400 gallon project

untamed · #1 10-03-2007, 02:08 AM

How to rid the tank of hair algae?

The first thing is to eliminate Phosphates from the system. Twin phosban reactors have been running for a month now. I can't yet measure phosphate accurately enough to know if they are working or not, but the theory is solid.

Grow algae somewhere else. I have now added a refugium to the system. The idea here is to run the light over the refugium nearly 24 hours/day so that this algae uses up the available nutrients first. Because this algae is in one spot, it is easy to harvest as it grows. (all this explanation is because I have non-aquarists who enjoy following my tank saga)

Finally, you have to go on the attack to eliminate the hair algae from the main tank. To that end, I have added two sea hares and some more urchins. The sea hares are very effective at mowing hair algae. (photo to follow) Should the sea hares ever successfully eat all the algae, I'll return them to the fish shop so that they can help someone else out.

untamed · #2 10-06-2007, 11:00 PM

This is what a sea hare looks like. It took a while before he got himself into a photographable position. There are two of them in the tank. The really surprising thing is how difficult they are to find when they aren't actively eating. They seem to have a real talent for hiding. This is the larger of the two.

untamed · #3 10-06-2007, 11:02 PM

I took a few shots today because I realized that my coral was growing, yet I had no photos to refer to. For no reason, here you go.

michika · #4 10-08-2007, 10:17 PM

Nice shots!

I hope the seahare works out for you. Are you seeing a lot of cleaning action from your urchins?

untamed · #5 10-08-2007, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michika

Nice shots!

I hope the seahare works out for you. Are you seeing a lot of cleaning action from your urchins?

Two seahares...and so far I'm impressed by the job they are doing. While I like the urchins, I would not say that they are very effective at eating hair algae. I think the urchins prefer coraline algae.

michika · #6 10-08-2007, 11:04 PM

Wow, that is exactly the opposite of my tank. I have a seahare and it barely makes a dent in my GHA, while my urchin on the other hand goes to town.

I always look forwards to your tank updates!

justinl · #7 10-15-2007, 05:20 PM

hey brad, i was thinking today about sea spiders and i remembered that you had one (the only one i know of in a tank). just curious as to whether it's still around or not. is the gorg it was feeding on still okay?