Ive got a 20gal nano that’s been up for about 7 months and I’ve been experiencing a brown hair algae problem. My nitrates are 0 and my phosphate it’s 0.25 so i am currently trying to increase the nitrate to about 5 over two weeks. Any other opinions would be much appreciated!
Intermediate Reefer with a Slight Hair Algae Issue
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- Thread starter DerpinDiggles
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Ive got a 20gal nano that’s been up for about 7 months and I’ve been experiencing a brown hair algae problem. My nitrates are 0 and my phosphate it’s 0.25 so i am currently trying to increase the nitrate to about 5 over two weeks. Any other opinions would be much appreciated!
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Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!
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Welcome! Slight issues abound in the hobby. Just hold the course and keep things in check. Rowaphos is an option to knock down the PO in your system. The readings you have can be somewhat misleading as there is a volume of phosphates that are being consumed by your inhabitants including the BHA.
that is the expected rate of change for dry rock starts, nothing is out of line here.
however if you want it fixed, directly killing the algae off the rocks is better than adjusting system params to starve it, that usually starves coral. adding nutrients wont make it grow less, it'll grow more because coralline and coral flesh arent in the spots gha is attaching to, notice there's no gha where coral flesh is within that tank.
see this cleaning method here, it'll change the way you nano reef for the better. we hold params the same as they are, but we clean that reef to make it gha free, look at these before and after pics
this works excellent on a nano, large tankers can't deep clean as easy:
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those were 30 gallon setups, a 20 would be a little easier to deep clean.
you dont have a deep sand bed, so that step above in rinsing out the sand wont be needed.
however if you want it fixed, directly killing the algae off the rocks is better than adjusting system params to starve it, that usually starves coral. adding nutrients wont make it grow less, it'll grow more because coralline and coral flesh arent in the spots gha is attaching to, notice there's no gha where coral flesh is within that tank.
see this cleaning method here, it'll change the way you nano reef for the better. we hold params the same as they are, but we clean that reef to make it gha free, look at these before and after pics
this works excellent on a nano, large tankers can't deep clean as easy:
Algae Identification
Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?
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those were 30 gallon setups, a 20 would be a little easier to deep clean.
you dont have a deep sand bed, so that step above in rinsing out the sand wont be needed.
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Welcome to Reef2Reef!
Green Hair Algae is really a broad term that covers hundreds of species of green simple filamentous algae. These species tend to be simple, fine in texture, and have few distinguishable features including no presence of roots. If you see roots, its not GHA. Green hair algae can be pulled easily by hand, and tooth brush scrubbed off the rock . This is easier to do if the rock is outside of the tank. If it is growing from the sand, scrape with the edge of a credit card and sift it out with a net.
In many cases , GHA forms in presence of excess of available nutrients, particularly the majors like phosphates and nitrates. After pulling by hand, some cleaner crew that will help with this are : Blue Leg hermits, Cerith snails, Chitons, Turbo grazer snails, Sea Hare, Conchs, Emerald Crabs, Urchins and a few astrea snails
In many cases , GHA forms in presence of excess of available nutrients, particularly the majors like phosphates and nitrates. After pulling by hand, some cleaner crew that will help with this are : Blue Leg hermits, Cerith snails, Chitons, Turbo grazer snails, Sea Hare, Conchs, Emerald Crabs, Urchins and a few astrea snails
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As already said you need to reduce your phosphate to less than around 0.03 and rowaphos is a good product to use.
It will need changing frequently at the start
It will need changing frequently at the start
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+1 to @P-Dub @vetteguy53081 and @brandon p
Run the course, don;t chase numbers. Everything else looks good.
Run the course, don;t chase numbers. Everything else looks good.
Welcome!
Glad you joined. Thanks for photo - you seem well on your way.
This is helpful post from forum:
A Simple Guide To Common Problematic Algae And The Means To Control It..
As we all know algae is inevitable in both Marine and fresh water aquariums and if not watched and without proper procedures for removal can quickly turn a beautiful aquarium in to something that resembles a scene out of a old Swamp thing episode. Some are easy to control some are a non stop...
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