How to clean up macroalgae?

[Nellyville41]

They make a mess! Lol. What’s the easiest way to clean it up? I tried agitating the water with a net and catching what I could before but that barely made a dent. Any tips or advice? Currently have two that are berried and quite a few in different stages. Some were born a few weeks ago and some are juvies. Snail population continues to explode. At the min, over 50. Lol

[sliphorn]

They make a mess! Lol. What’s the easiest way to clean it up? I tried agitating the water with a net and catching what I could before but that barely made a dent. Any tips or advice? Currently have two that are berried and quite a few in different stages. Some were born a few weeks ago and some are juvies. Snail population continues to explode. At the min, over 50. Lol

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Long aquascape tweezers or just leave it alone and it will be consumed by the snails and shrimp as it decays.

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[Dch48]

I haven't noticed mine growing but it is still bright green.

[Varanus]

Its time consuming, but one method I used was to get a turkey baster so I could target specific spots without disturbing shrimp, then release the sucked up water and macro algae bits into a fine mesh net (as a fine a mesh as you can find, like a brine shrimp net) that I balanced on the corner of the tank. That way I got a ever growing mass of macroalgae in the net to dispose of later while the water drained back into the tank through the mesh.

But as I said, it's time consuming. I eventually opted to just get rid of the macroalgae altogether when I switched to a bigger tank (even then, I had to keep removing bits of macroalgae that made it into the tank during the move). Mustafa's moss balls grow much more slowly but they are also much less messy.

The macroalgae is great and all as long as it stays in a nice, growing, mass. But as has happened with yours, parts of mine eventually fell apart and scattered about the tank, many randomly growing from there. It didn't hurt anything, but I didn't like how messy it made things look.

[Nellyville41]

It’s a lot to tweeze lol.

[MrsT]

What I do with my huge green furrball was.....
because they were in 1 lump and I know I will kill some babies in there so... to minimise the killing, both of my hands go in and start pulling off bit by bit. With each pull I'm hoping some babies gets to swim off from there before I took the small bit off one by one.
There is no way to get rid of hair algae totally, you just need to take it out when it forms a lump.

[Mustafa]

You just have to take out little by little over time, carefully examining what you take out so you don't miss any attached shrimp or shrimp babies. If the conditions are right, the little pieces that are left grow into big clumps again that can be removed more easily. If not, then the little pieces die off over time and become shrimp and snail food. That happens very slowly though.

[Vorteil]

I've cleared my chaeto from time to time. It gets out of control. All the small particles start to grow quickly once I trim it down. Maybe you can use a small hose & siphon it out.

[Dch48]

Mine is growing but very slowly. I have noticed that now that I have some babies, they love to crawl through it and spend most of their time on or in it.