GHA outbreak

[keatonmjenkins]

In need of some guidance on what I should do next.

Corals and fish are growing and happy looking besides some SPS.

Tank is 9 months old so I don’t know if this is just part of the ugly phase.

Water parameters:
9.5dkh
.03 phosphate
3 nitrate
Calcium 450

I have been battling some terrible GHA the last 3 months and I cannot get rid of it. I have tried water changes everyday and pulling it off with each change for the last 2 weeks this did help drop my phosphate to .03 from .25 in 2 weeks. I have tried reflux after that. I can’t get it to stop growing. Starting to take over some corals and just looks ugly.

Seems like there is nothing to do at this point and it’s starting to make the hobby annoying.

Let me know if you guys have any solutions or tried in true methods I can do.

Thanks

 

[revenant]

Turbo grazers? Or hermits? Or both. They should feast on that. You have an ecosystem here and need all the parts to keep it healthy and nice looking.. a cleanup crew is a part of the system.. but once clean the crew needs to be fed still.. so it’s a bit of a dance.. go easy on the cleanup members.

 

[Garf]

In need of some guidance on what I should do next.

Corals and fish are growing and happy looking besides some SPS.

Tank is 9 months old so I don’t know if this is just part of the ugly phase.

Water parameters:
9.5dkh
.03 phosphate
3 nitrate
Calcium 450

I have been battling some terrible GHA the last 3 months and I cannot get rid of it. I have tried water changes everyday and pulling it off with each change for the last 2 weeks this did help drop my phosphate to .03 from .25 in 2 weeks. I have tried reflux after that. I can’t get it to stop growing. Starting to take over some corals and just looks ugly.

Seems like there is nothing to do at this point and it’s starting to make the hobby annoying.

Let me know if you guys have any solutions or tried in true methods I can do.

Thanks

Wow. I think your tank is under an algae (and Aiptasia) domination phase. I expect the current setup cannot be saved, unfortunately. I'd take all the rock out, kill it, clean it, then add some live stuff.

 

[Spare time]

I had no like with fluxrx but success with reef flux in a separate case weirdly enough

 

[Solo McReefer]

In need of some guidance on what I should do next.

Corals and fish are growing and happy looking besides some SPS.

Tank is 9 months old so I don’t know if this is just part of the ugly phase.

Water parameters:
9.5dkh
.03 phosphate
3 nitrate
Calcium 450

I have been battling some terrible GHA the last 3 months and I cannot get rid of it. I have tried water changes everyday and pulling it off with each change for the last 2 weeks this did help drop my phosphate to .03 from .25 in 2 weeks. I have tried reflux after that. I can’t get it to stop growing. Starting to take over some corals and just looks ugly.

Seems like there is nothing to do at this point and it’s starting to make the hobby annoying.

Let me know if you guys have any solutions or tried in true methods I can do.

Thanks

Personally

When I have that much GHA, I don't think the numbers really matter

They are going to be artificially low on tests because that algae is going to be using a ton of what is in the water column

Your eyes tell you, that you have a nutrient problem

The good news, when you pull it out, you are pulling out those nutrients

What to do about it:
1) Get a 1/2 hose(not silicone), siphon it out while you are digitally pulling it out. The end of the siphon goes into a sock in the sump to recirculate the water

2) Get a dog toothbrush or a wire brush and scrape it off, hopefully you have someone holding a siphon from 1

3) Get an oversize CUC that eat algae

4) Get algae eating fish like tangs

5) Don't tell anyone here that you got tangs, the Tang Kommisars are miserable and insufferable



6) Get an algae reactor, scrubber, or refugium to outcompete tank algae

7) Decrease the input of nutrients

 

[keatonmjenkins]

Wow. I think your tank is under an algae (and Aiptasia) domination phase. I expect the current setup cannot be saved, unfortunately. I'd take all the rock out, kill it, clean it, then add some live stuff.

So what would you use to kill it after I have the rock out? Also when I do this do I need to seed again with bacteria?

 

[Garf]

So what would you use to kill it after I have the rock out? Also when I do this do I need to seed again with bacteria?

You could try a stiff brush in a bucket of tank water. With that much algae it's probably not advisable to do it in the tank. Then reduce your lighting in the tank and throw in a bunch of herbivores. No need to reseed the tank. The aim here is to remove as much algae mass as possible, so that herbivores can keep up. It may also be a good idea to put the rocks back into the tank upside down,where possible.

Edit - won't help with the Aiptasia however.

 

[Budman93]

How big is the tank? A tang or rabbitfish would help immensely.

 

[mh0ward]

I was battling hair algae for a couple of months in my 21 gal and it's all almost completely gone now. Manually pulling the stuff out got me almost nowhere, but 2 Turbo snails and some Xenia knocked it out pretty quick. The turbos basically eat the hair algae all night, and crap it out in one spot all day.... toward the end of the day when the lights start dimming, the Turbo's start their grazing again and you can easily siphon their poop out since its all in one spot where they parked for the day. I put the Xenia in the tank to consume excess nutrients... plus I like their pulsing. Once it grows and splits, a stalk or two can be removed by grabbing them at the base with forceps and slowly twisting.

 

[keatonmjenkins]

How big is the tank? A tang or rabbitfish would help immensely.

It’s a 170 IM I’ll probably add a couple more fish but at the moment I don’t want to add any more stress to the fish.

 

[keatonmjenkins]

You could try a stiff brush in a bucket of tank water. With that much algae it's probably not advisable to do it in the tank. Then reduce your lighting in the tank and throw in a bunch of herbivores. No need to reseed the tank. The aim here is to remove as much algae mass as possible, so that herbivores can keep up. It may also be a good idea to put the rocks back into the tank upside down,where possible.

Edit - won't help with the Aiptasia however.

So currently I have 12 trochas snails, some stomalia snails, 4 emerald crabs, yellow tang and 2 tiger conches.

You think I’ll need more clean up crew for a 170 IM?

 

[mh0ward]

So currently I have 12 trochas snails, some stomalia snails, 4 emerald crabs, yellow tang and 2 tiger conches.

You think I’ll need more clean up crew for a 170 IM?

That seems like a pretty light crew for a 170 to me. I’d at least add 5 or 6 turbo snails to knock that hair algae down. I’d probably add some cerith and nassarius as well.

 

[Vinaka_vakalevu]

So currently I have 12 trochas snails, some stomalia snails, 4 emerald crabs, yellow tang and 2 tiger conches.

You think I’ll need more clean up crew for a 170 IM?

in my 20 gallon IM I have 10 cerith 10 trochus 3 nassarious 4 blue legged hermits that came with my TBS live rock and an pitho crab id.

you can definitely add more snails to your tank. the more the merrier.