Best Algae Eating Sand Sifters?

[toyota44]

Have some minor amounts of hair algae growing on my sand bed and was looking 8O for opinions on what inverts make the best munchers

Thanks in Advance !!!

 

[Anonymous]

Vacuum that crap outta there man! 8O

Louey

 

[mjh]

I thought you were not supposed to vacume DSBs.

 

[Anonymous]

True, your not. But if you have ample depth, peeling the top layer off a small area, to rid the GHA, wouldn't hurt a thing.

Have you any thoughts as to why you have GHA? Are you aware of all the nutrient controls, etc. to prevent GHA? Just asking.

Louey

 

[toyota44]

yes, i'm aware of the "control" factors such as 0 phosphates, a good skimmer, clean up crews, water changes for nutrient export, reasonable lighting lengths, etc...but....for whatever reason I have a spot in one area of my tank that continuously grows the stuff no matter what I do (i.e. vacume it, pull out the algae)...so I was thinking of maybe a seastar or goby or "someone" to help keep it in check. My LR and equipment are always kept very clean by my hermits and snails, and whatever growth they miss on the glass I get myself...?

 

[ColdZero1]

Try some water movement in that area. When I had my 29gal, I had this one little corner that would grow red slime....until I turned a powerhead about 10 degrees to the right, then it was all good.

 

[2poor2reef]

Queen conch or fighting conch is the best animal for your purpose. They will eat the hair algae and diatoms from the surface layer of your sand bed.

 

[tinyreef]

do you have damselfish? they may be 'harvesting' that one spot on purpose. i've never seen it done but i've read about it. it just seems unusual to have a fuzzy spot (don't laugh! ).

the hermit crabs should take care of it otherwise, blue-legged is what i usually recommend.

 

[MattM]

I second 2poor2reef's suggestion. Get a tank-raised Conch. Nassarius snail may help as well, but the Conch will do a better job of vacuuming the surface.

 

[toyota44]

Whats the differance between fighting and queen conchs? how big do they get? how many should i get? Right now I have a standard 55g :?:

Thanks

 

[2poor2reef]

They are two different species of strombus. The queen is the s.gigas. I can't remember the name of the fighting conch. The fighting conch stays much smaller. I would not get more than one queen per 40g of tank size assuming you have quite a bit of open sand area. Even then the queen will get large over a couple of years. I go one per 20g on my fighting conchs. That's just my opinion based on my personal experience. Others may give you different stocking densities. You have to consider your overall crew.

 

[rgardiner]

A fighting conch Strombus alatus could grow up to 4 inches, while a queen could grow much larger and probably not be suitable for your 55. We love our two fighting conches and they keep the sand spotless.