Little Help Req

[G7EG]

Ok as skifletch knows I recently had alot of red in my tank during the day (plus bubble algae)

During the night (when lights are off it kinda killed it and made it better but obviously I don't want the light off during the day.

Anyway. I purchased the remover that has helped slightly but when I told the guy in the fish shop he told me that i need to get more powerheads (currently have 2) and red legged crabs / turbo snails. Now I do have 1 red legged crab and about 8 turbo snails.

Now I thought that I needed a emerald crab not a hermit crab (of which I already have) but he thinks otherwise.

So what do I do?
Get another powerhead and more turbo snails / hermit crab or get the emerald crab that I cant get anywhere!

 

[SkiFletch]

I dont believe the powerhead stuff. Mine are all at the bottom of my tank circulating just above the sand bed for lots of flow down there and that didnt prevent or help my cyano problems. It seems to me that really the only way for powerhead to help is if they are soo powerful that they kick your sand up into a cloudy mess anyways... not desireable

My red leg and blue leg hermits scoff at the cyano in my tank, they dont touch it, but they do eat most of my brown algae and diatoms. As for turbos, I only have mexican turbos although there are many breeds of turbo. Mexican's also leave it be. True nassarius snails (many snails are im-properly labeled nassarius) dont eat the cyano themselves, but they do stir up my sand bed and bury some of it to die... Sort of in-direct solution . My astrea snails only seem to bother with one particular red-purple strain of cyano that I have in my tank (got 2 greens, brown, and 2 reds), they dont touch the others. My lettuce nudibranch pretty much only goes for green algaes, but does great on those. My emerald crab... I have no idea what he eats, but its not cyano. He chills on top of it and doesnt bother.

The best answer I've found thus far: Cerith snails. They are the most non-specific cleaners I have, eat just about any nuisance algae (not coraline though). They're the small long pointy snails and usually gray in both shell and body... like these.

Some things I have not tried yet. Sand sifting brittle stars (again, wont eat the cyano on sand, but would bury it). Other larger turbos (mexicans are small as far as turbos go). Trochus snails are reported cyano eaters. Bumble bee snails might work or perhaps nerite snails. And finally, some people claim to have great success with red-footed turbo snails. If I find one of the above, its going in my tank to try, but until then I'll just wait

I wish I could help you with the bubble algae, but the only thing I've ever read that eats it are emerald crabs... At least bubble algae grows a lot slower than cyano

Remember, your cleanup crew works for you. So when you do find something that predates on certain nuisance algae, be sure to keep placing it on top of what you want removed if it wanders. I put my cerith snails on the few remaining patches of cyano every day when I come home from work.