lawnmover eats red slime algae

[blueplastic]

Will a lawnmover blenny eat red slime algae? I have red slime, but it only seems to grow on the sand. Maybe the snails eat it off the rocks? It's been 3 weeks now and it's still isolated in a couple of batches on the sand surface. I've tried covering it up with sand(so it won't get light and die off) but it comes back just as strong. I used to have a bunch of calupera(sp?) in the tank before I added an atlantic blue tang which ate it all. Well, it ate 2/3rds and the other 1/3rd died off. Maybe it released phosphates into the tank that brought about the red slime outbreak. Or maybe it's because I overfed the tank.

I'm thinking of getting rid of the tang and buying more calupera to put in the tank. Perhaps the plants will suck the nutrients out of the water and deprive the red slime of it's precious, precious organic waste food. Agree?

I don't have a sump or refigrium(sp?). Just a prizm skimmer & a Pengiun Filter(which I ran carbon through). Carbon didn't help.

Well, lawnmover?

[ September 23, 2001: Message edited by: blueplastic ]

 

[2poor2reef]

A lawnmower won't eat it. Particularly off the sand. It might inadvertently eat some off the rock while it's trying to eat film algae. If you want something that eats it and you have enough room you might consider one queen conch (strombus gigas). Also, you want to focus on the cause. Skim well, avoid unnecessary nutrient additions, and consider macroalgae for competition as you mentioned. Also, it seems cyano grows best in areas of low water movement so consider increasing currents in the affected areas.

[ September 23, 2001: Message edited by: 2poor2reef ]