Dealing with out of control GHA

[camsoft2000]

Hello, I’ve been batting with my tank for well over a year now. First I had the dreaded dinoflagellates specifically Prorocentrum which I beat using Silicon dosing.

Since beating that I have now got GHA and it’s out of control can’t see rocks or sand bed anymore it’s just covered. Checked Nitrate and Phospate with my Hanna checker and have 0ppm and 0.04ppm respectively.

I tried ReedFlux and most of the algae died and I managed to remove and scrub most of the rocks. But some of it wouldn't go and now it's just grown back in my tank as bad as it ever was.

I can't explain what is feeding the algae given the nutrient readings.

I was thinking carbon dosing but it says on instructions to dose based on nutrient levels. When I do have any usable levels to base a dose off.

I'm using RedSea ReefLed 90's which have been set to 40% blue and 10% white and my lights are only on for 8 hours max with 2 hours of that being ramp up time so total 6 hours at 40%.

It's a RedSea 250ltr tank and it's not well stocked with corals because I've just been fighting nuisance dinos and algae's pretty much since I had it.

Tank is 1.5 year old. Fish are healthy. I have a couple of LPS and softies and 6 fish and inverts. I have a reef matt, RedSea Reefer Skimmer, phospate remover, carbon media.

I don't want to invent more money I the system as it's just throwing money down the drain while I have these issues.

I honestly don't know where to go from here. I'm very very close to calling it and day and leaving the hobby which would be gutting but I can't throw more money at this system in its current state.

Any help and suggestions would be appreciate.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello, I’ve been batting with my tank for well over a year now. First I had the dreaded dinoflagellates specifically Prorocentrum which I beat using Silicon dosing.

Since beating that I have now got GHA and it’s out of control can’t see rocks or sand bed anymore it’s just covered. Checked Nitrate and Phospate with my Hanna checker and have 0ppm and 0.04ppm respectively.

I tried ReedFlux and most of the algae died and I managed to remove and scrub most of the rocks. But some of it wouldn't go and now it's just grown back in my tank as bad as it ever was.

I can't explain what is feeding the algae given the nutrient readings.

I was thinking carbon dosing but it says on instructions to dose based on nutrient levels. When I do have any usable levels to base a dose off.

I'm using RedSea ReefLed 90's which have been set to 40% blue and 10% white and my lights are only on for 8 hours max with 2 hours of that being ramp up time so total 6 hours at 40%.

It's a RedSea 250ltr tank and it's not well stocked with corals because I've just been fighting nuisance dinos and algae's pretty much since I had it.

Tank is 1.5 year old. Fish are healthy. I have a couple of LPS and softies and 6 fish and inverts. I have a reef matt, RedSea Reefer Skimmer, phospate remover, carbon media.

I don't want to invent more money I the system as it's just throwing money down the drain while I have these issues.

I honestly don't know where to go from here. I'm very very close to calling it and day and leaving the hobby which would be gutting but I can't throw more money at this system in its current state.

Any help and suggestions would be appreciate.

I see GHA and probably dinos on the sand.

Your Nitrate and Phosphate are reading low as they are being consumed by the algae.

You need to take those rocks out and scrub them clean with a bristle brush.
When you have the rocks clean, add herbivores like snails and urchins to keep it in check.

You will find that probably Phosphate will shoot up when there is no algae consuming it, you will need to use GFO to lower it.

Stop adding chemicals - as you found out, they typically make things worse.

The only way to defeat algae is elbow grease and scrubbing, followed by herbivores and nutrient control.

 

[goosemans]

Do you have any room in your sump to put some of the rocks down there? It’ll help knock back from of the hair algae. Other than that I’ll let others chime in as I haven’t dealt with an issue to this extreme. So sorry your tank is giving you a hard time, you’ll get through it though.

 

[goosemans]

Dinoflagellates and the treament of…. – Reefsite

Thought this link might be helpful

 

[Bruttall]

I do not see any evidence of a CUC, or Clean up Crew. Here is a picture of my 18 month old tank.



I have over 400 snails and over 20 hermit crabs in there. I know my tank and your tank are apples and oranges, this is a 300g with 7 Tangs that keep my hair algae in check, sadly Tangs are not an option in your tank, to small I think, but Urchins eat GHA as well as Tangs, you really need the Snails though. Hit up Reefcleaners.org and look at CUC Packages, they list the types of algae etc various snails eat, you can custom design a package for your tanks needs. You will need to manually remove the majority of that algae, scrape it off and then use a brush on those rocks should do the trick. Good luck to you.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

That needs a lot of elbow grease to beat that down. Pull the rocks out ans scrub them in a seperate bucket, you will need to do this a several times over a few weeks.

Stop adding anything to your tank and bring your levels back to baseline.

Control the feeding, don't feed so much that food gets uneaten, feed very small amounts several times per day.

Do you have a skimmer? Are you running activated carbon? These things will help. Water changes will help, increasing the snails and algae eaters in your tank will help.

 

[Dburr1014]

Need a microscope (or borrow one) also to see what dinos you have.
Different dinos get treated differently.

 

[reneeL]

Hello, I’ve been batting with my tank for well over a year now. First I had the dreaded dinoflagellates specifically Prorocentrum which I beat using Silicon dosing.

Since beating that I have now got GHA and it’s out of control can’t see rocks or sand bed anymore it’s just covered. Checked Nitrate and Phospate with my Hanna checker and have 0ppm and 0.04ppm respectively.

I tried ReedFlux and most of the algae died and I managed to remove and scrub most of the rocks. But some of it wouldn't go and now it's just grown back in my tank as bad as it ever was.

I can't explain what is feeding the algae given the nutrient readings.

I was thinking carbon dosing but it says on instructions to dose based on nutrient levels. When I do have any usable levels to base a dose off.

I'm using RedSea ReefLed 90's which have been set to 40% blue and 10% white and my lights are only on for 8 hours max with 2 hours of that being ramp up time so total 6 hours at 40%.

It's a RedSea 250ltr tank and it's not well stocked with corals because I've just been fighting nuisance dinos and algae's pretty much since I had it.

Tank is 1.5 year old. Fish are healthy. I have a couple of LPS and softies and 6 fish and inverts. I have a reef matt, RedSea Reefer Skimmer, phospate remover, carbon media.

I don't want to invent more money I the system as it's just throwing money down the drain while I have these issues.

I honestly don't know where to go from here. I'm very very close to calling it and day and leaving the hobby which would be gutting but I can't throw more money at this system in its current state.

Any help and suggestions would be appreciate.

Hey, I am new to adding my experiences. I had about the same water parameters about 2 weeks ago the brown on the sand. This was really frustrating as I know you must be feeling that way. I added things that eat the algae. I have many conchs. nassarius snails, plus turbo snails. The little tiger pods of all kinds were added also. I changed my lights to the AB+ and only changed as the guy on BRS does his own. It worked for my tank.
I turned up my protein skimmer and I also have a Red Sea Roller. I think the bigger change was in the lights. Check out the BRS light video and the customized schedule for his clownfish tank.