Hair Algae...again

Over the last few days, we saw a green hair algae begin to grow and spread on the back glass of the aquarium. I researched what could be done to reduce this algae growth. Allie and I really preferred to get a snail to combat the algae rather than some other creature just because they are a much more peaceful tank citizen. Unfortunately, most of the snails would not eat a long, filamentous algae like hair algae. Turbo snails are reported to be able to eat hair algae, but are also known to be rather like bulldozers in their movements throughout reef tanks. The other options that we heard when we talked to some local fish stores were a couple types of blennies (lawnmower blenny and sailfin blenny) that were good at eating filamentous algae, some tangs, and some nudibranchs. The lawnmower blenny really gets to be too big for our tank (~5"), the sailfin blenny is a bit closer to what our tank could handle at 3-4" but sort of difficult to find. The tangs were out; they get way too big and are too aggressive for the setup we are going for. Finally, the nudibranchs (sea slugs basically) generally have a toxic ink that they use as a defense mechanism. They have been known to kill all tank inhabitants when they die!! Not so interested in that one...

Allie and I spent a few hours researching other fish that could possibly help with algae control. There was a goby called a Rainford Goby that is reported to eat hair algae. Gobies are much more docile and tend to be smaller which makes it a better fit for out tank. However, when I spoke with Bruce from Aquatek, he said they really rather will sample hair algae periodically rather than really attacking it. We decided that I should just look for a smaller turbo snail to add to the tank and we also decided that we would again re-home some of the smaller hermits back to the main tank to help with algae removal on the glass near the substrate.

Ben and I took off for River City Aquatics which I knew to mainly carry Turbos for snails...or so I thought. When we got there, I found out that they didn't have any of the bigger turbos, but instead had Cerith, Astrea and some Nerite snails. I decided to pick up two Cerith snails to replace our deceased snails that were killed off by the homicidal hermits earlier on. I really like Cerith. They are sort of a cross between the Nassarius snails which spend most of their time buried in the sand and the Astrea snails which are usually on the rocks or the glass. Like the Nassarius, the Cerith spends some of its time buried in the sand and it can also right itself when it falls on its back in the sand (Astrea cannot do this). But the Cerith will also eat some film algaes and diatoms on the glass like the Astrea. Ben also found his favorite fish (the Firefish) while we were at River City. We decided that we were ready for a fish in our aquarium now! Ben and I returned home with two Cerith snails and 1 Firefish.

While the snails and fish acclimated, I began searching for some small hermits to add back to the main tank. I pulled out two some hermits (1 blue-legged and one zebra) along with about 4-5 empty shells so there would be less risk of snail homicides. I dropped them into the main tank and watched as one of the "empty" shells proceeded to get up and wake over to the live rock. Make that 2 blue-legged and 1 zebra...

When the fish and snails were finished with acclimation, it was after 9pm so the tank lights were already off. The fish immediately swam down into the live rock and hid. The snails began move up the live rock to begin their cleaning duties. We had our fingers crossed for a safe first night with a new fish and 3 hermit crabs...