Sea Hare

[Awibrandy]

I understand that the "Sea Hare" is the best green hair algea eater there is, but that it has a downside. The downside being that if it dies it will crash the tank. My current tank is 120gl., soon to be upgraded to 150gl., the sea hare I purchased is about 3 - 4 inches. Yes, I know I should have checked with you guys before I purchased it, the guy at FT insisted that it would be totally safe.

 

[Deanos]

With an efficient skimmer and/or carbon filtration, a 3-4" seahare should not crash your 120g tank.

 

[marrone]

Watch out as they like to hang on the power heads and get stuck to them very easily, which they can't get off. So you need to watch out for you power head and intakes. If they get stuck they can release red ink, which can be a problem if you don't do a water change fast.

Some people haven't had any problems with them releasing ink but it has happened.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thank you Deanos, Marrone. I will add chemipure. And luckily I don't have powerheads, the only thing I can think of that my be a problem is the tiny water pump for the UV sterilizer, (which I plan to move to the sump),and the intake is the overflow boxes; so I guess I'm safe there too. No powerheads because my return is handled by two squids on Iwaki wmd40rlt & rio 3100. I know, nobody likes the rios their terrible, but I have had mine for many years without problems.
Anyway, glad to hear I didn't make another huge blunder.

 

[Spracklcat]

No. I think sea hares are a great addition to the tank, and will eat up that hair algae in no time. Yes, they are incredibly dumb, so do cover any intakes you have with fine mesh of some sort--anything that has only tiny holes. If you lose it in the tank for a few days, don't be concerned--they are masters at hiding and resemble rock very much, so it is easy to lose track of them in a short time. And once the hair algae is gone, you can feed them nori, which they love. They do eat (and poop) a lot. I've also found that they eat cyanobacteria (cleaned my tank(s) of it really fast). Also, I had one "ink" in my 29g, and nothing at all happened to any of the critters in the tank.

One of my favorite creatures--enjoy!

Christine

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks Christine, great to hear from another gal. I guess I will be looking for some nori next.

 

[Spracklcat]

Ah good tip for that too--go to any Asian market and ask for it--it's lots cheaper than getting it from LFS or mail order (plus then you have it on hand when the sushi craving hits

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks Spracklcat