In your experience, what eats hair algae?

[Slocke]

I decided to exchange 6 of the massive ones I bought, and keep the 4 small urchins.

Those big urchins will cause me not to sleep at night lol.

Hopefully there will be some changes around Miami’s reef lol.

I keep several Mexicans in the refugium and whenever I see hair algae toss them in the display tank and repeat. Urchins are a different issue as they are a lot harder to pull out so probably best you stick with the Mexicans.

 

[areefer01]

I’m looking for personal anecdotes of herbivores that eat Green Hair Algae.

This is a tough one because what works for one may not work for the other. Fish and their personalities, right? Also I personally never buy an animal for utility since they may, or may not, choose to abide by that role. I buy them because I want them. Utility is a bonus.

Having said that I have a Scopas tang to manage GHS. I also have a Gold Lined Rabbitfish. My current one is from Biota and does amazingly well on anything algae related. One just needs a large display for it. Vossen Tuxedo urchins are another staple in my aquarium. I also have 1 rock boring but I don't think it did much for it.

Other than that I have snails. Not too many but a mixture never the less. Larger Turbos. Astrea. Small strombus grazers (lots of these actually since they breed in the display and refugium). Few small micro hermits and 5 to 10 scarlets. Scarlets eat hair algae at least mine did. I like these scarlets because they didn't seem to attack the snails in my system like many others. I had blue legs in there but they killed one another off it seems.

Anyway sorry to hear about the GHA troubles. Herbivores are obviously the heavy lifters here it just comes down to what you are willing to try based on the stocking plans. I personally dislike having to catch something when it doesn't work out or is too early in my stocking plan and it prevents me later from adding something I wanted.

In my case I wanted a Biota Yellow Tang but I purchased the Scopas first to manage some algae. Now I can't add the yellow because Mr. or Mrs. Scopas isn't so welcoming...

All the best to you and yours.

 

[t5Nitro]

sea urchins have mowed mine down

 

[Miami Reef]

This is a tough one because what works for one may not work for the other. Fish and their personalities, right?

Very true.

Sea hares are known for decimating hair algae, but the 2 I tried were fails.

It comes down to the individual.

That being said, I see nothing wrong with borrow invert herbivores and returning them once they do their job. That’s what’s usually done with sea hares.

I did buy too many large urchins, but I can easily exchange them tomorrow. No harm done.


As for fish, I’d really not want to add a fish solely for utility because catching them is a real pain if they start eating corals etc. Foxface would have easily been selected, but I had really bad experiences with them eating brain corals.

I love those fish though. They are amazing at consuming algae.

 

[Miami Reef]

sea urchins have moweed mine down

What type of sea urchin?

 

[t5Nitro]

What type of sea urchin?

Tuxedo urchins and then also a pencil urchin that came as a hitchhiker on KP aquatics rock. I think generally the pencils aren't supposed to be reef safe but it hasn't gone after too much. It did eat a PC rainbow acro but the rest have been fine, lol.

Edit: the pencil urchin in particular is pretty amazing at that job. It will clean an entire rock to pristine looking and move on.

 

[dhnguyen]

Nothing eats GHA like a sea hare. Only issue is after they finish off the algae they may starve if you don't have a source of algae to feed them.

 

[Miami Reef]

Tuxedo urchins and then also a pencil urchin that came as a hitchhiker on KP aquatics rock. I think generally the pencils aren't supposed to be reef safe but it hasn't gone after too much. It did eat a PC rainbow acro but the rest have been fine, lol.

Edit: the pencil urchin in particular is pretty amazing at that job. It will clean an entire rock to pristine looking and move on.

I’ve had EXCELLENT experiences with tuxedo urchins, but my LFS hasn’t had them in a while. I can order them online, but I’m pretty lazy to wait for it, and they cost triple a regular pincushion, not including shipping.

 

[Miami Reef]

Nothing eats GHA like a sea hare. Only issue is after they finish off the algae they may starve if you don't have a source of algae to feed them.

I tried 2. They were both fails. Maybe they were too starved from being at my LFS for too long, or maybe my hair algae wasn’t plentiful enough.

 

[Spare time]

Tuxedos

I have a Hector's goby, which is very similar, and it doesn't put much of a dent in hair algae. They're slender fish that max out around 2", so they just don't eat much.
(Also, I've not heard good things about Dr. Reef. Something about shipping and disease issues.)

A tuxedo urchin is a good bet. You'll have to pull long tufts out by hand (ideally with gloves on in case of things tangled inside) to allow most invertebrates to get a good bite on the stuff, but an urchin will mow it down if it's relatively short, and a tuxedo should cause minimal other trouble.

I've never owned an urchin that ate green hair algae. I've had tuxedos, longspine, and pincushions.

 

[Spare time]

If you have coralline algae, the urchins seem to just go for that instead. I personally would avoid urchins.

 

[Miami Reef]

If you have coralline algae, the urchins seem to just go for that instead. I personally would avoid urchins.

What would you get instead?

I’m returning most of the pincushions tomorrow because I don’t have patience to deal with stolen acros. I’m only keeping the really small ones.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For me has been pencil urchins and fighting conchs

 

[Spare time]

What would you get instead?

In a big tank? A sea hare or maybe some algivorous fish. In a small tank, Mexican turbos seem to eat some forms of hair algae but not all.

 

[Miami Reef]

For me has been pencil urchins and fighting conchs

Fighting conch for hair algae on rocks?

 

[Miami Reef]

In a big tank? A sea hare or maybe some algivorous fish. In a small tank, Mexican turbos seem to eat some forms of hair algae but not all.

I tried 2 sea hares. Both didn’t touch nori or hair algae. I’m really not sure what gives with my luck with sea hares.


I‘m intrigued how nobody asked about my nutrient levels once in this thread.

I think I’ll exchange the 6 large urchins for some Mexican turbos. I heard @Dan_P had good luck with them.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Fighting conch for hair algae on rocks?

Excellent with algae and reef safe. Also feed on detritus

 

[Miami Reef]

@jda

Care to share your experience?

 

[kevgib67]

My number one is my tuxedo urchin, followed by turbo snails and emerald crabs. But nothing compares to my tuxedo urchin. My tank is to small for most of the herbivore fish.

 

[Red_Beard]

I‘m intrigued how nobody asked about my nutrient levels once in this thread.

Guess we all assumed that was all old hat for you, lol. Also i had hair algae in both high and low nutrient tanks, unless you are way out of whack, dont think it is culprit here. Could be wrong though.