What to do with all this coralline?

[MistyDaze]

Hello! I made this account just to ask this question. What do I do with all of this coralline algae?

This tank has been running since September 2022 and dismantled 1 time in July 2023 for a move. It is a 3 gallon "betta" tank from petsmart that only hosts 3 snails and 2 hermit crabs. I used to do maintenance on it regularly (dosing daily, water changes weekly) . After the move things got out of whack and a lot of my aquarium items got lost/broken in the move and not replaced.

My little tank here did get neglected at one point earlier in the year (per the dead coralline). I have only been topping off with RO water, I have NOT done a water change in a very long time. I want my tank to get back into shape but honestly - I'm not sure what the first step is. I don't want to hurt my little dudes.

I tried to get some macroalgae a few times but my hermits demolished them before they could take off.

I asked on another forum as was told to either:

1. Restart
2. Quit the hobby

I really want to continue with this tank but if I need to restart I would like some tips then on how to start from base 1 again.

Thanks so much for reading. :)

 

[Dan_P]

Hello! I made this account just to ask this question. What do I do with all of this coralline algae?

This tank has been running since September 2022 and dismantled 1 time in July 2023 for a move. It is a 3 gallon "betta" tank from petsmart that only hosts 3 snails and 2 hermit crabs. I used to do maintenance on it regularly (dosing daily, water changes weekly) . After the move things got out of whack and a lot of my aquarium items got lost/broken in the move and not replaced.

My little tank here did get neglected at one point earlier in the year (per the dead coralline). I have only been topping off with RO water, I have NOT done a water change in a very long time. I want my tank to get back into shape but honestly - I'm not sure what the first step is. I don't want to hurt my little dudes.

I tried to get some macroalgae a few times but my hermits demolished them before they could take off.

I asked on another forum as was told to either:

1. Restart
2. Quit the hobby

I really want to continue with this tank but if I need to restart I would like some tips then on how to start from base 1 again.

Thanks so much for reading. :)

What are you feeding the snails and hermit?

 

[MistyDaze]

What are you feeding the snails and hermit?

They get Hikari crab cuisine. :) The snails also seem to eat some of the greenish algae, because I can see the little bit marks left behind.

 

[Dan_P]

They get Hikari crab cuisine. :) The snails also seem to eat some of the greenish algae, because I can see the little bit marks left behind.

Not sure what you mean by getting the aquarium in shape, but lets start with its appearance.

Temporarily remove everything from the aquarium, and then with a metal scraper, remove the coralline. This will not be easy but doable.

Buy a new aquarium and move everything over to it.

 

[kevgib67]

If it was bigger I would suggest a tuxedo urchin, it would munch on it all day. The only thing left is elbow grease. You’ll have to manually remove it, I use a razor blade.