Hope I didn't doom them....

[Capt'n T]

Okay after searching and reading about putting Mollies in the reef for hair algae control, I bought a male and female Lyretail Molly and acclimated them (using the drip method) for about an hour and a half. They were swimming around and looked okay last night and this morning. Hopfully they will do alright and live up to the claims of getting rid of the hair algae. We'll see

[jskaras]

I acclimated a molly easily but he never lived up to his billing as an algae eater. He mostly stayed at the upper 1-2"of the tank and I never once saw him eat any algae until dying about two months later

[Travis L. Stevens]

I'm not sure where all this talk of mollies being heavy algae eaters came from. I've had mollies for almost 2 years and none of them eat much algae. They will pick at new algae growth, but rarely eat well formed algae. Yes, they are herbivorous, but the amount of food that they consume is very small. If you are looking at sources of algae control, nothing beats good ol' fashion nutrient export like water changes and reduced feeding coupled with great amounts of biological filtration.

[ralphie16]

my black mollie constantly bites at the algae in my tank. he even tries to eat my arm when i'm working in the tank.

for y ou guys acclimating mollies, please take more then an hour to acclimate to salt...i remember reading at least 4 hours from 3 different published sources

[2639]

Originally posted by jskaras
I acclimated a molly easily but he never lived up to his billing as an algae eater. He mostly stayed at the upper 1-2"of the tank and I never once saw him eat any algae until dying about two months later

That's the same story from me too. I had a male and a female, he died and became food for my tongue coral and she had about 50 babies...everyone died without a trace..I havent seen the femaile or the babies since a week after birth.

Sorta strnge.....i'll never buy another cause they didn't help my algae problem.

[Capt'n T]

Well that just sucks

[musty baby]

I had upwards of 20 in my refugium, was raising them as feeders. Not a one touched hair algae. Best of luck, though!

As I recall the only thread I've read of them eating hair algae involved the bigger swordtail mollies, so if that's what you're meaning when you say lyretail you might strike it rich!

[Kigs]

it makes sense to acclimate FW mollies for at least four hours. an hour and a half is what's expected for most regular SW species. just like when when you would acclimate algae eaters to an african cichild tank. at least 3+ hours. the lfs I worked at bred LFS for cycling and algae control, but many customers returned claiming that no such algae control occured and ended up resorting to a tang or LMB.

[Capt'n T]

Now I feel terrible. I bought them as a last resort. I do 15g water changes every two weeks (I use an RO DI unit and replace filters frequently), I have a low bio load of one clown fish, one tail spot blenny, 3 pepp shrimps and 2 blood shrimps, then some snails and dwarf hermits, mushroom corals, candy cane coral, various zoos and a green star. I also dumped in 2 bottles of pods.
I could probably use more LR but have about 45lbs with 60lbs of substrate. I run a CCS 220, use phos ban and carbon in a canister filter (filter sleeves are changed during water changes. SG is 1.026, Calcium is about 400 ( I use Salifert calcium additive) Alk is 8 or 9, Phos is 0 (or so the test says), trites are 0, trates are less 5, ammonia is 0. Temp is 80 steady. Light cycle is 10 am to 7 pm (lights are Coralife 48" 260 watt). Water flow is the canister filter and 3 maxi jets(1200) on the wavemaker timer. I am working on a fuge/sump but I want to buy a new glass tank first that is pre drilled with the overflow(current 55g isn't).
I am at a loss of what else to do to get rid of the algae. My tank isn't big enough for the tangs or fox face. I don't want an emerald crab(I've heard bad things) and I am worried about putting in a nudibranch. Any other suggestions that I haven't come across in the couple years I have been researching on the site would be greatly appreciated. I hate making mistakes like this when it comes to the livestock. Thanks for the help.

[2639]

how old are your lights? that makes a difference too. I got an outbreak recently and got a PhosBan reactor, threw in Seachem's Seagel and now my algea is turning brown

You're also talking about the 55G tank I assume? might I suggest doing a weekly 5 gallon change instead of every two weeks. THATS where my problem started. I was doing perfectly with a 5 gallon a week change, tried to do ten gallons every other week and i got algae...switched back and the algae decided to turn away The phosphate remover had some to do with it too but I strongly believe the more frequent water change helped more.

[Capt'n T]

Yes its the 55g. I'll try the less water change more frequently. The lights are right around 6 months old, but the algae was a problem when the lights were new. I may try the PhosBan reactor also, they aren't that expensive. Thanks for the advise.


(Yea I hit the 100th post )