable Member
Lettuce nudi will clean up some gha
My tuxedos are so slow moving that I dont see how it would be possible for them to snack on a live healthy fish.
JahStar
New Member
No, the best thing in my experience is urchins. tuxedo and pin cushion will help.
Charlie G
Active Member
I am currently experiencing a problem with gha as well. I have a 32g Biocube and am new to the hobby (7 months). The gha started appearing around 6 months. I have been doing manual removal. I have a few snails. I only have a royal gramma (I am qt’ing a couple of clowns) and have a few coral frags- not all glued to the rock work yet. My Nitrates 4.5, Phos 0.13. I have seen several discussions around small tangs and the risks and benefits for gha. I have also heard a out urchins. Are there any downsides to having urchins? Which urchins are best for my size DT? How many? Any danger to the coral or rock work (not all of it is secured)?
JahStar
New Member
In my experience I have had my urchins for about five months now. First, I got the blue tuxedoes small, they were not eating enough of the GHA in my opinion, or you could say not to my liking! So, I did some research on this site and found out that Pincushion urchins had a high rating for algae. Also, the long pin cushion urchin as well but with this one as it grows you have to be very careful if you put your hands in the tank. So, I have 120 gallons and I got two pincushion urchins and when I see the algae growing back within a day or sometimes overnight it is gone. I would start with one and see how it goes.
Downside will be if you do not have coral glued down like a beast it will find a way to carry it around on its back. Also with unused snail shells which the pincushions and the blue tuxedoes both do. In my experience that has been the only downside I have had. My nitrates are twice as yours are! Phosphates a little lower. I was told if the urchin starts to lose it tentacles, not its spines it is a good indication your water quality is not in the right place for them.
Hope this help.
Downside will be if you do not have coral glued down like a beast it will find a way to carry it around on its back. Also with unused snail shells which the pincushions and the blue tuxedoes both do. In my experience that has been the only downside I have had. My nitrates are twice as yours are! Phosphates a little lower. I was told if the urchin starts to lose it tentacles, not its spines it is a good indication your water quality is not in the right place for them.
Hope this help.
chris_pull
Active Member
I battled hair algae for a long time, I kept nutrients under control, I added tuxedo urchins, blennies, snails and even a tiny tang. Nothing made a dent in it, only manual removal, but it kept coming back. My guess is that there were nutrients bound up in the new dry rock, as it didn’t grow on older pieces from my previous set up. In the end if did a flucanzole treatment and it was all gone in 2 weeks. I really didn’t want to go a chemical route but I wish now I’d done this sooner as it was so effective and had zero negative impact on my tank inhabitants. I’d personally try this over a tiny tang, but you have to make sure you have the right algae.
i cant think
Wrasse Addict
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Article Contributor
UK Reef Club Member
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
My Tank Thread
My Aquarium Showcase
They seem slow moving but they aren’t, you could turn around and they can be in a completely different area.
Here’s the wrasse, he was healthy and thriving in the tank. But as I said, urchins are opportunistic hunters and not strictly herbivorous.
Charlie G
Active Member
Thank you very much for all your input. I will continue with manual removal for now. I will do some more research on urchins. I thought I read somewhere that pincushion urchins can also eat corraline algae. Don’t we want to keep corraline algae?
i cant think
Wrasse Addict
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Article Contributor
UK Reef Club Member
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
My Tank Thread
My Aquarium Showcase
Some people do want to keep it but others don’t. I find my two ignore it but my tuxedos used to constantly eat it and it would grow faster than they could feed on it.
bobyboy
Well-Known Member
I use a Red Sea Reefer 170 to QT and house all my fish in before going to the display.
I only acquire tangs about the size of a golf ball. All have spent Atleast 3 mo the in it and have never had a problem.
I only acquire tangs about the size of a golf ball. All have spent Atleast 3 mo the in it and have never had a problem.
Swede's Reef
2500 Club Member
I vote lots of snails and hermit crabs.
Before cuc
After cuc and manual removal about 3 weeks .
This tank started beginning of May and now clear. Sorry about bad pictures.
Before cuc
After cuc and manual removal about 3 weeks .
This tank started beginning of May and now clear. Sorry about bad pictures.
ClownSchool
Well-Known Member
I also recently wet bed a reef farm’s video that said a short, high intensity photo period helps against algae.
Rocketfish
Community Member
I had a GHA problem for a while in a 30-gallon cube that would not go away regardless of light, feeding, or nutrient levels. I had a lawnmower blenny in the tank and he would eat some but not enough to keep it at bay. I violated all the rules with that tank and had a regal tang that started the size of a quarter. He never touched the algae! not even nori. Over a year he grew to around 3" and is a friendly part of the community, but no help at all for algae.
I tried mollies and they did nothing.
I tried lots of snails and hermits and they did nothing.
I tried a tuxedo urchin, he ate very little GHA and loved the Coraline algae, and would bulldoze every other coral off the racks and carry some around. I finally moved him to a different tank out of frustration.
Dosing NoPOX helped reduce the growth significantly but didn't stop it.
I put in a sea hare and it was gone in 3 days! I didn't know at the time that GHA was all it would eat, and it died within a week of the algae being gone. Then the algae came back.
Right about here I upgraded the light to a Radion G5. The Acro corals really started growing well, and I noticed nitrates at too low a level so I fed a bit more AB+. The GHA was growing but not very fast, even with the increase in feeding. I also had raised the magnesium to about 1500, but the GHA still grew some. I also added a 9W UV sterilizer here as well.
I broke all the rules and added a powder blue tang (Long story here!) and it completely devoured all the GHA in about a week. He seemed to get along fine with the regal tang but I know I was absolutely beyond maxed out with him in there. He fast became my favorite fish and I was motivated to upgrade my tank just because of him. Unfortunately, I woke up one morning about 45 days in with him completely healthy and eating the night before to not being able to find him anywhere in the tank the next morning. I completely disassembled the tank and found no skeleton or anything. That was a frustrating fish loss, not for the sake of dollars, but because it had become my favorite fish to watch. What I think happened was that the Regal tang likely injured him or chased him into a crevasse, and the large cleanup crew I had in there previously along with a large crew of bristleworms probably consumed everything before the next morning. Bottom line, the tank was too small for one tang, let alone 2. And yes, I still have the regal tang and I am about to upgrade the tank, but I am a few months away still.
The Algae came back very slowly, but not as bad. The Powder blue had eaten it down so thoroughly that it took a while for it to come back.
I added another sea hare, and this time I supplemented his diet with Nori, and he lived for a couple of months on only nori, but I had to put it in every day. I took a long weekend and was gone for 2 days. The sea hare was still alive, but wouldn't eat well on the nori after that and died a couple of days later. Fortunately, he had consumed the GHA so thoroughly that with the reduced nutrients, the GHA never came back.
Things of note, when the Acros were growing fast the nitrates and phosphates were generally lower. My light cycle was about 10 hours, but the spectrum of light was different than the cheaper light that was on the tank. The Radion produced better results overall with increased coral growth and less algae growth. At that point, I think the Corals were out competing the algae for nutrients.
My takeaway:
1) Hippo Tangs won't eat GHA aggressively, but Powder Blue's will. And you can't keep one let alone both in that small of a tank long-term so I don't recommend it. A single powder blue may have survived, but I still don't recommend it. Now that the hippo is up to about 4 inches, it really is way too small a tank for him. Perhaps a Tomini or other bristletooth tang would be good for a while but I don't like the idea of disposable fish.
2) The better light and the UV sterilizer did seem to help. I believe there are areas where one shouldn't pinch pennies on a tank, one is the light, and the other is going without a UV sterilizer. Both are very important to long-term success with a reef tank.
3) If you do have to have a disposable critter for GHA, I recommend the Sea Hare, and rather than let it die, have a place it can go when it has done its job and continue eating someone else's GHA, or have it in a large enough tank that it will have a rotating source of GHA to feast on. But if you are going to have a bigger tank anyway, get the powder blue, it's more fun to watch, and you can feed it other food!
4) Blennies did virtually nothing for me, and neither did snails and hermits. Keep in mind that an excessive Clean up crew can starve, and die off causing a nutrient spike which makes the GHA problem worse.
Start with a UV sterilizer and add a good quality light for the coral to thrive. Then elevate the magnesium, use a bit of NoPox if needed to lower the nitrate and phosphate, and add a sea hare to remove the last bits of GHA. Also in my experience, NoPox removes more nitrate than Phosphate. you may need to dose something specifically for Phosphate other than NoPox like Brightwell "Phosphate E". I discovered this with an ATI test that NoPox wasn't removing as much Phosphate. Or you could just use a GFO reactor... But really, if your corals are growing fast under good light that helps more than anything.
I tried mollies and they did nothing.
I tried lots of snails and hermits and they did nothing.
I tried a tuxedo urchin, he ate very little GHA and loved the Coraline algae, and would bulldoze every other coral off the racks and carry some around. I finally moved him to a different tank out of frustration.
Dosing NoPOX helped reduce the growth significantly but didn't stop it.
I put in a sea hare and it was gone in 3 days! I didn't know at the time that GHA was all it would eat, and it died within a week of the algae being gone. Then the algae came back.
Right about here I upgraded the light to a Radion G5. The Acro corals really started growing well, and I noticed nitrates at too low a level so I fed a bit more AB+. The GHA was growing but not very fast, even with the increase in feeding. I also had raised the magnesium to about 1500, but the GHA still grew some. I also added a 9W UV sterilizer here as well.
I broke all the rules and added a powder blue tang (Long story here!) and it completely devoured all the GHA in about a week. He seemed to get along fine with the regal tang but I know I was absolutely beyond maxed out with him in there. He fast became my favorite fish and I was motivated to upgrade my tank just because of him. Unfortunately, I woke up one morning about 45 days in with him completely healthy and eating the night before to not being able to find him anywhere in the tank the next morning. I completely disassembled the tank and found no skeleton or anything. That was a frustrating fish loss, not for the sake of dollars, but because it had become my favorite fish to watch. What I think happened was that the Regal tang likely injured him or chased him into a crevasse, and the large cleanup crew I had in there previously along with a large crew of bristleworms probably consumed everything before the next morning. Bottom line, the tank was too small for one tang, let alone 2. And yes, I still have the regal tang and I am about to upgrade the tank, but I am a few months away still.
The Algae came back very slowly, but not as bad. The Powder blue had eaten it down so thoroughly that it took a while for it to come back.
I added another sea hare, and this time I supplemented his diet with Nori, and he lived for a couple of months on only nori, but I had to put it in every day. I took a long weekend and was gone for 2 days. The sea hare was still alive, but wouldn't eat well on the nori after that and died a couple of days later. Fortunately, he had consumed the GHA so thoroughly that with the reduced nutrients, the GHA never came back.
Things of note, when the Acros were growing fast the nitrates and phosphates were generally lower. My light cycle was about 10 hours, but the spectrum of light was different than the cheaper light that was on the tank. The Radion produced better results overall with increased coral growth and less algae growth. At that point, I think the Corals were out competing the algae for nutrients.
My takeaway:
1) Hippo Tangs won't eat GHA aggressively, but Powder Blue's will. And you can't keep one let alone both in that small of a tank long-term so I don't recommend it. A single powder blue may have survived, but I still don't recommend it. Now that the hippo is up to about 4 inches, it really is way too small a tank for him. Perhaps a Tomini or other bristletooth tang would be good for a while but I don't like the idea of disposable fish.
2) The better light and the UV sterilizer did seem to help. I believe there are areas where one shouldn't pinch pennies on a tank, one is the light, and the other is going without a UV sterilizer. Both are very important to long-term success with a reef tank.
3) If you do have to have a disposable critter for GHA, I recommend the Sea Hare, and rather than let it die, have a place it can go when it has done its job and continue eating someone else's GHA, or have it in a large enough tank that it will have a rotating source of GHA to feast on. But if you are going to have a bigger tank anyway, get the powder blue, it's more fun to watch, and you can feed it other food!
4) Blennies did virtually nothing for me, and neither did snails and hermits. Keep in mind that an excessive Clean up crew can starve, and die off causing a nutrient spike which makes the GHA problem worse.
Start with a UV sterilizer and add a good quality light for the coral to thrive. Then elevate the magnesium, use a bit of NoPox if needed to lower the nitrate and phosphate, and add a sea hare to remove the last bits of GHA. Also in my experience, NoPox removes more nitrate than Phosphate. you may need to dose something specifically for Phosphate other than NoPox like Brightwell "Phosphate E". I discovered this with an ATI test that NoPox wasn't removing as much Phosphate. Or you could just use a GFO reactor... But really, if your corals are growing fast under good light that helps more than anything.
carbasaurus
Active Member
I would skip the tang and go for an urchin. My pincushion goes to town on it (though even these might get too big for a 20 and you will have to supplement with nori).
Manually removing the big clumps and adding some money cowries might do the trick as well. They have the added benefit of:
a. Looking awesome
b. Being Seemingly not interesting to hungry hermit crabs due to shell shape
c. Unlike their bigger cowrie cousins are completely reef safe
(Also manually removing big clumps will serve as a nutrient export mechanism which will help the underlying problem)
Manually removing the big clumps and adding some money cowries might do the trick as well. They have the added benefit of:
a. Looking awesome
b. Being Seemingly not interesting to hungry hermit crabs due to shell shape
c. Unlike their bigger cowrie cousins are completely reef safe
(Also manually removing big clumps will serve as a nutrient export mechanism which will help the underlying problem)
