HELP trying to bring my tank back to life (algae outbrake

[REEFERzz24]

Hey guys!

So my has been struggling with a really bad bubble algae outbreak along with what I think is diatom showing up on some of my rock AND some type of polyp that i'm not sure what it is but seems to be invasive. I have a few questions regarding water change volume, frequency, tips on removing diatoms, and what these polyps are that keep popping up.

For the last two weeks I have been doing 10 gallon water changes 2-3 times a week on my 24 gallon tank trying to manually remove as much of this junk as I can but I want to be sure that doing so is not fluctuating my water chemistry to much. My bacteria in the tank has been doing great keeping all my parameter close to zero besides nitrate which was between 20-30ppm. Tonight I have got it down to about 6ppm and hoping phosphate is coming down because I have been using a significant less amount of GFO in my reactor, and changing it with each water change. I'm not sure it's helping or if I should just put a regular amount in and change monthly. Any ways am I safe to continue doing these large water changes multiple times a week?

Also If you have any tips on removing diatoms on my life rock I'd love to hear. I'm currently using a tooth brush and syphoning what I can scrape off which isn't the greatest but has made a change over these two weeks.

Finally could anyone help me identify these polyps that are showing up over my rocks and sand bed? They are very active so each time I try to remove them they shrivel back up into my rock and I can't remove them

[EthanPhillyCheesesteak]

1 minute ago, REEFERzz24 said:

Hey guys!

So my has been struggling with a really bad bubble algae outbreak along with what I think is diatom showing up on some of my rock AND some type of polyp that i'm not sure what it is but seems to be invasive. I have a few questions regarding water change volume, frequency, tips on removing diatoms, and what these polyps are that keep popping up.

For the last two weeks I have been doing 10 gallon water changes 2-3 times a week on my 24 gallon tank trying to manually remove as much of this junk as I can but I want to be sure that doing so is not fluctuating my water chemistry to much. My bacteria in the tank has been doing great keeping all my parameter close to zero besides nitrate which was between 20-30ppm. Tonight I have got it down to about 6ppm and hoping phosphate is coming down because I have been using a significant less amount of GFO in my reactor, and changing it with each water change. I'm not sure it's helping or if I should just put a regular amount in and change monthly. Any ways am I safe to continue doing these large water changes multiple times a week?

Also If you have any tips on removing diatoms on my life rock I'd love to hear. I'm currently using a tooth brush and syphoning what I can scrape off which isn't the greatest but has made a change over these two weeks.

Finally could anyone help me identify these polyps that are showing up over my rocks and sand bed? They are very active so each time I try to remove them they shrivel back up into my rock and I can't remove them

Polyps are evil, very bad. Aptasia, you need to eradicate them if possible. Get yourself some aptasia x or you could go the natural path and get a peppermint shrimp 

[Tamberav]

42 minutes ago, REEFERzz24 said:

Hey guys!

So my has been struggling with a really bad bubble algae outbreak along with what I think is diatom showing up on some of my rock AND some type of polyp that i'm not sure what it is but seems to be invasive. I have a few questions regarding water change volume, frequency, tips on removing diatoms, and what these polyps are that keep popping up.

For the last two weeks I have been doing 10 gallon water changes 2-3 times a week on my 24 gallon tank trying to manually remove as much of this junk as I can but I want to be sure that doing so is not fluctuating my water chemistry to much. My bacteria in the tank has been doing great keeping all my parameter close to zero besides nitrate which was between 20-30ppm. Tonight I have got it down to about 6ppm and hoping phosphate is coming down because I have been using a significant less amount of GFO in my reactor, and changing it with each water change. I'm not sure it's helping or if I should just put a regular amount in and change monthly. Any ways am I safe to continue doing these large water changes multiple times a week?

Also If you have any tips on removing diatoms on my life rock I'd love to hear. I'm currently using a tooth brush and syphoning what I can scrape off which isn't the greatest but has made a change over these two weeks.

Finally could anyone help me identify these polyps that are showing up over my rocks and sand bed? They are very active so each time I try to remove them they shrivel back up into my rock and I can't remove them

 

Water changes won't fix this although you certainly want to keep Nitrate and PO4 to an acceptable amount. 

 

Boil some water, take a syringe and draw it up.... then sneak up on these pest anemones and melt them. Then try and pull back the plunger and remove the remains. Make sure to not accidentally squirt a curious fish in the face or a coral.

 

As far as the algae, I have beat it with manual removal. You need to take the rock out and get a tweezers and get it off. It will be annoying and rough the 1st time since there is so much. You will miss some and there will be spores, and it will come back. Continue to remove it. I eradicated mine in a few months of manual removal.

 

You can also try emerald crabs as they sometimes eat it. 

 

Diatoms tend to eventually go away with good husbandry and proper flow, be sure you are using RODI water or distilled and not tap.

[REEFERzz24]

2 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

 

Water changes won't fix this although you certainly want to keep Nitrate and PO4 to an acceptable amount. 

 

Boil some water, take a syringe and draw it up.... then sneak up on these pest anemones and melt them. Then try and pull back the plunger and remove the remains. Make sure to not accidentally squirt a curious fish in the face or a coral.

 

As far as the algae, I have beat it with manual removal. You need to take the rock out and get a tweezers and get it off. It will be annoying and rough the 1st time since there is so much. You will miss some and there will be spores, and it will come back. Continue to remove it. I eradicated mine in a few months of manual removal.

 

You can also try emerald crabs as they sometimes eat it. 

hmm thats really interesting.. for the boiled water should I use tap, RODI, or some salt water to kill off these little guys? Also I went out and got an emerald crab but it's such a mess in there he hasn't made a dent, lol. He's definitely eating though so once I finally get most of it out I think that he will help finish up the job. I've been using my syphen to pop the bubbles and then it sucks up most of the spores released.

[REEFERzz24]

46 minutes ago, EthanPhillyCheesesteak said:

Polyps are evil, very bad. Aptasia, you need to eradicate them if possible. Get yourself some aptasia x or you could go the natural path and get a peppermint shrimp 

If I went the natural route should I be concerned about the peppermint shrimp eating my coral? I've heard that they occasionally snack on coral. Also I could look up capability but just wondering if peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs get along? 

[Tamberav]

50 minutes ago, REEFERzz24 said:

hmm thats really interesting.. for the boiled water should I use tap, RODI, or some salt water to kill off these little guys? Also I went out and got an emerald crab but it's such a mess in there he hasn't made a dent, lol. He's definitely eating though so once I finally get most of it out I think that he will help finish up the job. I've been using my syphen to pop the bubbles and then it sucks up most of the spores released.

I just use tap tbh. 

 

41 minutes ago, REEFERzz24 said:

If I went the natural route should I be concerned about the peppermint shrimp eating my coral? I've heard that they occasionally snack on coral. Also I could look up capability but just wondering if peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs get along? 

 

Ya they like coral sometimes... things that like eat nems also tend to like coral too 🙂

[REEFERzz24]

1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

 

Water changes won't fix this although you certainly want to keep Nitrate and PO4 to an acceptable amount. 

 

Boil some water, take a syringe and draw it up.... then sneak up on these pest anemones and melt them. Then try and pull back the plunger and remove the remains. Make sure to not accidentally squirt a curious fish in the face or a coral.

 

As far as the algae, I have beat it with manual removal. You need to take the rock out and get a tweezers and get it off. It will be annoying and rough the 1st time since there is so much. You will miss some and there will be spores, and it will come back. Continue to remove it. I eradicated mine in a few months of manual removal.

 

You can also try emerald crabs as they sometimes eat it. 

 

Diatoms tend to eventually go away with good husbandry and proper flow, be sure you are using RODI water or distilled and not tap.

So I was noticing a group of zoanthids that looks like they were dying an realized a few small aphasia or what ever these pest are so I tried your method and it worked amazingly for a small area! That boiling water seemed to stun them and somewhat easily were able to suck right out. Only problem is that I have sooo many that I'd need to continuously reboil cause after a few minutes this method is no longer viable. Works great for getting close to your coral though. Almost the whole colony has opened back up and instantly look healthier besides the ones the were in more direct contact with the lil pest. Thanks!! :)

[Tamberav]

29 minutes ago, REEFERzz24 said:

So I was noticing a group of zoanthids that looks like they were dying an realized a few small aphasia or what ever these pest are so I tried your method and it worked amazingly for a small area! That boiling water seemed to stun them and somewhat easily were able to suck right out. Only problem is that I have sooo many that I'd need to continuously reboil cause after a few minutes this method is no longer viable. Works great for getting close to your coral though. Almost the whole colony has opened back up and instantly look healthier besides the ones the were in more direct contact with the lil pest. Thanks!! 🙂

Glad it is working for you!

 

I bought live rock infested with the buggers and got them all eventually this way. They will pop up randomly from time to time but I think it was just babies or new ones hiding until they got bigger. I haven't seen any in my tank in a long time so I think I finally got them all. I think being able to suck out the remains really helps seal their fate. 

 

Cleaning up the tank will certainly take some time but you will get there. It's daunting in the beginning because there is so much stuff to remove ...it's like where do I start?

 

I am still working on removing invasive icky palys on the rock I got. That was the worst as there was so many and they are toxic and it would give me a headache. I think I'm down to 15ish left in awkward to reach spots.

 

Most people would have tossed the rock but I only see potential. Sure it has a bunch of bad stuff but it also has a lot of good stuff I won't get to keep if I toss it!

 

 

[REEFERzz24]

2 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Glad it is working for you!

 

I bought live rock infested with the buggers and got them all eventually this way. They will pop up randomly from time to time but I think it was just babies or new ones hiding until they got bigger. I haven't seen any in my tank in a long time so I think I finally got them all. I think being able to suck out the remains really helps seal their fate. 

 

Cleaning up the tank will certainly take some time but you will get there. It's daunting in the beginning because there is so much stuff to remove ...it's like where do I start?

 

I am still working on removing invasive icky palys on the rock I got. That was the worst as there was so many and they are toxic and it would give me a headache. I think I'm down to 15ish left in awkward to reach spots.

 

 

Yeah Its terribly annoying but I'm glad I'm seeing a slight improvement. I have the next month off from school and work so hopefully I can get the bulk of it by then! Glad that I'm learning the importance of maintaining and keeping up consistenly so I don't have to spend so much time getting it back to what I want it to look like. I should have never let it get to this point of disaster. Once I get my tank healthy again I plan to always have 20ish gallons of clean salt water that way I can easily do a water change and and not push it off because of the hassle of prepping the salt and getting the temp up.

[Pjanssen]

with as many algae bubbles as you have, I would get a couple of emerald crabs. I think Reefcleaners guarantees that theirs will eat bubbles. I would not pop them while in the tank, as you are really causing them to spread this way. I doubt that you are syphoning all of the spores out.

I never had a problem with peppermint shrimp picking at my corals, but I didn't have any SPS in the tank at the time. I also never had luck with them eating Aptasia either. Bergia Nudibranchs will work, but it takes time as they mainly eat the small young ones, and usually it's the second generation of the nudibranchs that do the most good. I would keep doing what you are doing for the ones that you can see, but I'm guessing there are a lot more ready to emerge.

[Clown79]

10 hours ago, REEFERzz24 said:

hmm thats really interesting.. for the boiled water should I use tap, RODI, or some salt water to kill off these little guys? Also I went out and got an emerald crab but it's such a mess in there he hasn't made a dent, lol. He's definitely eating though so once I finally get most of it out I think that he will help finish up the job. I've been using my syphen to pop the bubbles and then it sucks up most of the spores released.

Don't pop them if possible. Some bubble algae spreads when popped.

 

Best to lightly twist and pop off rock or Tamberav's method- remove rock and do work out of the tank so nothing spreads.

[mcarroll]

On 7/19/2019 at 11:33 PM, REEFERzz24 said:

bubble algae outbreak along with what I think is diatom

On 7/19/2019 at 11:33 PM, REEFERzz24 said:

For the last two weeks I have been doing 10 gallon water changes 2-3 times a week on my 24 gallon tank trying to manually remove as much of this junk as I can

On 7/19/2019 at 11:33 PM, REEFERzz24 said:

My bacteria in the tank has been doing great keeping all my parameter close to zero besides nitrate which was between 20-30ppm.

On 7/19/2019 at 11:33 PM, REEFERzz24 said:

Tonight I have got it down to about 6ppm and hoping phosphate is coming down because I have been using a significant less amount of GFO in my reactor, and changing it with each water change.

 

ALGAE SPREADING

You definitely want to get in there to manually remove as much of this as possible, IMO.   

 

A lot may be one bubble at a time, so don't think about being "all done", just think about having lots of cleanup sessions where you do a little at a time.  You're working at a snail's pace, after all!  😉  

 

Slowly but surely keep working on it and keep upgrading your CUC as well.   If you're doing everything right, you'll have less and less work to do by hand as time goes on...eventually almost none.

 

Most green algae (hair, bryopsis, bubble, et al) can spread when damaged...bubble algae just seem designed to be damaged and spread in this way...so try not to pop bubbles as you work...but still do the work.  🙂

 

Either run a diatom/micron (eg. Vortex D-1 or Marineland Polishing Filter) filter or a UV filter to cut down on spreading.

 

NUTRIENTS

You're favoring all the wrong things by having nutrients levels "near zero"....specifically phosphates. 

 

Do you know why nitrates are so high?  The high-N and low-P are probably related to some root cause.  How old is this tank and how was it started?  Did the nutrients just spike when the fish were added?

 

If you keep pushing phosphates/nutrients lower by blasting the tank with 50% water changes and GFO usage, you'll eventually starve out the green algae too, which is not a good thing, so I'd stop pushing on either of those. 

 

Concentrate on resolving any system issues beyond the GFO and water changes that may be contributing as well as manual removal/natural efforts.
 

If/when that starvation does happen, dinoflagellates will often begin blooming as they start eating bacteria and other particulate food sources around them which are plentiful. 

 

That may already be starting to happen, with your "diatoms" as evidence...they may actually be dino's, which are often brought on by ultra-low P.

 

Can you share a closeup photo of the other algae you're seeing?  If you had to pick, would you say it's more "snotty" or "powdery"?  And is the color more brownish or more reddish?

 

Remember that you can't "starve your tank" to get past problems like this. 

 

Once you fix any causative elements that may be present (like the excessive filtration) you really have to "feed the tank past it." 

 

You want lots of green algae, but you'd rather have plain hair algae that CUC will do better at eating.   Bubble algae has the advantage in looks....actually looks pretty cool....but it's not all that edible.  Thankfully, under healthy tank conditions it doesn't seem to compete all that well and seems to disappear on its own.

 

You and the cleanup crew are responsible for the effort of cleaning up until the tank can find it's own balance.  Don't forget that you're the #1 member of your cleanup crew!  🙂

 

[REEFERzz24]

5 hours ago, mcarroll said:

 

ALGAE SPREADING

You definitely want to get in there to manually remove as much of this as possible, IMO.   

 

A lot may be one bubble at a time, so don't think about being "all done", just think about having lots of cleanup sessions where you do a little at a time.  You're working at a snail's pace, after all!  😉  

 

Slowly but surely keep working on it and keep upgrading your CUC as well.   If you're doing everything right, you'll have less and less work to do by hand as time goes on...eventually almost none.

 

Most green algae (hair, bryopsis, bubble, et al) can spread when damaged...bubble algae just seem designed to be damaged and spread in this way...so try not to pop bubbles as you work...but still do the work.  🙂

 

Either run a diatom/micron (eg. Vortex D-1 or Marineland Polishing Filter) filter or a UV filter to cut down on spreading.

 

NUTRIENTS

You're favoring all the wrong things by having nutrients levels "near zero"....specifically phosphates. 

 

Do you know why nitrates are so high?  The high-N and low-P are probably related to some root cause.  How old is this tank and how was it started?  Did the nutrients just spike when the fish were added?

 

If you keep pushing phosphates/nutrients lower by blasting the tank with 50% water changes and GFO usage, you'll eventually starve out the green algae too, which is not a good thing, so I'd stop pushing on either of those. 

 

Concentrate on resolving any system issues beyond the GFO and water changes that may be contributing as well as manual removal/natural efforts.
 

If/when that starvation does happen, dinoflagellates will often begin blooming as they start eating bacteria and other particulate food sources around them which are plentiful. 

 

That may already be starting to happen, with your "diatoms" as evidence...they may actually be dino's, which are often brought on by ultra-low P.

 

Can you share a closeup photo of the other algae you're seeing?  If you had to pick, would you say it's more "snotty" or "powdery"?  And is the color more brownish or more reddish?

 

Remember that you can't "starve your tank" to get past problems like this. 

 

Once you fix any causative elements that may be present (like the excessive filtration) you really have to "feed the tank past it." 

 

You want lots of green algae, but you'd rather have plain hair algae that CUC will do better at eating.   Bubble algae has the advantage in looks....actually looks pretty cool....but it's not all that edible.  Thankfully, under healthy tank conditions it doesn't seem to compete all that well and seems to disappear on its own.

 

You and the cleanup crew are responsible for the effort of cleaning up until the tank can find it's own balance.  Don't forget that you're the #1 member of your cleanup crew!  🙂

 

Wow that was a lot at one time but I get what you're say. I kinda expected that I may decided to fix this to fast an sloppy. This is the feed back I wanted to hear because I was concern that I would be making the water chemistry a whole big mess. It made me remember what many old school reefers say that less is better in the long run. 

 

Anyways to answer some of your questions the reason nitrates are so high was due to me becoming lazy and not spending the time I should have. The tank is almost 2 years old and started with old rock from years ago with live sand. My first year was mostly smooth dealing with common stuff but overall was running well. About 8 months ago bubble algae was introduced and I did not respond to it as should have which turned to a over take of the tank for the last 6 months probably and essentially gave up caring. The biggest problem was how disappointing it look and which is why I didn't even want to try to fix it cause I thought it was a lost cause. I lost my entire clean up crew which was only snails and I'm guess was because the lack of suitable algae to consume since the bubbles were EVERYWHERE. (no coral lose though). During that time I never checked any levels in my tank and only changed water when the bubbles literally started covering the sand bed and building up in the corners. 

 

So finally I got sick of the look of it but know that deep down I was not willing to just drop the hobby so I got to work. Thats when I started to get rock back and right away it started turning brown and it to answer your question its more powdery. chalky would be a better way to put it. On top of that the Aptasia showed and and it getting worse. 

 

I'm going to take your advise and easy off the chaotic cleaning. I know that I need to work on building up a clean up crew as well since my emerald crab and me are the only help with algae. I started with 2 of them when I first started cleaning but died right away and have tried to add another 2 more times with the same results. Considering a UV sterilizer to help prevent some of the spores flying around from finding rock and repeating the cycle.

Also would you remove rock to remove the bubbles? IMO I think that I'd like to remove most of it first then once it's under control remove rocks to help eliminate them.

 

Love to hear any more feedback if you have any 

thank again! 

[mcarroll]

1 hour ago, REEFERzz24 said:

 I lost my entire clean up crew which was only snails and I'm guess was because the lack of suitable algae to consume since the bubbles were EVERYWHERE. (no coral lose though).

Proof that the algae really aren't anything to fear.  🙂

 

Even the fact that they are "ugly" is just in our minds.   I have a reef book from the 90's that calls bubble algae "the jewel of the reef" because at the time they were appreciated.

 

I'd start of with a pretty decent cleanup crew when you start yours over....you have lots for them to do.  I think I'd shoot for about 1 snail per gallon along with 2-3 hermits and a couple of emerald crabs.

 

Make sure nutrients stay in the positive so there's lots of incentive for hair algae, coraline algae, etc to grow in place of the bubble algae.

 

Diatoms

"Powdery" is good, BTW....diatoms almost for sure.

 

Check your source water....could be that one or more of your RODI filter modules need to be replaced.

 

1 hour ago, REEFERzz24 said:

Also would you remove rock to remove the bubbles?

I think I'd lean toward more patience and more elbow grease (and just being careful while you work) rather than disrupting the reef even further by deconstructing it for cleaning. 

 

Deconstruction seems like rushing it since nothing is in danger.  And as the saying goes:  Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.  If you want to speed things up, add a UV filter or diatom filter as mentioned earlier and don't sleep on your CUC upgrades.  🙂

 

If this was a brand new tank stared with dead rock I might think differently, but it's a couple years old with apparently health corals in it.

 

If you choose to do it anyway I think the advice others have given is fine.  Just remember you want the smallest impact to the rock possible....if you could precision-laser off each bubble, that would be the way to go.   So be as close to a laser as you can.  🙂    (Don't soak the rock in peroxide, for example!)

[REEFERzz24]

On 7/23/2019 at 3:47 AM, mcarroll said:

add a UV filter or diatom filter as mentioned earlier

when you say UV filter you are talking about a UV sterilizer right? I haven't heard of UV filters which is why I ask?

On 7/23/2019 at 3:47 AM, mcarroll said:

more patience and more elbow grease

While I do think this is true and decided to maintain as much as I can I'm curious about my light schedule and if I should make an adjustment. Currently I'm running led's for 12 hours day with white and blue light changing intensity. my rough schedule is 4 hours of white at 50% 2 hours 40% 40%, 4 hours 20% white 70% blue , then 2 with 60% blue. I don't think a black out is any help but would dimming light help? or less time on? I hear that white light promotes algae growth more so maybe run just blue? Maybe run white for a short time so other algae will grow while removing bubble algae? what do you or some others think about this? 

[Tamberav]

Honestly when I let shit get out of control, I just do a water change and remove 1 or 2 rocks at a time and remove all that crap manually out of the tank, shake it out in the old water to remove debris as pest algae tends to trap a lot of debris. Then replace, repeat the next water change. I toss in a little prime just in case. 

 

You can clean sections of the sand bed or suck it all out in one go and rip clean it. I have done it both ways.

 

Personally I have never had bubble algae get out of control because I popped it. I try not to but I don't sweat it. Emerald crabs pop it to eat it too, shrug. 

[mcarroll]

4 hours ago, REEFERzz24 said:

when you say UV filter you are talking about a UV sterilizer right? I haven't heard of UV filters which is why I ask?

While I do think this is true and decided to maintain as much as I can I'm curious about my light schedule and if I should make an adjustment. Currently I'm running led's for 12 hours day with white and blue light changing intensity. my rough schedule is 4 hours of white at 50% 2 hours 40% 40%, 4 hours 20% white 70% blue , then 2 with 60% blue. I don't think a black out is any help but would dimming light help? or less time on? I hear that white light promotes algae growth more so maybe run just blue? Maybe run white for a short time so other algae will grow while removing bubble algae? what do you or some others think about this? 

If you're running a 6500K daylight then you may have a problem/need for more blue.

 

Your blend should be around 20,000K ideally.  If it looks too white to you, then it is.  Change it up.  But once color is there, up to 12 hrs ought to work fine if that's what you want.

 

Herbivory (including your manual efforts) is by far the #1 control factor on algae.  Nutrient and light levels are far less crucial..and also needed for your corals.

 

[REEFERzz24]

55 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

If you're running a 6500K daylight then you may have a problem/need for more blue.

 

Your blend should be around 20,000K ideally.  If it looks too white to you, then it is.  Change it up.  But once color is there, up to 12 hrs ought to work fine if that's what you want.

 

Herbivory (including your manual efforts) is by far the #1 control factor on algae.  Nutrient and light levels are far less crucial..and also needed for your corals.

 

When I comes to the specific of light spectrum and all that I get lost lol. But my 130w are rated 15,000K running both channels so i'm not going to worry and focus on just getting in and cleaning. 

 

On 7/23/2019 at 3:47 AM, mcarroll said:

I think I'd shoot for about 1 snail per gallon along with 2-3 hermits and a couple of emerald crabs.

So I'm planning on ordering a clean up crew asap but wondering what snails would be useful? I have a 24g but only 18g display so probably 20 snails 3 hermits and maybe 2 more emeralds. Just not sure what species I should select? I might make a separate post for this but you have been helpful and would like to hear your opinion then also see what others think.

[mcarroll]

All herbivores.  Skip the nassarius and other detritivores.  If you go for Turbos cut the number in half or thirds.

[REEFERzz24]

On 7/24/2019 at 11:17 PM, mcarroll said:

All herbivores.  Skip the nassarius and other detritivores.  If you go for Turbos cut the number in half or thirds.

Hey so I've done a good deal a research, contacting 2 of my lfs, plenty of forums and other sites and had a custom recommendation for my tank regarding size, live stock, and problems that are occurring (had good info and recommendation but also could have been trying to get me to buy more), and as well took what you had to say. My finial decision was to get a good start with clean up crew but I did get the recommend number of each. I have already decided that I didn't want to move to fast as discussed with you which is why I wanted to touch base, so went with a good start of inverts so it wouldn't be a huge change in the system but also will be enough to notice a little difference. 

I will be getting tomorrow,

10 cerith snails

2 nerite snails

2  dward red rip hermit crabs with additional shells

1 peppermint shrimp

1 emerald crab which will in total be 2 in the system

 

I figured this would be a decent start to help with the aiptasia, bubble algae, as well as hair, or other green algae following, and then general clean up crew. I didn't want to go over board but wanted some help as well some things the will get a head start on what i should be expecting as i get my tank back up and healthy.

 

Let me know if you think anything else should be added soon otherwise i plan to manually clean up for a while and see how this crew will work as far as cleaning up.

[mcarroll]

Looks good!   Keep us posted with how things progress!  🙂