Help me pick a clean up crew

[reefer1024]

I have had a 2.5 pico for almost 3 years. Never had any algae problems and never had any clean up crew. I moved everything to a BB 7.5 gallon 12" cube. I increased the light to a 150w MH and increased the flow to about 150x per hour. The problem is I am having an outbreak of hair algae. I cant beat it by limiting its nutrients. The intense light and flow seem to have made the perfect habitat for it. I thrives in the highest flow parts of the tank. I need something to eat it. I was thinking a hermit crab or 2. I want to avoid anything that will knock over all my new frags. Any help and advice would be appreciated.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

my questions...why on earth are you running a 150 halide over a 7.5g tank and why on earth are you running it at 150x turnover??? I'm a big fan of lots of flow...but thats way overkill. I cant imagine anything that would need that much flow in that small of a tank. And same goes for lighting...what are you trying to grow in a 7g tank that wouldnt grow under strong pc lighting, or at least a 70w halide?

Back to YOUR question though...you've checked nitrates, phosphates, etc?? Even iron? Cause i've read on here that Hair alga really feeds on iron.

Assuming everything is fine and dandy though, have you tried an emerald crab? Personally i hate hermits..they suck at cleaning and just kill other stuff. Read an article somewhere that says they do best with 1 per 10 gallons to keep aggression down between them...but if you actually follow that rule of thumb, you're not gonna have a very good cleanup crew at all with just one hermit lol. I've tried keeping multiple hermits in a 10 with lots of extra shells...one still killed the others. IMO..stick away from hermits.

A "smaller" turbo and/or a smaller emerald crab would be your best bet IMO. Emeralds can get a bit mean when bigger..but what doesnt in this hobby? :lol:

 

[reefer1024]

Sir Dudeguy,
Thanks for your help. To answer you questions. I decided to dedicate this tank to SPS. I wanted enough light to grow encrusting SPS on the bottom glass. After askinig around this forum most people seemed to agree that 150w was the better option over a 70w. Now that I see it in action I think I would have been better off with the 70w. As for the flow its not as bad as much as it sounds. Its a Tunze nano bounced off the front glass. With the BB tank nothing has a chance to settle.

No nitrates. I don't have a test for phosphates or Iron. I would imagine my phosphates are really low. For the past 3 weeks I have cut back the feedings to half what I did in the 2.5 gallon. The only thing I feed is cut up shrimp and scallops target fed 1 piece at a time to my Trimma gobies. I only do this every other day now. 95% of the food or more makes it into a mouth. The thing that confuses me is I have the same inhabitants in more water volume with more filtration and with less food and now I'm getting algae.

This week I also switched from Natural sea water to a mix made with RO water. We will see if this makes a difference.

I guess I'll try a small turbo snail.

 

[reefer1024]

I picked up the smallest turbo I could find today. He is on a hair eating rampage. At this rate my tank will be clear of hair algae by 2009! woohoo!

 

[REEFKEEPA]

Wow!!!
I'm looking forward to my next HA outbreak when I start up my tank again!!!
Good luck!!!