Mexican turbos needed

[tivoklr]

I'm looking for say 3-5 Mexican turbo grazers to combat a recent red cotton candy algae outbreak.

I don't want to order a bunch of them, have them destroy the algae and then all go "foot-up" so to speak, so I'm wondering if anybody has a few to spare that have done their duty in your tank already.

I live near Vail so LFS are non-existant. I would drive to Denver to either pick up some from a fellow reefer or I would consider buying some from a LFS if knowledgable persons could speak up as to what shops to consider and might regularly carry them.

TIA!

 

[Dave & Monica]

Recommend you get with Rob (rmougy) on the "Critter Group Buy" - it closes today I believe.

 

[tivoklr]

I pm'd him yesterday so hopefully I'll hear back before it's too late...

Water change and manual removal today, was considering driving to denver to a LFS to find some but plans have changed for today so today I'm my own mexican turbo...

Have a touch of Bryopsis I'm removing too.

 

[Dave & Monica]

Not knowing how new you are to the hobby, here are two good links to help identify the root cause of your algae. Snails will help cure the symptoms, but something is causing the high nutrients to feed the algae growth.

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=147010
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

 

[tivoklr]

Yeah the red algae has been feeding off dead calcified macroalgae which must be a nitrate source so it's been pulled. Likewise I have a lot of bioballs in a wet dry, I removed 1/2 of them today during the water change. My intention is to dump the rest of the bio balls as soon as I can get a hunk of cheato for back there.

There is very little red algae and the Bryopsis was really minimal and has been removed. It was only on the glass where the emerald crab can't reach so he must be consuming any growing on the rock.

This is my third rodeo and I know how fast things can get out of hand.

One real Mexican would solve my problem in a day.

I will be using mag for a few weeks to treat against the Bryopsis prophylactically.

The tank is a 75 with 100# of lr and a 1-1/2" sandbed, some Xenia, zoas, a few mushrooms and that's about it. The livestock came from a tank nearby that was being torn down about 2 months ago and sometimes you take the good with the bad.

 

[tivoklr]

The calcified/dead macro is Halimeda. I have some growing well in a corner of the aquarium. I don't remember seeing the Bryopsis specifically in the PO's tank but it had algae including Valonia and Caulerpa Racemosa which I've eliminated. When I tore his tank down it had that look like it could go green real quick...

My phosphates and nitrates are almost 0 ppm using the red sea kit, and my calcium measures a measly 350ppm. This is post 15 gal water change this morning.

Low Ca.

Will start using kalk in make up water. Guess the kids and I are going to the store for some pickling lime...