Thinking about a sea slug :)

Sea Slugs

Sea Slugs

I tried lettuce nudibranchs on a couple of occassions, lost most of them in the powerheads and and overflow. They are very good hair algae eaters, but they do not do well in tanks with strong current.

The dye Sea Hares emit is said to be a some what strong organic toxin which makes me nervous. You would want to run carbon, possibly Chemipure continuously to be safe.

I think sea slugs are better for a seperate tank or a hang on refugium (so that you can see them). You could place the hair algae rock in the tank or refugium for them to eat.

Thanks

Jeff
 
Sea Slugs

Sea Slugs

On the Hair Algae.

Try the following:

1.) Reduce your phosphates using a Phosban Reactor and Phosban. Run the flow rate real slow or the Phosban will grind to a powder.

2.) Look at your lights, they may have spectrally shifted.

3.) Raise your alkalinity, make sure your pH is at least 8.3 to 8.4. Some suggest running up to a 8.6 pH for algae reduction. Check and possibly raise your Calcium levels also.

4.) Raise you flow rate (not good for sea slugs however).

5.) Occasionally brush, blow or fan organic debris from the live rock.

6.) Lastly, if scrubbing the hair algae from the live rock (or whatever), take the rock out of the tank and do the scrubbing in a bucket or tub using waste water from a water change. Never scrub the hair algae off in the tank or the hair algae will spread.


Jeff
 
I've tried all those things, except for the phosban reactor. I'm raising my alk as it was low and that seems to be helping with it spreading, but I still have what's already grown. I'd really like a lawnmower blenny, but I never seem to see any locally at the LFS..........
 
I bought two lettuce nudibranches, now have 4 and have been giving them away. I haven't noticed them making a dent in any sort of algae, but the strange factor more than makes up for their uselessness.
 
QUOTE]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7289485#post7289485 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ryansholl
I bought two lettuce nudibranches, now have 4 and have been giving them away. I haven't noticed them making a dent in any sort of algae, but the strange factor more than makes up for their uselessness. [/QUOTE]

Thats cool. I didn't know they bred so easily in home aquaria. So do they divide or do they lay eggs?
 
Well the assumption would be eggs, but I've never seen them. All I know is that I started with two and now have >2. You sparked my interest, and I glanced through google and I don't think it'd generally be said that they're easily bred. Maybe I just got lucky.
 
Thumbs up, Ryan! Well done! Way to get lucky with some slugs! :D

I've tried a few of those little slugs, and most of the time ended up with a gooey mess. Didn't see 'em attacking the hair algae all that much either.

They ARE cool, though. They'd be a neat species tank.
 
I found a lawnmower blenny at Petco in Cedar Rapids, they usually have some. I would call before I drove up from the Iowa City area though 319-377-4376.
Steph
 
Thanks all, I will try the Petco in Cedar Rapids. I have 6 scarlet and blue hermits, a handful of nassarius, a few ceriths, a sand sifting star and used to have turbos, which did a good job, but I can't seem to keep them alive for very long in my tank........
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7296574#post7296574 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phishcrazee
used to have turbos, which did a good job, but I can't seem to keep them alive for very long in my tank........
Click to expand...

Strange.

Back in "the day", I used to have difficulty keeping turbos alive. They'd last from a few hours to a few days and the culprit turned out to be copper leaching from contaminated rock and crushed coral. Don't know if the LFS liked to dose copper to keep the ich down or where it came from. It was actually too little to show up in the test kits I used but it turned my CupriSorb dark blue.

Did a complete change of rock and went to sand and the turbos are fine.

My assumption has always been that turbos are very hardy as long as there isn't copper in the system. Apparently they have issues with high nitrates as well (mine are <5).

I haven't lost one for quite some time (have 20+) although there's been a few close calls with them falling on their backs (so-to-speak) and being harrassed by a hermit crab looking for a larger home.

Don't want to alarm you, just making a comment.


~Eric
 
They lasted several months, then they started dying off and I could never tell why. I didn't add any new chemicals, just don't know. All my other snails are fine and I have all/most of the originals from when I started the tank 6 months ago. I'm going to try turbos again after I get the 75g up. I'm getting some nice sand from Snapcrackler, so I'm sure there isn't any copper in it. The highest my nitrates have ever been is 10 and they're usually 5 or under. It was annoying always having to "right" them when they tipped over though, it's my only complaint against the turbos.
 
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