What are the best hair algae eating snails to get?

[basssnake]

What are the best Hair algae eating snails? I hear turbo snails are the best. I also hear that some type of turban snail off of the baja pennisula is a good hair algae eater. What about Astrea snails?

Lets hear some feedback......

 

[D to the P]

Personally I've had the best luck with Keyhole Limpets. If you can find them of course. For some reason they are really hard to come by.

 

[Guygettnby]

i should start selling all of mine! i hate them personaly. they destroy anything in there path like a bulldoser. they do a great job of cleaning but they have destroyed some of my corals.

i have like 100 of them and have been trying to get them out of my tank for months.

 

[D to the P]

Wow, they did wonderful in my 10 gallon reef when I had that set up. Are yours really big?

 

[basssnake]

Lets see some more feedback. I am sure this is a interesting subject for a lot of people. I also need to find some hair algae destroyers......lol.......

 

[Guygettnby]

some of them are big but alot are smaller in size. they do a great job in cleaning but they like to bulldose all over my corals. i have lost plenty of zoa/palys and not too mention half of my GSP colony.

not to say that you would have the same luck but one of my frineds is having the same problem. his zoas are starting to go missing and he has seen one of the limpets plow over one of the colonies.

 

[basssnake]

what do they look like? Do all limpets eat on polyps?

Are astrea's good at eating hair algae? What about turban snails from the baja of california(pennisula)?

 

[D to the P]

I don't believe limpets eat the corals. They were just irritating the ones he had by bulldozing through them.

I've also had luck with Sea Hares, mexican turbo snials, and cowries. Although if you get a large cowrie it will be a bulldozer. I've had good luck with the smaller money cowries.

 

[basssnake]

Yeah, i have a mexican turbo snail of some sort and he eats a lot of hair algae. I really need a bunch of them but at 2.00 each, quite expensive. I found a guy in california that has a place on the baja penisula(south of california) that can get me some snails he calls Turban snails. I researched them and i am not sure what they are exactly. Some call the astreas a turban snail and some call the turbo snails a turban snail. I am not sure exactly what these are that he gets. They have a shell shape similiar to the turbo snail but are black in color. He claims they will eat hair algae as well as a turbo snail. I can get them for .50 each shipped. What you think?

any other comments on turbo snails and astrea snails in regards to eating hair algae?

 

[basssnake]

More input...................please

 

[D to the P]

I'd be cautious getting the snails from that guy for .50 cents. If they are used to the cooler waters of California they might not do well in a warmer tropical tank.

I'm basing that off of this Reef Keeping article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php

and from one of the questions from your original posts:
Astreas do a good job, but can't right themselves so they can die easily.

 

[basssnake]

I guess he gets them in the sea of cortez, which is supposed to be warmer. I wonder if these are the turbo snails and he just calls them turban snails?

 

[Guygettnby]

limpets do not eat polyps. they just bulldose them over and push them off of the rocks or destroy them. they do a great job of cleaning up though and some people may have never had any problems with them. but me....i dont have that luck:lol:

seahares also do a great job, but when the algea is gone they will soon follow unless you suplement there feedings with dried algea or something of that nature.

another thing i can honestly say will eat the hair algea is urchins. i dont like having urchins in my reef tanks though. but they sure as hell get the job done. the rock will be a whit as white can be when they are done, no coraline or anything left on it.

 

[basssnake]

Yeah, that is the bad thing about the urchins. Otherwise, i would use them if they left coralline alone.

 

[D to the P]

Yeah Turbo is the same thing as Turban. But, I've read that the ones generally collected off the coast of California don't do well, and I believe temp differences were the strongest candidate for why that might be.

 

[Don-Coraleone]

i say trochus. i think they do a great job.

 

[dzabler]

I had Mexican turbos in my tank before and they ate the hair algae like crazy and left corals alone and didn't hurt the coralline algae. The only problem is, like mentioned before, once the hair algae is gone they slowly starve. Actually I need to get some more, just upgraded lights and the hair algae is going crazy.

 

[basssnake]

Well, these "turban snails" are from the sea of cortez which is warmer than the pacific side. I also read that turbo snails are collected on the west side of mexico. So, hopefully that is what these guys are. At .50 each for a quarter size and larger, that is pretty cheap for that size.

How good are astreas at eating hair algae?

 

[D to the P]

IME not as good as turbos.

 

[dzabler]

I have astreas snails in my tank now and they eat the hair algae but not like the mexican turbos.