Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

I just bought a 7 to 8 month old 10g nano from Zen...He's moving soon and wont have time to keep up his tank...He recently had a HUGE algae outbreak combined with his lack of time due to moving made this tank an algae jungle!!!

What is the best way to get rid of all of this stuff?

Any kind of fish eat this stuff?
Crabs? Shrimp?

I was able to empty the water out enough so that I didnt disturb the sand bed hardly at all. So Im not expecting too much of a new cycle. So hopefully whatever I put in there will be able to survive this!

You'd need a big fish to eat all that, but you do hava a NANO tank... I'd syphon it out with a bunch of water changes.

It is a nano, why not just start over.

How about a lawnmower blennie?

I have a 10g nano that has the same problem! I think there's two things wrong (with yours and mine both).... one is that you don't have enough rock, you need lots of rock for filtration... less rock, less filtering. And second thing, I have been slacking on water changes, I think this is very important to do on a Nano due to the quick chemical changes that can happen in a tank that small.

I would also, like you, like to hear if there are any critters that would munch on this stuff...

dont yellow tangs eat this stuff? I know it would be a small tank for a tang..but DANG..he would be in heaven with all that algae. One reason for not completely starting over...There are tons of corals in this tank...lots of zoos, some muchrooms and lots of feather dusters. Additionally..there are thousands of critters in the sand. This is a very well established nano. Right now im not running any light to it and am doing about a 75% water change tomorrow....Might decide to do nearly 100% but I got to go get some RODI water and something beig enought to mix 10g in.

I can say this since there aren't any tang police here.... go to B&B, get a small yellow tang (they routinely have baby ones), and let him grow in the nano... when he gets too large, take him out and give him away, or put him in your larger tank.

I agree with Josh about the tang idea I think that will be your best bet on cleaning that algae up.

will any tang work? I wanna get the cheapest tang I can find...(cheapest will prolly be yellow anyways, but incase i find another I just wanna make sure it will work) Blue leg hermits eat this stuff too right?

A kole tang(yellow eye) is suppose to really eat the hell out of hair algae. I got one at B&B last week but it died. I think he cost $27 dollars with a vip membership. I took him back last night and I didn't see anymore. They are suppose to make a fish order next week. I think a lawnmower blenny is suppose to eat hair algae, and that is a fish that could stay in your nano for awhile. A 10 gal tank is pretty small for a tang.

yeah...how long would a little tang last in the 10g? I have an empty 20g I am about to start cycling soon and before the end of the year I might be getting a 75g+ FOWLR tank.

You're looking at six months max? Not that long.

Zoa's and mushrooms? Cut them off and throw the rock out in the yard to dry out.
Put in some fresh rock and put your cut softies on the new rock. Life's too short to try and save a few musrooms on fuzzy rocks

Put a tang in a little 10 gallon and he will pollute the hell out of the tank, and then you will really see the hair algae take off.

Lets stop and regroup here.....what is causing the algae to start with....If this is fixed the algae will go away. It is feeding on something...take away the food and it dies...this is the natural way....if the problem is not fixed then it will return even if you put clean rock in the tank....I would stop all food....pull out as much as you can.....use a tooth brush where you can...Cut back on your lights to 4hrs a day.....Do a 50% water change....run some phos sponge and carbon and change out every other day for a wk....Use an old freshwater box filter if you have to....clean your glass also....Make sure your makeup water is good water....do another 50% water change in one wk...if the source is removed algae should start to die off within a wk and tank should start to clear up...when it does then you can slowly start to bring the lights back up slowly...1/2hr pr day till you get it where you want it....IMO this is a more natural way to cure the problem and healther for all....

whats the best way to cut zoos off w/out killing them? And when I get them off, how do I attach them back? Should I just break the chunks of rock of with a chisel? If I scrub off the rock with a stiff brush and put some crabs in there...would that help..in addition to a 100% water change?