Is this Red Gracilaria Algae. How to control

[awoessmi]

I believe I have some red Gracilaria in my 28 gallon nano cube. Just needing confirmation, and if it how what is the best way to control it. It is very hard to pull out of the rock by hand. The live rock it is attached to has a lot of little critters on it so I do not really want to dip the rock in anything. Any advice would be appreciated. Also, ammonia is around 0, nitrites are at 0, and nitrates are around 20-30. Currently do 20% water changes weekly, and smaller 1 liter water changes daily. The aquarium has been running for around 9 months. Currently only 2 clowns, some crabs, and a few snails.

 

[Big G]

Welcome to R2R! That's some great macro algae. Lots of critters will eat it: copepods, turbo snails, some dwarf angels, tangs love, love it.

 

[Orm Embar]

I grow mine in a clump to help with filtration (reducing nitrates and phosphates). Having said that, herbivorous fish will certainly eat it (it's food for tangs as noted above), and I'm sure that you can kalk syringe the base if you wanted to.

Personally, I'd keep it and simply confine it to that rock. As it grows, it will remove nitrates and phosphates (and when you prune it, you can sell it to local reefers!).

 

[awoessmi]

Thank you for your help. I am going to look into getting some herbivorous fish, but I don't think a tang would work since I believe they require a larger tank.