Sea Hare questions?

[jgraeff]

I have some hair algae on two of my rock and i could pull them out and scrub it off but i have really nice coraline on them as well. I don't want to end up scrubbing all that off. I was wondering if a sea hare would take care of it or what else would?

I also heard it will release dye into the tank if it is startled is that something i should be concerned with?

 

[jgraeff]

Also does anyone have one i could rent? Or buy?

 

[boosted306]

I have one and love it. It is a neat creature. Once they have eaten all of the algae off of your rocks you have to feed them. Mine cruises around the tank all day and scrubs what it can off of the rocks. My only problem with mine is that it is very large. So when it walks around loose rocks his big a.. knocks them off. Good for algae but I would see where it is coming from. Check and watch your chemistry often and do frequent water changes.

 

[jgraeff]

I have one and love it. It is a neat creature. Once they have eaten all of the algae off of your rocks you have to feed them. Mine cruises around the tank all day and scrubs what it can off of the rocks. My only problem with mine is that it is very large. So when it walks around loose rocks his big a.. knocks them off. Good for algae but I would see where it is coming from. Check and watch your chemistry often and do frequent water changes.

I cannot figure out where the algae is coming from, i use ro water only with almost no chemicals. My water is perfect except my nitrates are at 20 which i am working on getting to 0. I do a weekly water change of 25% and have good flow and good filtration with a decent skimmer which i am upgrading soon to a swc extreme 160. Any idea what could be causing the algae?

 

[boosted306]

The nitrates are your problem. I would do hefty water changes frequently. Algae feeds off of nitrates and the higher they are the more food the algae has to eat. A sea hare will take care of the algae itself but it will return if the nitrates are not taken care of. What type of filtration are you using?

 

[jgraeff]

i have a emperor 400 with good carbon in it, then in the refuge i have mangroves and chaeto. Then also a skimmer.

 

[boosted306]

I would continue to do water changes weekly. I would even consider doing them every five days. Water changes are a must to get the nitrates down. The sea hare will help get rid of the algae that is holding nitrates in for food. Just remember with these things, what goes in comes out. It seems like that happens instantly. I try to remove mines fecal matter every few days because that is the easiest way to completely remove algae. He leaves a "turd" that is nothing more than compacted algae.

 

[jgraeff]

Ok i wish i could do water changes more i am just tight on money so i can only afford to do them once a week. It is unfortunate but im just glad they are down to 20, once i get some money though im sure i can get rid of them.

 

[boosted306]

I understand entirely.

 

[thincat]

Boosted gave good advice...Good luck