Sea hare question

[greg1786]

Hey guys. I'm looking to purchase a sea hare to help combat a hair algae outbreak. My tank is a 125 gallon mixed reef but heavily dominated by acropora. My nutrients are 99% of the time very low PO4 currently .04 and NO3 0 on red sea kit. I had an insane bacterial bloom about 2 months ago which to this day do not know why and after it died off caused a nutrient spike for a couple weeks, hence the HA.

Now I've done a TON of research on these animals over the passed few weeks as I always do before a purchase. I'm well aware that they will starve if not supplemented food once the HA is gone so I've bought a TON of nori and other veggies in anticipation of getting one of these guys. Here comes the question, among all the research I've read nothing about the affect of calcium on these critters. I'm assuming because they have no shell that there is no calcium intake but even live aquaria suggests keeping all, ph, po4, no3, salinity, and temp stable but never mentions calcium. Does calcium affect these little guys in anyway shape or form? My calcium is always stable but I run it a little high as it seems to work well with all the acros. Thanks for the help, oh and by high I mean 490-500ppm.

 

[greg1786]

Anybody have any idea?

 

[Crush Coral]

Would not expect CA to be an issue. I have bought 2 to eat HA. Both ate my HA for 5 mins and then just cruised the tank for 3 days till dieing. I have HA and not bryopsis. Have no idea what the story is but I was disappointed. Others have great success.

 

[Tweaked]

Great animals and have had one for months. I switch mine to the fuge on occasion if tank looks to stripped.

 

[Reef Frog]

Personally, I am hesitant to get animals with "iffy"'survivability. Have you tried the other known methods of dealing with GHA? Dealing with it isn't that difficult. Don't most people buy these to eat Bryopsis?

I've seen large ones at the LFS in the past. Large enough to really screw things up royally if their death went unnoticed, at least in a system like mine. But heck, if you like em go for it. One idea is to put it in a QT and see if it will eat the nori or graze on an algae covered rock before intro into your display tank. GL.

 

[vorlx]

Hey guys. I'm looking to purchase a sea hare to help combat a hair algae outbreak. My tank is a 125 gallon mixed reef but heavily dominated by acropora. My nutrients are 99% of the time very low PO4 currently .04 and NO3 0 on red sea kit. I had an insane bacterial bloom about 2 months ago which to this day do not know why and after it died off caused a nutrient spike for a couple weeks, hence the HA.

Now I've done a TON of research on these animals over the passed few weeks as I always do before a purchase. I'm well aware that they will starve if not supplemented food once the HA is gone so I've bought a TON of nori and other veggies in anticipation of getting one of these guys. Here comes the question, among all the research I've read nothing about the affect of calcium on these critters. I'm assuming because they have no shell that there is no calcium intake but even live aquaria suggests keeping all, ph, po4, no3, salinity, and temp stable but never mentions calcium. Does calcium affect these little guys in anyway shape or form? My calcium is always stable but I run it a little high as it seems to work well with all the acros. Thanks for the help, oh and by high I mean 490-500ppm.

I had one in my original 75G tank. He did an amazing job and he was one of my favorite critters. Once he stripped my tank clean I passed him on to a fellow reefer. I don't know that the CA would be an issue.