Sea hare

[Tomoko Schum]

My small sea hares (1 inch long) do not seem to be eating golden dictyota which is practically the only noticable algae in the tank. Do they need to be a bit bigger to be able to munch on or put a noticable dent in the fast growing dictyota?

Tomoko

 

[Plantbrain]

I've had sea hares in the past and they have never been able to put a dent in Dictoyota or other macro's.

IME, you need to pick out the Dictoyota, long tweezers are effective.

A Refugium can help curb Dictoyota growth also.
Tangs are good if it's the only alga bugging you and you have no other macro you want/

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thanks, Tom. I was hoping that you respond. I respect your opinion very much, salt water or fresh water. I have been reading your posts while I lurk here and APD.

I have been using the Amano style long tweezers to remove them. It's a tedious process. Any loose one starts new a bush. Unfortunately I cannot really have a tang in my current tank since the tank is only 29 gallon. Catching a fish is just as bad or worse in a reef tank than in a heavily planted fresh water tank, as you know. I do want to incorporate other tamer but pretty macro in my display tank.

I have a refugium with macro as part of a 20 gallon long sump. I am getting ready to replace the light fixture on it with a 55W PC. After I installed my skimmer in the sump, I had to switch NO light (2 x 20W) with a curlicue compact fluorescent due to the space restriction. My chaetomorpha pretty much stopped growing under the curlicue light (19W). Hopefully switching to 55W PC in 6700W range would revitalize my macro in my fuge.

Thanks again,

Tomoko

 

[Plantbrain]

To0 catch a critter in a well planted tank: do a large water change, 50-70% is not an issue, the tank responds very well, cost some$ for the salt, but it one of the few ways I could catch the damsels and other hitch hikers that ended up in the tank.

Yes, picking is "work". I've done a lot of it and I try to hussle when I do pruning, trimming, picking.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thanks, Tom, I keep that in mind.

Tomoko

 

[R33f3r]

The sea hares they sell at blowfishaquatics.com (bali seamonster) will eat Dictoyota like crazy.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Do you have one yourself? I have the identical one to what they call a mini sea monster. Hate to buy things without testing them out first.

Tomoko

 

[R33f3r]

I had one but I gave it to a local reefer. The mini's won't eat it because I had one of those as well. The bali will however.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you, R33fr, for taking time to answer my question. I will try it if my plan of starving dictyota out by revitalizing macro fails. After doing a hefty trimming yesterday, the tank looks a lot better, but I am sure they will grow right back if I don't do something to harness their growth.

Tomoko

 

[R33f3r]

The best approach for me was the bali seamonster and phosban. After the sea hare ate most of it, I gave it away to another guy that had the same problem. My reefclub is setup to where we can borrow algae eating creatures temporarily

Dictoyota I can say has been exterminated

 

[Tomoko Schum]

If I get a bali seamonster and successfully erradicate the dictyota, I will share him with the local reef club members, too. I am hoping my refugium with a higher amount of light can keep dictyota under control. I like the look of the macro. I just want them where I put them and not everywhere.

Tomoko