Looking for fish/cuc to help keep algae under control

[Cbones1979]

Currently 3 months in on new 45 gallon and 7 gallon sump tank seeded with old tank live rock and one new structure made of dry rock.

I'm noticing patches of hair algae starting in spots. I caught a pitho crab eating a patch the other night but it's gotten bigger since then.

Im performing weekly water changes and my last parameters were 5-10 nitrates and .10 phosphates.

I run my blue LED lights from 10am-9pm. My t5's turn on for 4 hours so only 4 hours of full light.

I have the following stock list currently.

2 clown fish (2 inches each)
1 bi color blenny (2.5 inches)
2 fire gobies (small)
1 clown goby (super small)

10 crabs
2 pitho crabs
5 snails (various sizes...some having babies on the glass)

I plan on a mixed reef but currently just have lps and a bubble tip nem.

Was hoping to add a small wrasse for pests but i know they don't eat algae.

Was worried about an angel fish eating corals...
Worried about getting a lawnmower blenny as i already have a blenny


Any options i'm missing or any suggestions?

 

[Rjukan]

At 3mo in you're still going through ugly phases. My suggestion is to hit those spots with a toothbrush to keep it down, then the cuc will have a better chance to stay on top of it.

 

[SPR1968]

Your phosphates are on the slightly high side and the hair algae is probably using it as a food source so I would look into removing that from your system and a good target for various reasons is less than 0.03ppm otherwise you can run into issues,

I use rowaphos and heavy (GFO) 24/7 from day one in my ‘big house’ and I skipped the ugly stage

You might be able to increase water changes or change the type of food your using to reduce phosphate input, but don’t let your nitrates drop below about 5 or again you can run into issues.

 

[Cbones1979]

At 3mo in you're still going through ugly phases. My suggestion is to hit those spots with a toothbrush to keep it down, then the cuc will have a better chance to stay on top of it.

just scrub into the water column then?

 

[Rjukan]

Yep

 

[Tastee]

Not all snails will eat GHA. I have had good success with Turbos and even better success with Money Cowries.

 

[fish farmer]

Ever thought about adding chaeto with a light in the sump?

I like trochus snails for algae as well as mexican turbos, but the turbos generally don't last as long since they prefer cooler waters.

 

[X-37B]

My best results are with astrea/ pyramid snails.
Get 20 to start for your size tank.
Also remove as much as you can so the algae is short.
I have turbos too but the astrea's work the best. I have at least 50 in my 120 with zero hair algae.

 

[Cbones1979]

Ever thought about adding chaeto with a light in the sump?

I like trochus snails for algae as well as mexican turbos, but the turbos generally don't last as long since they prefer cooler waters.

I used to have a hang on fuge on my old tank. it worked for awhile but kept going to mush after awhile.

I'd have to fix my sump sock compartment if i did. I may in the long term.

 

[Cbones1979]

Yep

Did this and now have small tuffs of algae growing in sandbed

 

[SMSREEF]

I would have at least 20 snails in a 45 gallon.
Trochus, astrea, cerith.

they will not eat long hair algae. You will need to manually remove that. They should keep the new stuff from growing back.
If you can’t pull rocks from tank, you may want to try eyebrow brushes to twist, pull and remove the long stuff.

 

[Rjukan]

Did this and now have small tuffs of algae growing in sandbed

It's not a result of scrubbing, it would have started there regardless. I speak from experience, doing that was the only way to get a handle on my GHA, and I had a ton.

 

[Cbones1979]

I would have at least 20 snails in a 45 gallon.
Trochus, astrea, cerith.

they will not eat long hair algae. You will need to manually remove that. They should keep the new stuff from growing back.
If you can’t pull rocks from tank, you may want to try eyebrow brushes to twist, pull and remove the long stuff.

Pretty sure I have 5-6 large snails and probably 20+ of those little cerith ones