No tang algae control…

[ShawnSaucier]

I’m weeks away from my system going online and have been working on my fish stock list. The system is a fat 180g (48”x30”x30”) with UV, algae reactor, filter roller and a protein skimmer with ozone injection. The concept of the tank so far is a lot of smaller fish with some schoolers (annthias and Chromis) and maybe a medium fish or three.
I was considering a tang, either a bristletooth or lemonpeel mimic. This one fish would be mainly for utilitarian reasons only. But now I am more on the fence on whether to add a tang or not. With the 48” length I am a bit hesitant and don’t want to cause a murder spree or break a ton of corals attempting to catch a suspect. Maybe I’m over thinking?
With all of that in mind, I’m looking for recommendations for alternatives. Lawnmower/algae blenny is out, I’ve never felt they were overly useful in maintaining clean rocks. Thoughts might be a small squad of tuxedo urchins and a variety of snails and pods. What else would you guys recommend??

 

[Biokabe]

You're overthinking this. While 4' is small for many larger tangs, it's just fine for most of the genus Ctenochaetus (bristletooth) tangs. Tomini, blue-lip, Kole, white tail - any of them would love your tank.

For inverts, once your tank is established you could add a couple of zebra turbo snails. They get pretty big (I have two, both around baseball-sized) but are less bulldozer-ish than urchins. Absolute workhorses when it come to mowing down algae.

 

[exnisstech]

36x22x22"
I couldn't ask for a more peaceful tank. Two spot bristletooth, wild yellow, electric blue damsel and a sixline.

Video is long but it is a example of how the fish behave all day.

 

[BryanM]

My lawnmower blenny cleans rocks well.

My vote here would be for a Tomini tang.

 

[slingfox]

I have three tangs in a 4 ft: Yellow, White Tail Bristletooth and Convict. All three pick at the rocks. Hardest worker is the Convict flowed closely by the Bristletooth. The Yellow tang is the boss but is usually not overly aggressive since I try to keep the tank well fed.

I also have two tuxedo urchins who clean the rock really well. Small army of snails.

 

[littlefoxx]

Also important to note that the “mimic lemon peel tang” is a chocolate tang, so look that up and see if you like what they turn into! So misleading because they look nothing like lemon peels, its just a yellow fish as a juvenile and brown as an adult