Blue Spotted Sea Hare

[Glennimation]

I have a 14 biocube set up with good parameters and has been set up for about a month and a half

It has

2 Osellaris Clowns
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Blue spotted sea hare
3+- Hermit crabs

I have an AWFUL algae problem, and my LFS recomended the sea hare and some Chemi-pure elite.

I'm a little concerned about the slug and it dying and killing everything.

Help? Any advice would be awesome...

 

[xxBarneyxx]

The best way to sort out algae is to remove the source of it (which is normally nitrate and phosphate).

What are your water parameters?
Are you using RO water?
Are you using any chemical filter media?

Cant help on the sea hare as I dont know much about them to be honest (though I know someone will be along who does).

 

[Glennimation]

My Nitrates are almost at 0 and I used a chemical to remove chlorine ammonia and phosphate before water changes, so I'm at a loss.

My only other idea is to leave the lights off for a couple days to starve it out, but I'm worried the corral would die (All soft ones).

Any other imput guys?

I love the sea hare though. She just meanders around grazing. =D

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Whats the phosphate level in the tank? You will have phosphates being produced in your tank so that along with any nitrates will cause algae.

Personally I would try using some chemical filtration on the tank (nitrate and phosphate removers) in a filter. A skimmer will also help to reduce the phosphate/nitrate levels. Some soft corals will be ok without lights for a short time but if the source of the algae is still there (ie phosphates and nitrates) then as soon as you switch the light back on it will grow right back.

The other thing is that your tank has not been running very long and big algae blooms are common in new tanks. Once it settles down it shouldnt be as bad, just remove what you can by hand and keep up on doing regular water changes.

The sea hares do look cool

 

[Glennimation]

Thanks a lot Barney!

I forgot how great this sight is.

But yeah, what kind of chemicals would you recommend for removing phosphates and nitrates?

I'm usong prime(?) for mixing water, but something in the tank would be much more useful methinks.

I'm gonna invest in a skimmer after a few more paychecks, but till then, I'll try some chemical filtration. What would you guys recommend?

My phosphates are about .5 ppm

Should I do a wate change?

Nitrates are almost 0 now -.-'

 

[Donya]

I'm a little concerned about the slug and it dying and killing everything.

I'm assuming you're meaning one of the Dolabella or Bursatella species or a close relative, since those are the only ones I've seen sold under that common name. IME the notion that if any sea hare dies it will nuke the tank immediately is more than a little flawed. If you're checking your tank stock daily, the odds of a tank nuke are not really greater with such a sea hare than any other large gastropod - or a large fish for that matter. The ink from many of the more common species isn't toxic, although it is an irritant to some animals and will block out light, but if caught quickly enough a death due to natural causes won't cause ink release (death due to injury is another matter of course, since serious injury often triggers inking). I had a full grown Dolabella auricularia that died of old age in a nano and there was no tank nuke, but I took the body out the same day. As an experiment to see if the legendary inking nuke would happen, I kept it in about 1 gallon of water to see how long it would take to produce the same problems. It took another day for the water to foul (understandable in 1gal of unfiltered water the smell was quite something a few days later), but there wasn't an ink release until over a week later once decomposition had progressed quite a lot. This observation was consistent with what I've heard from other people that have kept seahares problem-free. I would guess that people reporting big tank disasters due to sea hare deaths have either created dangerous tanks that resulted in serious injury to the sea hares triggering ink release and didn't clean it up fast enough, or they simply never bothered to check and see if the animals had died behind a rock.

IMO the far bigger issue with those guys is not what happens if they die, but making sure they don't die by providing them with enough food so they don't starve. A brand new tank is usually not a good place to put sea hares as a result. If your tank ceases to be full of algae, either by stepping up filtration or the sea hare doing its job a little too well, you'll need to target feed daily. When healthy, sea hares eat a LOT compared to what many people expect.

 

[bg7003]

About leaving they lights off, I had the same problem in my 20 gallon except the sea hair. But i have tons of corals in it and i left the lights off for 3 days. Then slowly increased it back up to my 12 hours. So lights off work and are fine. Try a phosphate sponge or nitrate sponge. I know someone's probably gonna say their bad, but it worked for be. I have fish, an anemone, LPS,SPS, inverts everyting, it all worked fine. Also try reef safe algecide. People aren't gonna recommed it but it works.

 

[rabbut]

My phosphates are about .5 ppm

You want to aim to keep phosphates below 0.03ppm wherever possible, preferably zero. 0.5 is plenty enough to caurse nusence algea, so I'd say that phosphate is your problem Do a waterchange, and get some phosban in the filter to reduce it back to a low-trace level, and things should clear up

About leaving they lights off, I had the same problem in my 20 gallon except the sea hair. But i have tons of corals in it and i left the lights off for 3 days. Then slowly increased it back up to my 12 hours. So lights off work and are fine. Try a phosphate sponge or nitrate sponge. I know someone's probably gonna say their bad, but it worked for be. I have fish, an anemone, LPS,SPS, inverts everyting, it all worked fine. Also try reef safe algecide. People aren't gonna recommed it but it works.

"Reef safe" algeaside that works does not exist. The way most photosynthetic corals feed, is through algea on and/or in their polyps. If you add any form of algeaside, it either won't work, or it will kill all the photosynthetic corals with the algea you are trying to remove OP, drop your phosphate, and you should find things clear up.

Are you using Tap or RO water for waterchanges?

What is the TDS reading of any RO water you may be using?

What is the phosphate reading in the water you use for waterchanges?

What foods do you feed, and how do you prepair them?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Glennimation]

I've been using dechlorinated tap water and prime for the water

I'm gonna go buy some ro water tomorrow and do a 30 percent change

And I use Frozen food and a few flakes for everyone

The rest, I'm not sure about.xD

I'm still a bit new to the saltwater scene.

And what is phosban?

 

[rabbut]

Phosban, is a chemical filtration resin that will (adsorb or absorb, one of the two, I keep forgetting) the phosphates out of the water for you I'd do a phosphate test on your tap water if that's what you are using for top-ups This is the most obvious source of it...

When you add frozen foods, how do you prepair them. In a cup, dropped strait into the tank e.t.c?

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Glennimation]

I normally just let it thaw for a few minutes then mix it with some saltwater and put it in "in solution" i guess you could say.

I figured it'd be the most efficient way for the fish to eat it...

 

[rabbut]

I'm guilty of that method myself at times, but that is the best wqay to intriduce Phosphates into the tank, other than by using poor quality water for top-up's and waterchanges Idealy, you want to leave the stuff defrosting in a cup of water, then strain and rince the food through a fine meshed net before adding to the tank

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, I'd be willing to bet most of your algae troubles is from phosphates from tapwater. Prime does nothing to stop phosphates. If you wanted to continue using tapwater you could consider mixing it with some lanthanum chloride (common pool based phosphate remover), then filtering the water through a 10 micron filter bag/sock before adding it to the tank to remove the lanthanum phosphate. This of course will become time consuming and annoying. Far better is to get an RO unit for your home (with a flush kit installed on it) and use that. JMO

Oh and what donya said about a dying sea hare nuking the tank is absoloutely correct. I had a sea hare die and release it's ink in my tank when it was sucked into the intake of a powerhead. Didn't kill a single fish or coral and my skimmer cleaned up the ink pretty quickly.