GHA- Is there anything else I can do???

[LesPoissons]

Hi all,
been batting gha for 100 years now. Possibly 200. lol. I see all these reef tanks with white sand and 0 algae and I do not know what I am doing wrong and I want those beautiful tanks. I will summarize briefly this ongoing crusade and hopefully I can get a few more ideas on how to win the darn war.

220 gal tank, 3 years old ish, 2 inch sand bed, 200# live rock ish, 55g sump, protein skimmer, fuge w chaeto, rodi water

parameters: ph 8.3, nitrates 1.5-2, ammonia 0, cal 420, alk 8.3 to 8.7, mag 1400, phos 0.05

It is gha according to R2R reefers who identified a pic I submitted.

What i have tried:
-running 0 nitrate/0 phos for over a year
-manual removal of course
-peroxide soak and scrub
-fluconazole
- increase cuc (i now have 150 dwarf ceriths, 20 florida ceriths, 25 nerite, 20 nassarius, 20 trocus, 50 or so hermits)
-get fish that eat algae: 3 tangs, 2 alage blennies, 1 foxface
-blackout tank for a week (horrible idea, I dont reccomend that to anyone)
-switch to only blue light (going on 3 months now, algae still growing fine)
-decrease light cycle/intensity, increase fuge light
-add in a new piece of live rock as GHA may be out competing good bacteria for nutrient removal (put in 10 more #s of LR after manually removing maybe 90% of gha I could get)
-try sea hares (3 poor creatures lasted only about a week each so I wont be trying again)
-blow off rocks (I do this every few days).

The fluconazole did not work for me and I lost several fish because of it. I followed instructions to the letter but it has been recommended that I must have done something quite wrong and to try it again as it really does achieve results but Im very hesitant. Thoughts? Positive/negative experiences?

Is there anything else I can do here? My tank is a reef and the only thing I cant do is replace all the rock because of all the corals. If it comes to that, then it will just be the end of the tank for me.

At this point I manually remove it with a scrub brush and siphon every week or 2 depending on growth and my time.I usally get a small handful each time. (If you have experience with GHA then you know this is a good bit!) It grows on rocks, the overflow walls, on the shells of some of my snails and hermits, on the cords to the powerheads, and it loves to grow around the bases of my corals (I think the bonding agent must release phos or something but most of the corals have been in there for years, so who knows) but it starts to encroach on them very quickly.

Any other ideas of what I can do or what I am doing wrong? Thank you all!

 

[Raege]

#reefsquad
Following I have gha as well but nitrates 50 and po4 .1 have a nitrate reactor breaking in now and upped cuc as you have as well. I had hoped to ease the gha getting to numbers you have now... my next try is/was to try a up sterilizer that I got with the tank but needs a new bulb. Let’s see what advice is offered up

 

[Neetsama]

1) Too many snails, when they die they contribute to nutrients, while your testing zero phosphate and nitrates, the gha might be consuming faster than you can test.

2) How is your skimmate? Maybe undersize or inefficient skimmer

3) What is your carbon source? If vodka, maybe switch to vinegar. I know it works for cyano, not sure about gha.

 

[Ben little79]

Get a turf scrubber.. Guess gha just likes some systems.. So just give it a place to grow..

 

[ryeguyy84]

You didn't mention feeding. Do you use any coral food like reef roids?

I used fluconazole with success in the past. So maybe another try would be a good idea. I'm not sure what you lost when you used it last.

You have a fuge, what lighting are you using?

 

[LesPoissons]

Thanks for the input so far, here are responses to some questions:
1. I dont have too many snails, as they have not put a dent in gha and look alive for the most part (obviously cant count them, lol), and if they die, my nitrates are barley 2. in a 220, they would prob all have to die to make a significant dent and would die from other causes, so thats not an issue. You cant just look at numbers, Dwarf ceriths are about 1/2 a centimeter long. 150 is a small handful of snails. Not enough snails may still be a problem.
2. When I had 0 gha for a year, my nutrients where still almost 0. there is 100% no way that the algae is taking up the nutrients before it can be tested. When I remove 90% of it from my tank so that only a few tufts remain, and test the next day, my nutrient levels are exactly the same, they are the same 2 weeks later when the gha is everywhere.
3. My skimmer is rated for a 350 gal tank, the skim is brownish.
I have no carbon sources. I dont use anything to lower nitrates, they are just low. I kept them at 0 for over a year with a gfo/carbon reactor. This didnt stop gha. Raege- GHA can flourish in low nutrient environments.The only reason my nitrates are a 2 and phos is at 0.05 now is because i got rid of the reactor last month after it not helping anything and being another expense and maintenance issue. My tank stays at 2 and 0.05 on its own.
I have a red refugium light for the fuge. I started the fuge a month or 2 ago. Before that I had an algae scrubber built for my 220 tank. Forgot to include it on my list of "tries." It ran for months in a tank with 0 detectable phos or nitrate, and it had 0 affect on GHA in the display and was just 1 more thing to maintain bc the algae grew so fast and thick it had to be cleaned off to keep running without clogging.
I dont feed my corals anymore, they seem to get enough from the fish food and grow well and have nice color. Accidently way overfeeding reefroids and phyto for a month was what started this whole gha mess in the 1st place. I thought once i stopped the over feeding and everything got back to normal, the gha would go away. that was like a year + ago and it has been a fight ever since.

I also had a 55w uv sterilizer (sorry, forgot things on my list). 0 help with gha but my water was crystal clear.

 

[Neetsama]

I was gonna say try uv, but you have one. I mean it seem you are doing everything correctly. Maybe try increase flow? The next is the suggested algae scrubber. I still think it is nutrient problem. Watch eatsleepreef on algae. Try letting it out-compete itself. Let it grow big, then remove it manually.

 

[BornHandy]

I had a fight with the stuff back in the early 2000's. I was about to throw in the towel when I discovered how much better urchins are at eating algae than snails! Results may vary, but a few longspine urchins mowed that stuff down like they were being paid for it!

 

[fish farmer]

I was going to suggest urchins as well.

My tank was an algae mess a few years ago, then I took control last year. My nitrates were 20 to 30, phos close to 1 pmm. GHA and red algae taking over. If I neglected WC for a month it would come back hard. My tank and rocks are old...still have lingering phos today at .3 but the nitrates plummeted after adding chaeto and keeping up on routine WC and reducing feeding. My nitrates today are 5 pmm. The other things that helped were a lettuce nudi and Mexican turbos(they took care of some red algae).

 

[LesPoissons]

I understand what everyone is saying, but the problem is I dont have a nutrient issue. (Odd to say thats a problem, lol but it would be nice if it was, bc then at least I'd have something to fix!) My nitrates and phos are low and were at 0 levels for the last year. I even got new tests (seachem and salifert) to make sure the readings have been accurate. I do have 5 urchins, 2 pincushion, 2 tuxedo, and a short spine. I have not tried the long spine due to size and rock toppling situations and sting potential- but that could be an option.
As someone mentioned, i am trying to do everything right and cover all the bases (thank you for that!)... except I still have this algae issue. I appreciate all the feedback. From here I suppose I will maybe try other cuc (sea cucumber? Maybe long spine. More snails etc.) And just keep doing what I've been doing for a few more months. If something doesn't change, it may be the end, so I may try flucon again if nothing else to loose.

 

[TheGreatWave]

This is obviously a light problem. Too much light.
It's an easy answer to give but lacks real advice about how to go about it from this point. Reducing light is unlikely to eradicate it unless we are talking a total blackout.
It is a relatively shallow water algae, so it may reduce growth rate under a deeper light (Bluer), if the PAR was kept in check, assuming the corals would cooperate.

If you aren't for redoing the tank and are at the end of your tolerance, shut the light off, just give the corals some reduced light for a few hours every second day. See where this goes for a few weeks.

EDIT: never mind despite reading all your posts I didn't retain that you already tried a blackout and a bluer light.

 

[23Andy23]

I used the reef flux hd version and it killed all the algae in my tank without harming anything else. There's another brand now which I haven't tried, so I can't speak of it. I was kind of in a similar situation as you but got there via different means. I lowered my nutrients to basically nothing and the algae never went away. That's when I used the reef flux hd to kill it all which solved my problem. My current working theory is that once the algae starts growing lower nutrients won't stop it, gotta kill the roots and all to make it go away and I'm not willing to black out my tank so.. yeah. I also used the reef flux hd at a half dose in a 10 gallon which killed the hair algae but not the macro. The only.other method that I've had good luck with is taking the rock out, scrubbing it, then hit it with some hydrogen peroxide, which works but if you get some on sps it'll kill them too, lps/softies handle it better. That's all my random thoughts for now, have fun.

 

[Roush427R]

I just won the battle against hair algae and diatoms on my 125 and I was about to give up. Here is what I did (I don't know what actually worked as I did this all around the same time)....

Installed a Turbo Aquatics algae scrubber.
No lights for a week.
Increased my cuc....I have about the same amount you do in my 125.
Added a half dose of Dr. Tim's Aquatics Eco-Balance.

The day after I added the extra cuc and the Eco-balance, the algae was gone....overnight...I couldn't believe it. My sand is still white and no algae going on a month now (fingers crossed).

 

[pharazon]

At this point I manually remove it with a scrub brush and siphon every week or 2 depending on growth and my time.

When I had chronic GHA problems, I scrubbed and siphoned every day. Literally every day. I would comb over the tank checking for any new growth, and immediately snuff it out.

I tried grazers, peroxide, Fluconazole, had 0 NO3/ 0 PO4. All the usual methods. The only thing that worked was the persistent manual removal.

My best guess is that by snuffing it out quickly, I allowed other organisms to gain an advantage and outcompete the GHA for nutrients/resources. After a few weeks, the GHA ceased to grow.

It now springs up here and there periodically, but I just let it die out on its own or remove it if I don’t like where it’s growing. It’s never been able to become as prolific now that my bioload consists of so many corals, and I don’t stress out when it shows up.

I wish you the best of luck!

 

[road_runner]

Any chance you can share with us some picures of the algae?
Best is to take 2 pics. One the algae inside your system in water
2nd algae outside your system and outside the water.

Can you also let me know:
System age.
Did you start dry rock or live rocks?
Did you use dry sand or live sand?
System current parameters?
What are your test kits and how long did you have it?
System filtration (both biological and mechanical)?
System dosing?
System equipments skimmer lights reactors..etc (pictures will help alot)?
What's your current photo period
Are you using carbon and or gfo?
How long you had the algae?
Anything unusual happen before or after algae appeared?

Will try to add value if I can.

 

[LesPoissons]

The system is about 3 years old
Started with Live Rock an Dry rock, Live sand and dry sand, and a chunk of shrimp
Current parameters: Ph: 8.3, Nitrate 2.5, phos 0-0.05 (looks like 0 to me but slight tinge that may put it inbetween), mag 1500 (right now, usually 1350-1400), cal around 400, kh/alk 8.3/3, ammonia 0. (RODI Water, filters 2 months old).
I have used api, sea chem, and salifert test kits. Over the last 3 months I have replaced them all just incase and scrapped API (although it was always acurate for me)- so currently just sea chem and salifert.
Filtration: 55g sump, Eshoppes Axium X350 skimmer, 150-200# of live rock, 2 inch sand bed, new fuge with chaeto, culerpa, gracilaria + red fuge light. Filter socks for micro bubbles and gha removal post scrubbing. Just added carbon reactor today.
Lights are Viparspectra 165w Leds x 3
Dose Kent tech M (magnesium) and reef buffer added at water changes
Lights are on 8am to 7pm right now, blues only to try to keep alage in check @ 75%. Today I added my whites again @ 1% 9-5 bc the alage is still growing and Im sick of the blue tank. My fuge is lit 18hrs begining at 8pm.
Never had gha before, maybe a tuft here ad then gone. The algae outbreak started janurary after a month- 6 weeks of massively overfeeding corals with reef roids and phyto. I was culturing my own phyto and pods and just had way too much and didnt want to waste it so the tank got a ton, plus totally misread reef roid dose and over the holidays w family visiting I didnt keep up w testing and ignored the beginning of algae bc I assumed Id get rid of quickly now that I corrected the overfeeding and Id never had an issue before as the tank was low nutrient since the beginning. Wrong.

 

[LesPoissons]

This is my sump. Ato container far left. Refugium is on the left, return in the middle, skimmer on right. Carbon/gfo reactor (not using gfo) and the PVC big straight pipe is just a funnel for my ato top off water so it doesnt cause a siphon.

 

[dtracy1119]

Hi all,
been batting gha for 100 years now. Possibly 200. lol. I see all these reef tanks with white sand and 0 algae and I do not know what I am doing wrong and I want those beautiful tanks. I will summarize briefly this ongoing crusade and hopefully I can get a few more ideas on how to win the darn war.

220 gal tank, 3 years old ish, 2 inch sand bed, 200# live rock ish, 55g sump, protein skimmer, fuge w chaeto, rodi water

parameters: ph 8.3, nitrates 1.5-2, ammonia 0, cal 420, alk 8.3 to 8.7, mag 1400, phos 0.05

It is gha according to R2R reefers who identified a pic I submitted.

What i have tried:
-running 0 nitrate/0 phos for over a year
-manual removal of course
-peroxide soak and scrub
-fluconazole
- increase cuc (i now have 150 dwarf ceriths, 20 florida ceriths, 25 nerite, 20 nassarius, 20 trocus, 50 or so hermits)
-get fish that eat algae: 3 tangs, 2 alage blennies, 1 foxface
-blackout tank for a week (horrible idea, I dont reccomend that to anyone)
-switch to only blue light (going on 3 months now, algae still growing fine)
-decrease light cycle/intensity, increase fuge light
-add in a new piece of live rock as GHA may be out competing good bacteria for nutrient removal (put in 10 more #s of LR after manually removing maybe 90% of gha I could get)
-try sea hares (3 poor creatures lasted only about a week each so I wont be trying again)
-blow off rocks (I do this every few days).

The fluconazole did not work for me and I lost several fish because of it. I followed instructions to the letter but it has been recommended that I must have done something quite wrong and to try it again as it really does achieve results but Im very hesitant. Thoughts? Positive/negative experiences?

Is there anything else I can do here? My tank is a reef and the only thing I cant do is replace all the rock because of all the corals. If it comes to that, then it will just be the end of the tank for me.

At this point I manually remove it with a scrub brush and siphon every week or 2 depending on growth and my time.I usally get a small handful each time. (If you have experience with GHA then you know this is a good bit!) It grows on rocks, the overflow walls, on the shells of some of my snails and hermits, on the cords to the powerheads, and it loves to grow around the bases of my corals (I think the bonding agent must release phos or something but most of the corals have been in there for years, so who knows) but it starts to encroach on them very quickly.

Any other ideas of what I can do or what I am doing wrong? Thank you all!

Try using peroxide. The higher the concentration the better. Don't do to much at once. Go after it little by little.

 

[LesPoissons]

I have manually removed all but the base layer of rocks one by one, sprayed with 35% peroxide, let it set for a bit, scrubbed, rinsed, scrubbed, rinsed in a new bucked, and then rinsed again in a final bucket. Works great to get it off. Then it grows back. Have tried someone's suggestion of turning off flow and pumps, spray it directly on a patch underwater and leave it, 1 small area at a time. That does not do anything, lol, but I gave it a shot anyway.

 

[LesPoissons]

*Edit: No caulerpa in the fuge, forgot i removed it. Also the macro algae doesnt seem to be doing well. However GHA is growing on the bottom of the fuge. Lol