Who Gives A Fish Forums

Just set up my salt tank a couple weeks ago and I'm getting a ton of algae on the walls and the sandy bottom. I've cleaned the walls already but it just keeps coming back the next day. Is this normal? How do I get rid of it for good? Are there any fish that eat algae that I could add to the tank? Just a heads up, I'm new to salt tanks, so bear with me.

ravenoak wrote: ↑Fri Aug 15, 2025 7:06 pm Just set up my salt tank a couple weeks ago and I'm getting a ton of algae on the walls and the sandy bottom. I've cleaned the walls already but it just keeps coming back the next day. Is this normal? How do I get rid of it for good? Are there any fish that eat algae that I could add to the tank? Just a heads up, I'm new to salt tanks, so bear with me.

At 2 weeks, it's probably just a diatom algae bloom going on. Cleanup crew organisms would be a good idea - snails and such to chow down on it for you.

I've got a cleanup crew in place, but the algae's still hanging around. Just added a cleaner shrimp and a Sally Lightfoot crab on Saturday, so fingers crossed they'll start making a dent in it soon. Thanks for the advice.

althought crabs are a bit greedy, i highly doubt they'll go for the algae on the glass, they'll probably munch on the rocks and floor though. same with the shrimp, get some turbo snails, they'll clean the algae off your glass in no time and keep it looking great. hermit crabs do a great job on the gravel, or maybe consider a sand sifting starfish, they're pretty good at it. good luck

the sally lightfoot is doing a great job on the bottom and i think it's also trying to tackle the glass now. we're still having to clean the glass every week though. we already have a turbo snail, so i'm thinking maybe we should get another one. and i'm also considering getting some hermits, but i'm not sure about the starfish yet, gonna ask my dad about that.

Glass cleaning's just part of the deal, even with a bunch of turbo snails, you'll still be doing it regularly.