johnstires
New member
Ever since I set up my 15G tank 4 years ago, I have had a red brillo pad type algae growing in my reef tank. It is impossible to manually remove from the rocks and it never ceases to grow. I have a pic in my gallery, but sorry I can't ID ii. It is a common nuiscence in tanks.
Over the years I tried just about everything to get rid of this stuff, scrapping the rocks, emerald crabs, water purification, cutting back on nitrates and phosphates... and none of it worked. Emerald crabs did eat it, but they never ate enough of it as they always had something else in the tank to eat.
So, a few months ago, I decided to try a new experiment. I bought 10 emerald crabs and placed 7 of them inside a plastic breeding container in my tank. I placed three in the tank. Then I took a peice of LR with the red algae and placed it in the container with them. After 2 days the rock was all cleaned up. I then removed that rock and placed another in the container for them to clean. After a little over a month all the algae was gone. I planned on giving the crabs away, but was attached to them, so I put them all in my tank. 2 of them died over the period, so I had 8 emerald crabs in my tank. The only reason I did this was because I have a ton of Chaeto in my tank and I know they like to eat it. So after 3 months I am still algae free. I can't say that all of the emerald crabs are still alive as it is difficult to count all 8 at one time, but there are alot of them in there still and they are green, happy and do not bother anything but the algae. Also what little bubble algae I had in the tank is now gone, although I have never seen an emerald crab eat it.
My tank is doing so much better, the fish and corals are all much healthier as I it has allowed me to up my feeding of the tank. Anyways, I'm not saying this is the only way, but it worked for me. I'll try to remember to check back in down the road to see it things are still good.
Over the years I tried just about everything to get rid of this stuff, scrapping the rocks, emerald crabs, water purification, cutting back on nitrates and phosphates... and none of it worked. Emerald crabs did eat it, but they never ate enough of it as they always had something else in the tank to eat.
So, a few months ago, I decided to try a new experiment. I bought 10 emerald crabs and placed 7 of them inside a plastic breeding container in my tank. I placed three in the tank. Then I took a peice of LR with the red algae and placed it in the container with them. After 2 days the rock was all cleaned up. I then removed that rock and placed another in the container for them to clean. After a little over a month all the algae was gone. I planned on giving the crabs away, but was attached to them, so I put them all in my tank. 2 of them died over the period, so I had 8 emerald crabs in my tank. The only reason I did this was because I have a ton of Chaeto in my tank and I know they like to eat it. So after 3 months I am still algae free. I can't say that all of the emerald crabs are still alive as it is difficult to count all 8 at one time, but there are alot of them in there still and they are green, happy and do not bother anything but the algae. Also what little bubble algae I had in the tank is now gone, although I have never seen an emerald crab eat it.
My tank is doing so much better, the fish and corals are all much healthier as I it has allowed me to up my feeding of the tank. Anyways, I'm not saying this is the only way, but it worked for me. I'll try to remember to check back in down the road to see it things are still good.
