what invertebrates consume hair algae and red algae?

any idea ?

my snails seem only consuming the algae that attached on the glass, but not on the rock (hair & red algae)

[KaLiB]

Red microalgae or cyano? If its cyano, as far as i know there are no inverts that consume it except for blue legged hermit crabs(i think).

Hair algae, you can try your luck with turbo snails. I do remember mine consuming green hair algae on my LR.

well i do have one electrical blue leg hermit .. wondering will it perform the same as blue legged hermit. . keke but anyway, the hermit is banished into a container, for punishing him killing my snails :\


i think both red algae and cyano do exist in my tank..

The Blue Leg Hermit crab feeds on cyano and green algae and so does the Scalet Leg crab.

However controlling algae growth is still the best solution ie "controlling" the growth or keeping it in control with having a shorter lighting period and nutrient level in check.

In check, this means keeping or maintaining nitrate levels below 10 PPM and phosphate levels below 0.10 PPM.

i'd assume eletrical blue leg hermit and blue leg hermit is 2 different species ??

my no3 is below 5 ppm , as for Po4, no idea ...


so far, those algae on the glass has been cleared off by the snails .... but there's still some on the LR ...

Since your NO3 is ok .. do a check on PO4 as this fella could be the culprit.

keke most probably is PO4 lor.. but LFS recommend me a PO4 absorber... which quite costly .. and he also suggest me do a major water change wor...
how ar?

[KaLiB]

No need for any major water changes at this point in time, it would just waste your money but the water change would help reduce nutrient level. So, weigh the pros and cons and make the decision yourself, but avoid changing more than 30%. IMO, it would be ok to just stick to your normal water changing routine as the Po4 absorbing chemical media would help remove the Po4.

IMO, the best way to tackle algae is to attack it at its roots, that is to reduce the nutrient level in the water. Chemical methods(Po4 removal media is costly) are effective but do consider the long term expenditure as you constantly replace the exhausted media. However, so long as you keep on introducing Po4 into the water, you will have to keep on using chemical media.

Some ways of limiting nutrients from entering water:
- Feed less
- Use RO/DI water
- Feed natural foods if time permits you to prepare

From experience, there was once when i fed my fishes commecial flake food instead of natural foods(fish meat, prawn meat), suddenly i experienced an algae bloom in my tank. Don't know if its coincidental or not, but i choose to believe the flakes caused it. Reason being, prior to feeding flake food, i experienced some algae growth but it died off after a few weeks. After feeding the flake food, suddenly there was an algae bloom again.

perhaps i should stop feeding them flake food and feeding them market prawn instead?

how frequent u feed them ? once ? or twice daily ?

[KaLiB]

For most fishes, feeding once a day is sufficient. Well, there's no solid proof that the algae growth was caused by the flake food, its just a guess as there's still a possibility the algae bloom was coincidental.

So, i think its up to you whether you want to make a switch or not. IMO, if you want natural foods, vary the diet and include frozen feeds like mysis shrimp in the diet.