green furry rock

[kg4izw]

My liverock is starting to look green and furry.
I believe this is some form of algae, but am not certain. Unfortunately, I do not have the resources to add a picture to this post. Anyone ever had this before? As far as cleanup crew is concerned, I have about 10 Narcissus snails a couple of small turbo snails. Are there any crabs that are exclusively vegiterians? I have been scared to put any crabs in my tank after my experience with a mantis that hitched a ride via my liverock. And I STILL have another mantis in there that I can't find.
My tank is 9 gallons and has 24 watts of light.
I set it up in March 2006.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Paulb.

 

[Mariner]

Sounds like a bit of green hair algae. Mexican turbo snails will eat it, as will emerald crabs, but either could be eaten by a mantis. Of course the algae is using excess nutrients in your tank -- eliminate them, and it will probably go away.
HTH,
Mariner

 

[im_buford]

yes the crabs and snails will help but try to watch ur parameters. feed only what ur critters consume quick, make sure u have adequate flow. and it mainly just takes t-i-m-e for it all to even out.

 

[Harbour]

Turf Algae?

Turf Algae?

It could be turf algae. If it is then it's going to be a little more difficult than typical hair algae.

Have you tried to pull it off by hand? Hair algae is fairly easy to pull off by hand while turf almost hurts your fingers to remove.

Harbour

 

[kg4izw]

I have not tried to pull any off with my hands.
It almost looks like shag carpeting you might find inside Barbie's Dream Home. It is not slimey at all, but I have not tried to pull any off the rock.
Hopefully I will be ordering some snails at the beginning of the week. I'm thinking about 5 or 6 Mexican Turbo snails will keep things in check. Thanks for the advice.
As far as the nutrients are concerned, do you think it would help if I went to the trouble of getting RO water rather than the carbon-filtered tap water I've been using?
Paulb.

 

[Mariner]

Yes, RO water will help a lot!
And you may not want six Mexican Turbos in a 9g tank... 2 or 3 would probably do it.
Mariner

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Doesnt Mantis eat snails?

As for algae cleaning crew, I second Mariner's opinion. A small algae eating sea hare is great, too, but you have to watch out for the powerhead.

With a tank so small, I'd take out one rock at a time from the tank and brush out overgrown hair algae with a new tooth brush. Mexican Turbo probably eat mature algae, but they prefer the fuzzy new growth. With only fresh new growth, Mexican Turbo will clean up the algae in no time. So if Mexican Turbo stay away from a certain patch of algae, I'd give brushing a try. While you are at it, you can look for that Mantis, too.

Tomoko