Name That Algae

cuc + competition for nutrients = clean tank

 

Sea Hare

Well, i was going to buy more turbo's but the guy at the lfs suggested this guy
a Sea Hare


I have read a couple of places that if he gets startled he might release some purple toxin, but at another site they say they arent. The guy at the LFS said he was great for all types of algea. He was presing him against the tank to get him to stick to the glass but he didnt release any toxins or anything. ill post the progress within a week. Hope this works out.

 

+1 on what malony said, you need to check parameters for more than ammonia, nitrates, ph, and nitrites, try adding a magnesium, calcium, and carbonate hardness test kits

 

I bought a mexican turbo and was rather disappointed, that thing will sit in the same place for days sometimes without moving. I have the best luck with the margarita snails, they eat a lot of algae and are constantly on the move. My lfs sells those and astraea's - I have found that the margarita's are better at turning themselves right side up if they end up upside down, the astrea's die if I don't notice them and flip them over.

 

Sea Hare

Well, so much for the sea hare idea, i acclimated him for 45 minutes and he was alive when i went to bed. I found my nassarius snails feasting on him this morning. That was an expensive lesson in getting what i know and not getting what i dont know or havent researched. I will get more turbos or margaritas or some other kind. Does anyone know anything about black turbo snails? They are pretty small compared to the turbos, and in the tank they have them at the LFS the glass is sparkling clean.

 

Uv

I want to plumb in a UV filter i got to My Eheim 2026 canister, Has anyone done this before? Any pictures? I am going to use a T to a ball valve that reduces the flow to the UV filter since it only needs 200GPH. Would a UV filter or a Phosphate reactor be better for film algea? I am already using chemipure elite in my skimmer box and actually brought phosphates to 0 and also nitrates i think(colors are hard to tell). But hasnt done much for the algea. Also reduced my lights and feeding and added 5 margharita snails.

 

Both have their benefits but there are some downfalls with a UV fliter. They also kill some of the beneficial things you want in your tank. I would start with some different kinds of snails and add a phosphate reactor. I personally like Rowa Phos becasue it won't leach po4's back into the tank once it's spent.

 

which one is better phosban or rowaphos?

 

Well I think it's personal preference but if you look at the ingfedients in Rowa it is ferric oxide and phos guard is aluminum oxide. I don't know a whole lot about po4 media but i remember reading something bad about using aluminum oxide or hydroxide?

phos guard and phos ban will all leach nasties back into your tank when they have bonded to as much po4 as they can handle. Rowa won't do this.

 

Thanks i think i will buy rowa