What eats Coraline Algae?

[GunnerO]

I've got an outbreak of red and green coraline algae on the sides and back of the tank. My LFS says that Cerite snails are the best for removing this hard crystaline algae, all suggestions would be appreciated.:wave:

 

[chris31]

Your best bet is to take a razor blade and scrap it off. Your skimmer will pick it up

 

[disc1]

Urchins will eat it, but you're not going to get your tank walls clean without a razorblade. There is nothing in this world that eats it as fast as it grows. And for the record I have never seen a cerite snail eating coralline.

 

[csmfish]

Grows fast? i will say! Its growing faster on the front of my tank than regular algea. i need a way to get rid of it too, but which urchins? I have one in my tank but he is always on my home made cement rock??? Guess I/we need to get 3-4 of them?

Then again, does the critters eating it really do any good? When they poop it out, does it dissolve and go right back to the glass? Hmm.......

 

[disc1]

Again, the urchins eat it, but you will never ever notice any missing. They don't eat it down to the glass, they just take off a layer. Even if you have a hundred, you're still going to need a razor blade. Coralline isn't something you can solve with a criter to eat it.

 

[ludiNano]

Nothing will eat it fast enough. If ur running a reef tank it will be impossible to have no coraline. If its a FOWLR then u could keep ur calcium levels low to inhibit growth. You just need to make scraping the glass a part of your routine maintenance. Some people have a hard time getting there coraline to grow and wish they had this "problem".

 

[funkejj]

We have a pin cushion urchin that does not eat it but the Halloween urchin my wife just had to have has striped it off a rock completely. It grows back fast so no big but cleaned it all off the rock in short order.

 

[TwistedNerve]

I scrape coraline off my glass at least twice a week. I remembered when I first started in the hobby, I couldn't get it too grow.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

to do the front glass you can get a mag float and glue an easy blade to it just don't leave the easy blade in the tank and watch the silicone on the edges.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/glass-cleaners/easy-blade-algae-scrapers-black.html

 

[GunnerO]

I've got an acrylic tank, so scrapping leaves lots of scratches, I've tried plastic scapers, metal scrapers, and razor blades. Razor blades can wreak havic on acrylics. Many of your suggestions were great, but I need something else. I can't reach the back of the tank, so I might just have to learn to live with it. Thanks your interest.

 

[disc1]

That's the main downfall of the acrylic tank. There is no easy way to scrape the glass.

 

[Jstdv8]

I can't get coraline to grow in my tank to save my life. I even tried bringing in a covered rock and scraping it off in front of the powerheads. That rock still has it obn it, but it doesnt spread and I sure don't have any on my glass.

 

[coralreefhq]

I have a bore urchin and a pencil urchin.
They were quite small the first few years I've had them, a few years down the line they were the size of a quarter to a golf ball.

No problems with them in the tank, quite an eye sore sometimes, but they only come out at night and move very fast.

The glass on my tank is clean, not Mr. Sparkle clean, but it's keeping the growth on check.
I must mention that, the bore urchins tend to "bore" holes in your rockwork so make sure you have plenty of rock space.

 

[psyrob]

Tuxedo urchin ate lots of mine...not completely, but he would break it up and make it a little easier to scrape....

 

[Sever0n]

oh the joys of coraline another problem with it being in an acrylic tank is that Coraline loves Plastics of any type. Cpr makes a handy little scraper about the size of a credit card i've had pretty good luck with. You just can't put alot of pressure on it.

 

[disc1]

I've been told that urchins will scratch up your acrylic tank. I tend to believe it. Have you ever seen how their mouth works?