Looking to Battle the "Turf" battle...

[oneradtek202]

and i need some help.



my tank is quickly being over-run with red turf algae, and i want to know how to get rid of this stuff. its a good thing that the great ole' fairmount aquarium wayyy back when sold me a frag with this and red valonia on it, and that was the start.

my red valonia is a delicacy for my purple tang, thank god! i almost gave up because of that stuff. But now im battling the red turf algae. i want to know other than manual removal, which doesnt work anyways, how to get rid of this stuff.

i heard that mexican turbos will get rid of this, and i have a few of them in my tank, but seems to not be working. i saw that others put upwards of a dozen or more in other tanks to get rid of it. another option ive seen is the emerald crab(which some say can work) but not as well as the mexicans. im thinking about picking up a dozen of REAL turbos and a few emeralds(i dont have too many zoas so i dont care) and give it a shot.

anyone have any ideas???


heres what it looks like (not my pic)

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

my lone big turbo definitely eats that stuff.

so does my Foxface and Acanthurus spp. Tangs.

75 gallons is your biggest problem in this case IMO.

 

[oneradtek202]

looks like im getting a bunch of big turbos, then hopefully i can trade some back in after the war lol

at first i was like why is 75 gallons my issue lol then i was like OOOOOO cant add anymore tangsssss haha

 

[talon4x4]

Turbos have worked for me, I don't think the emeralds will touch it though.

 

[S Helinski]

Forget snails and crabs--they are an absolute waste of money IMO.

Get yourself 1 or 10 Black-short-spined urchins. They often have a reddish or purple-like coloration. They are not the long spined ones. They stay about 3-5" in diameter.

They will quickly decimate any algae in the tank!

Steve

 

[dendrodude]

They will only eat the algae though?

 

[quader94]

I added two turbo's after having it for months. Took a while but it slowly went away

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

They will only eat the algae though?

Pretty much, but they will eat every kind of algae, including coralline, perhaps faster than it'll grow in your tank, which can leave your rockwork kind of bare in appearance. At least IME.

 

[pascal32]

I had an urchin for a while and he was clearing coraline at an astonish rate. Pincushion urchins are also very good at redecorating the tank for anything which isn't bolted down.