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Hi All,
I know this topic has been played out a million times, and I feel like I've read 20 different threads and watched 50 different youtube videos about how to get rid of Green Hair Algae (GHA), but since I value the expertise and input of folks on R2R, I thought I would ask for your advice about how to solve my own version of the problem. So here goes:
My tank is an Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 20 (system volume ~15 gallons). It completed cycling with dry rock in October 2017, which makes it about 6 months old. It currently houses two ocellaris clownfish and 16 coral frags, mostly LPS, with a couple simple SPS (birdsnest, monti, and psammacorra). CUC is two tiny hermits, ~10 cerith snails, and 5 trochus snails.
My current parameters are Calcium 425-475 ppm, Alkalinity 7.8-8.4 dKH, and Magnesium 1,320-1,400 ppm over the last 3 months. My nitrates have never read more than 1 ppm, and my phosphates have never read anything but 0.00 on my Hanna Low Range checker, and maybe 0.01 for my Red Sea test kit. Salinity is very stable at 34.5-35.0, and temperature runs between 77.0-78.0 controlled by Apex. pH could be higher, but stays between 8.0-8.2 99% of the time.
Over the last six months I have used NoPoX, then a macroalgae reactor, then NoPoX again for nutrient export. I've had generally good luck with NoPoX, although I only dose about 0.25 ml per day. My macroalgae reactor was a failed experiment. While using it I stopped dosing NoPoX, but due to low nutrients, my chaeto died twice and ended up serving more as a nutrient source than sync. After the second death I removed the reactor (about 3 weeks ago) and resumed dosing NoPoX.
My GHA problem started about 4 weeks ago after I moved the tank from my old condo to my new house. The move went great, everything survived. During the move, I threw out my old sand (oolite = too fine) and replaced with dead CaribSea Aragonite, special grade. With fresh sand and almost no nuisance algae at the time, I was afraid my CUC would starve, so after the move I started a two week regimen of re-dirtying the tank (probably a bad idea). I reintroduced pods from AlgaeBarn, I fed occasional tiny hikari algae wafers (1 per week), I was dosing phytoplankton daily to feed the pods and dosing Red Sea Reef Energy daily to feed the corals. All along I have fed about 40 tiny hikari marine pellets to my clowns, daily. Needless to say, this was probably too much. However, it's interesting to note that my nitrates never went above 0.25 ppm during this time and phosphates stayed at 0.00. I test all parameters weekly.
After that two week "dirtying" period, I noticed my GHA was starting to change from a thin carpet coating the rocks to long ugly strands 1"+ in length. In the past two weeks they have gotten worse and worse, despite dropping my feeding back to daily pellets for the clowns, only. During the "dirtying", the color of my corals also got much more vivid, and I noticed my first spots of coralline algae appearing.
Now, I'm trying to get rid of the GHA by minimal feeding, dosing NoPoX (even though NO3/PO4 are undetectable), bi-weekly 20% water changes with gravel vacuuming and blowing off all the rocks. I'm also manually removing as much as I can by hand and with a toothbrush, weekly. As always, I change filter socks/pads twice a week. On Sunday night the tank looks great, by the following Saturday its overrun again.
I'm at the point of considering either Phosphate RX (on Melev's Reef's recommendation), or fluconazole (several success stories on R2R and youtube). I just can't afford the time to clean this junk out every weekend, my wife won't have my 4 hour maintenance sessions anymore. So, I need to do something. I'm hoping this group can help me out.
I've attached a couple photos of the stuff for reference. It's growing all over the rocks (you can see it at the edges of the rock) and even in small patches on the substrate. It's browny-green, does not branch or fern at all (like photos I've seen of Bryopsis), and grows in thickets about 1" long.
What is obvious that I'm missing? What can I do differently? What can I do better? What extreme measures should I take or not take?
I know this topic has been played out a million times, and I feel like I've read 20 different threads and watched 50 different youtube videos about how to get rid of Green Hair Algae (GHA), but since I value the expertise and input of folks on R2R, I thought I would ask for your advice about how to solve my own version of the problem. So here goes:
My tank is an Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 20 (system volume ~15 gallons). It completed cycling with dry rock in October 2017, which makes it about 6 months old. It currently houses two ocellaris clownfish and 16 coral frags, mostly LPS, with a couple simple SPS (birdsnest, monti, and psammacorra). CUC is two tiny hermits, ~10 cerith snails, and 5 trochus snails.
My current parameters are Calcium 425-475 ppm, Alkalinity 7.8-8.4 dKH, and Magnesium 1,320-1,400 ppm over the last 3 months. My nitrates have never read more than 1 ppm, and my phosphates have never read anything but 0.00 on my Hanna Low Range checker, and maybe 0.01 for my Red Sea test kit. Salinity is very stable at 34.5-35.0, and temperature runs between 77.0-78.0 controlled by Apex. pH could be higher, but stays between 8.0-8.2 99% of the time.
Over the last six months I have used NoPoX, then a macroalgae reactor, then NoPoX again for nutrient export. I've had generally good luck with NoPoX, although I only dose about 0.25 ml per day. My macroalgae reactor was a failed experiment. While using it I stopped dosing NoPoX, but due to low nutrients, my chaeto died twice and ended up serving more as a nutrient source than sync. After the second death I removed the reactor (about 3 weeks ago) and resumed dosing NoPoX.
My GHA problem started about 4 weeks ago after I moved the tank from my old condo to my new house. The move went great, everything survived. During the move, I threw out my old sand (oolite = too fine) and replaced with dead CaribSea Aragonite, special grade. With fresh sand and almost no nuisance algae at the time, I was afraid my CUC would starve, so after the move I started a two week regimen of re-dirtying the tank (probably a bad idea). I reintroduced pods from AlgaeBarn, I fed occasional tiny hikari algae wafers (1 per week), I was dosing phytoplankton daily to feed the pods and dosing Red Sea Reef Energy daily to feed the corals. All along I have fed about 40 tiny hikari marine pellets to my clowns, daily. Needless to say, this was probably too much. However, it's interesting to note that my nitrates never went above 0.25 ppm during this time and phosphates stayed at 0.00. I test all parameters weekly.
After that two week "dirtying" period, I noticed my GHA was starting to change from a thin carpet coating the rocks to long ugly strands 1"+ in length. In the past two weeks they have gotten worse and worse, despite dropping my feeding back to daily pellets for the clowns, only. During the "dirtying", the color of my corals also got much more vivid, and I noticed my first spots of coralline algae appearing.
Now, I'm trying to get rid of the GHA by minimal feeding, dosing NoPoX (even though NO3/PO4 are undetectable), bi-weekly 20% water changes with gravel vacuuming and blowing off all the rocks. I'm also manually removing as much as I can by hand and with a toothbrush, weekly. As always, I change filter socks/pads twice a week. On Sunday night the tank looks great, by the following Saturday its overrun again.
I'm at the point of considering either Phosphate RX (on Melev's Reef's recommendation), or fluconazole (several success stories on R2R and youtube). I just can't afford the time to clean this junk out every weekend, my wife won't have my 4 hour maintenance sessions anymore. So, I need to do something. I'm hoping this group can help me out.
I've attached a couple photos of the stuff for reference. It's growing all over the rocks (you can see it at the edges of the rock) and even in small patches on the substrate. It's browny-green, does not branch or fern at all (like photos I've seen of Bryopsis), and grows in thickets about 1" long.
What is obvious that I'm missing? What can I do differently? What can I do better? What extreme measures should I take or not take?