Yes, lawnmower blennies do eat hair algae. They are generally reef safe and not agressive. One thing, they almost need a diet of algae, so if you do get the algae way under control, to the point where there isn't much, you'll need to go out of your way to feed the lawnmower blenny.
I was told that lawnmower blennies clean hair algae. Is this true? If so, are they hard fish to keep and/or agressive?
Lawnmower blennies will definately eat your hair algae, they are not aggressive unless you have the same or similar type blenny in the tank (and the tank is not big ofcourse). The only problem some people find with lawnmower blennies is they are tough to get them accepting prepared foods. So once the hair algae is gone they starve, my blenny ate nori, blood worms, formula 1 and 2 flakes and pellets, squid, almost everything.
I have not seen any specific information on using MHs only 5-6 hours. If you have some links I'd like to see them. Thanks. I have some thoughs on this, but I'd like to read what they have to say first.
Yeah there are several threads in the sps forum at RC that talk about this. It's quite interesting.
To control the algae, you need to eliminate its food source. Those would be the nitrates and phosphates. You should be very sensitive to even small concentrations of these compounds in the water because most of them are being consumed by the algae. Any remaining nutrients indicate that the algae cannot keep up with the nutrient production, and cause more algae to grow.
You can add animals, such as lawnmower blennies, to eat the algae, but this does not address the root cause of the problem. The animal will eventually excrete the nutrients back into the water and feed future algae blooms.
There are several methods to reduce the source of nutrients in your system. Here are a few:
1) Increase your protein skimming or add ozone to your skimming. Be sure to thoroughly research ozone use before trying it. It will increase the extraction of organic compounds in the water column, but it may go too far. Protein skimming alone removes organic compounds which can feed algae.
2) Add macroalgae to the system. The idea here is to add algae that will consume the nutrients without being unsightly. There are several algae available for this purpose. Be sure to choose one that does not cause blooms of its own. Choose something that is fast growing, but will not take over the tank.
3) Chemical absorbers can be used to extract nitrates or phosphates. For phosphates the iron based products are more effective than aluminum based products (See this article: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php ).
4) Increase water changes. Simply replace the older water with new, nutrient free water.
This is not intended to be a complete list, but should get you think in the right direction. One other important thing to note is that the nutrients can be building up on your rock. High, chaotic water flow can help keep the nutrients in the water column where the skimmer, macroalgae, or absorbers can do their job.
I got my pair of seahorses today and they are so cute so I had to get rid of the lawnmower and put it into the 46 galloon cause he was pestering the horses. I got a sponge this that gets rid of phospates,nitrites, and nitrates, Would this work and get rid of the algae?
Thanks. The store I got them from said they were trained on live food, but I just fed them Frozen mysis and they each had about 10 pieces of shrimp. They love it and the Clown goby, firefish and the other inverts are taking to them well. One even used a snail as a hitching post
I've been fighting hair algae for longer than I care to admit. I can't tell you what does work, but I can certainly tell you what doesn't:
1 - cheap skimmers - nutrient export is the key to solving the problem.
2 - adding animals to eat the algae - this is a temporary solution. Herbivorous animals produce a lot of waste, which fertilizes the next algae bloom. Some are fine to control small algae issues, but you will not be able to catch up with an algae problem.
3 - photoperiod reduction - you'll kill your corals long before you kill your algae
4 - adding macroalgae - this is an effective means to prevent algae blooms, but hair algae will grow quicker and consume more nutrients than the macroalgae.
5 - Inadequate nitrate reduction - whatever method you use to reduce nitrates, make sure it is a good one. Nitrates should be <<1ppm.
6 - Aluminum based phosphate reducers - They don't absorb enough phosphates and they leach the phosphates bace into the system once they become saturated. Go with the Iron-oxide based products if you choose this route.
Linear Mode
