Good algae eater for 15gal nano?

[One Reefing Boi]

I have a 15gal mixed reef (zoas, lps, sps) with 2 clowns and a YMG/pistol pair and a cleaner and fire red shrimp. 2 snail CUC with 4 blue legged hermits

Tank is about 4-5mo old and recently upgraded my lights to AI primes (love them) but I never had an ugly algae phase till now cause I assume my black box lights weren’t that strong.

Looking for an algae eating (mostly gha) fish that can hang in a 15gal for about a month or so till my new 50gal is up and running (consider it a quarantine tank as that is what I’ll convert this too once I get the bigger tank).

Any Blennys reef safe/ok in that size tank for the time being? Can’t seem to find snails anywhere for sale and also think fish are more fun to watch but open to suggestions

Edit: What about mollies?

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I have a 15gal mixed reef (zoas, lps, sps) with 2 clowns and a YMG/pistol pair and a cleaner and fire red shrimp. 2 snail CUC with 4 blue legged hermits

Tank is about 4-5mo old and recently upgraded my lights to AI primes (love them) but I never had an ugly algae phase till now cause I assume my black box lights weren’t that strong.

Looking for an algae eating (mostly gha) fish that can hang in a 15gal for about a month or so till my new 50gal is up and running (consider it a quarantine tank as that is what I’ll convert this too once I get the bigger tank).

Any Blennys reef safe/ok in that size tank for the time being? Can’t seem to find snails anywhere for sale and also think fish are more fun to watch but open to suggestions

My tail spot demolishes gha. Another option would be a lawnmower blenny. Get a small one and then move when it grows. Took about a year in my 14 cube before the small lawnmower I got was too big. He is now is now in the 180 and another small one in the 14.

 

[mcshams]

A smaller lawnmower blenny would likely be fine. However ideally the tank would be larger yet. IF you are truly going to a 50 gallon, and won't let any of the fish outgrow or overstock the 15 gallon nano, you'd likely be fine with that. They are funny fish, but their coloration isn't anything exciting. We have 2.

 

[Acros]

Blennies are reef safe and should be fine for a short while in the 15g. A lawnmower blenny would be a good choice. In my experience, they can never keep up with algae growth on their own. I would imagine you will implement a sump and some algae control method in the 50g.

I would suggest looking into a dolabella sea hare if you have a lot of algae. Keep in mind that they only eat algae and will starve and die if not re-homed once the tank runs out of algae.

 

[ZoWhat]

Gha can be controlled by tangs and rabbitfish but given your size thst isn't a solution.

Your solution is to start growing your own tetraselmis green algae phytoplankton. Research it.

If you dosed it, it will outcompete your gha for nutrients and the gha will die off.

This is an excellent solution for you but are you willing to setup a phyto growing station? Probably not. But phyto is worth it weight in time and effort to help balance the tank

 

[One Reefing Boi]

My tail spot demolishes gha. Another option would be a lawnmower blenny. Get a small one and then move when it grows. Took about a year in my 14 cube before the small lawnmower I got was too big. He is now is now in the 180 and another small one in the 14.

ok --- ill look into a tail spot!

 

[One Reefing Boi]

Blennies are reef safe and should be fine for a short while in the 15g. A lawnmower blenny would be a good choice. In my experience, they can never keep up with algae growth on their own. I would imagine you will implement a sump and some algae control method in the 50g.

I would suggest looking into a dolabella sea hare if you have a lot of algae. Keep in mind that they only eat algae and will starve and die if not re-homed once the tank runs out of algae.

yes I already have the tank ordered -- waiting to have it shipped till the new house is ready in about 2-4 weeks. It's the waterbox 50gal AIO so the display is really closer to 40gal capacity and no sump but am planning to have a external chaeto reactor and some nice macro in the tank.

I will see if I can 'lease' a sea hare from my LFS or something if that makes the most sense. Will also look into the lawnmower blenny, thanks! Do you know if the lawnmower will eat macro algae I have in my tank?

 

[One Reefing Boi]

Gha can be controlled by tangs and rabbitfish but given your size thst isn't a solution.

Your solution is to start growing your own tetraselmis green algae phytoplankton. Research it.

If you dosed it, it will outcompete your gha for nutrients and the gha will die off.

This is an excellent solution for you but are you willing to setup a phyto growing station? Probably not. But phyto is worth it weight in time and effort to help balance the tank

I currently dose the Algae Barn Photo (was out of it for 2 weeks but just got more yesterday) so setting up my own phyto station is deff a cheaper solution in the long run.

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

My sailfin mollies are hair algae eating machines. I have 3 of them in my 5 gallon until my quarantine tank is vacant. They took care of the overgrowth in about a week.

 

[One Reefing Boi]

My sailfin mollies are hair algae eating machines. I have 3 of them in my 5 gallon until my quarantine tank is vacant. They took care of the overgrowth in about a week.

did you acclimate them yourself, or did you buy them already acclimated to salt?