Unbeatable Green Hair Algae - what do I try next?

[beesnreefs]

I've had GHA in my 225g mixed reef for 8 months now. Since February, my wife and I have spent 2 hours every Sunday morning scrubbing the entire tank with stiff smoker's toothbrushes, netting algae out of the water column, and siphoning the rest through a 5-micron sock in the sump. We try to get rid of as much of the alage as humanly possibly before our necks, shoulders, and backs are just raging. Every. Single. Sunday. One weekend we were out of town and went 2 weeks between scrubbings and it was a disaster.

For historical context, this is a 13 month old system that was started with OceanDirect live sand, Marco rock structures, IPSF live sand and mud, and AquaBiomics live rock.

This is what it looks like 1 week after scrubbing (video taken on 8/5/23):


In addition to weekly scrubbing (for 2 solid hours, every time...not joking) we have also:

• Test nitrates, phosphates, and alk every Wednesday and Saturday with Hanna checkers (phosphates consistently in the 0.05 range, nitrates consistently in the 3-5 range)
• Adjusted the lights to be at no more than 30% intensity and only blues (white, red, and green channels cut out completely)
• Cut total light time by 2 hours
• Tried a 3-day full-on blackout (wrapped the tank)
• Added 6 aquacultured tuxedo urchin
• Added over a dozen turbo snails to the 6 or so that were already in there
• Added somewhere in the vicinity of 50 trochus snails
• Lost count of all the other snails in the tank
• Run monthly ICP and correct for trace elements (Moonshiners)
• Run a Reefmat 1200
• Heavy skimming
• H202 dosing every night (at one point we were dumping like 150 ml a day into the display)
• Added several (like 20) bottles of mixed species of copepods...we now have a HUGE population of amphipods as well

8 months of this with almost no noticeable improvement.

I should add, the tank has been fishless for the past 60 days. We had an ich breakout and had to move all our fish to a hospital tank. So, no more daily feedings and no more fish poop in this system...and still the algae persists.

2 weeks ago I got fed up and hit the tank with a 1.5x dose of fluconazole (basically a 350 gallon dose in my 225 gallon system). While it has "only" been 2 weeks, I'm not seeing any improvement. I know for some people fluxonazole can take 2-3 weeks to really hit GHA...but I'm starting to doubt I'll have success with it.

I'm honestly at a loss.

What are my other options???

I'm considering:

1. Getting a sea hare.
2. Vibrant.

Thoughts? Advice? Counseling services? I'm realllly struggling here...

 

[shakacuz]

try the sea hare and see where you’re at. but wait until after you’re done with the fluc treatment. fluc takes longer to hit GHA compared to bryopsis

 

[Doctorgori]

I’d pull out the rock if possible and spot treat with peroxide …
Odd issue given the tight params …just shouldn’t be, esp with 6 urchins
any chance you could add macros to the DT, maybe red ogo ?

 

[w8lifts]

Sea hare and emerald crabs would definitely help. Don’t have a spec of algae after emerald crabs came into the tank

 

[PR_nano]

Urchin and emerald have work for me.

 

[jkcoral]

I’ve been battling a GHA outbreak in my new tank over the last few months. The approach that has worked best for me has been to spot treat patches of algae with hydrogen peroxide when rocks are exposed after draining water out for a water change. The patches will bubble for a bit, I usually do 10-15 minutes. After a couple of days the algae will start to fade/turn grey and just melt away. And from there, the Mexican turbo snails do their best work.

I love trochus snails, and see them as the best utilitarian snails out there. But I’d recommend getting a platoon of Mexican turbo snails. The Mexican turbos are much more willing/able to take on the longer strands of GHA that trochus won’t touch, and the amount of area they can cover is hard to compete with.

Seahares are also awesome. And there’s also some evidence that established populations of copepods may help to keep algae under control as well.

 

[exnisstech]

A sea hare would help I think but be prepared to rehome or return it afterwards or it will starve.
Personally I would only use fluconazole as a last resort. I know many people have success but I ended up with cyano that was much worse than any GHA. Flux to chemiclean then I ended up doing a rip clean. Fortunately it was a smaller tank.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Broke my tank down a few weeks ago and stowed away the rock for the time being. After putting the tank together I took the rock piece by piece and sprayed hydrogen peroxide on the surface and then waited 2 minutes then used a brush on it. Next had a tub of sw with hydrogen peroxide mixed in and dunked for 10min then rinsed in clean sw and hair algae be gone.

Some believe adding x amount of peroxide to the DT but I'm not a fan of it personally. Also algae for some reason won't grow on the rock after cleaning with peroxide :/

Just my 2 cents

 

[beesnreefs]

try the sea hare and see where you’re at. but wait until after you’re done with the fluc treatment. fluc takes longer to hit GHA compared to bryopsis

Thanks @shakacuz.

How long do you think I should leave the fluconazole in the system before we can say if it is working or not?

 

[beesnreefs]

I’d pull out the rock if possible and spot treat with peroxide …
Odd issue given the tight params …just shouldn’t be, esp with 6 urchins
any chance you could add macros to the DT, maybe red ogo ?

I agree, it is odd given all we've been doing to manage it. Seems like it should have resolved by now.

I'd be happy to add macros to the DT if it will help.

 

[shakacuz]

Thanks @shakacuz.

How long do you think I should leave the fluconazole in the system before we can say if it is working or not?

i’ve seen posts of fluc taking 14 days and more before GHA starts turning white. perhaps lowering your red/green lights as well as white intensity could help

 

[workhz]

I don’t know how 18 turbo snails aren’t chewing through that. I also don’t know how I can’t see 18 turbo snails in your video.

30% might still be high with some LEDs and maybe a longer black out period (like a week without the blanket just no lights) and then drop light to 15%.

Any natural sunlight getting in there?

 

[beesnreefs]

I don’t know how 18 turbo snails aren’t chewing through that. I also don’t know how I can’t see 18 turbo snails in your video.

30% might still be high with some LEDs and maybe a longer black out period (like a week without the blanket just no lights) and then drop light to 15%.

Any natural sunlight getting in there?

Some of the turbos have died over the past few months. Even when the whole army was in there it looked like this.

There is minimal natural sunlight hiring the tank at the end of the day.

Ok, so you suggest a week of no LEDs but also no blanket?

 

[jabberwock]

I sympathize immensely. The only reason i got rid of GHA was a catastrophic tank leak forced me to break down my 32 gallon.

I suggest removing some of your rocks and replacing them with real ocean live rock. Get 20 pounds of base rock (not premium). It is worth a shot...

 

[Pickle_soup]

How many hours are you running your lights?

 

[littlefoxx]

I've had GHA in my 225g mixed reef for 8 months now. Since February, my wife and I have spent 2 hours every Sunday morning scrubbing the entire tank with stiff smoker's toothbrushes, netting algae out of the water column, and siphoning the rest through a 5-micron sock in the sump. We try to get rid of as much of the alage as humanly possibly before our necks, shoulders, and backs are just raging. Every. Single. Sunday. One weekend we were out of town and went 2 weeks between scrubbings and it was a disaster.

For historical context, this is a 13 month old system that was started with OceanDirect live sand, Marco rock structures, IPSF live sand and mud, and AquaBiomics live rock.

This is what it looks like 1 week after scrubbing (video taken on 8/5/23):


In addition to weekly scrubbing (for 2 solid hours, every time...not joking) we have also:

• Test nitrates, phosphates, and alk every Wednesday and Saturday with Hanna checkers (phosphates consistently in the 0.05 range, nitrates consistently in the 3-5 range)
• Adjusted the lights to be at no more than 30% intensity and only blues (white, red, and green channels cut out completely)
• Cut total light time by 2 hours
• Tried a 3-day full-on blackout (wrapped the tank)
• Added 6 aquacultured tuxedo urchin
• Added over a dozen turbo snails to the 6 or so that were already in there
• Added somewhere in the vicinity of 50 trochus snails
• Lost count of all the other snails in the tank
• Run monthly ICP and correct for trace elements (Moonshiners)
• Run a Reefmat 1200
• Heavy skimming
• H202 dosing every night (at one point we were dumping like 150 ml a day into the display)
• Added several (like 20) bottles of mixed species of copepods...we now have a HUGE population of amphipods as well

8 months of this with almost no noticeable improvement.

I should add, the tank has been fishless for the past 60 days. We had an ich breakout and had to move all our fish to a hospital tank. So, no more daily feedings and no more fish poop in this system...and still the algae persists.

2 weeks ago I got fed up and hit the tank with a 1.5x dose of fluconazole (basically a 350 gallon dose in my 225 gallon system). While it has "only" been 2 weeks, I'm not seeing any improvement. I know for some people fluxonazole can take 2-3 weeks to really hit GHA...but I'm starting to doubt I'll have success with it.

I'm honestly at a loss.

What are my other options???

I'm considering:

1. Getting a sea hare.
2. Vibrant.

Thoughts? Advice? Counseling services? I'm realllly struggling here...

SEA HARE!!! I love my guy Leon. He cleaned that up in a matter of weeks for me. He Keeps it in check too! Love him and an interesting animal!

 

[c4haskett]

Sea hare is the cow of the sea. One cleared my 65 gal in a week.

 

[jabberwock]

SEA HARE!!! I love my guy Leon. He cleaned that up in a matter of weeks for me. He Keeps it in check too! Love him and an interesting animal!

The first time I saw a sea hare was in the wild. I was surf fishing after a tropical storm, and this baseball glove looking thing came swimming by. It was flapping its whole body, but definitely moving purposefully. I was shocked and confused. Great animal!

 

[beesnreefs]

How many hours are you running your lights?

Ramp up from 6-9 am…peak is 20-30% depending on the light (I have three lights). At peak from 9-3:30. Ramp down 3:30-5:30

 

[Tcook]

That’s a good idea to spot treat with H2O2 when rocks are expised during water change. I plan on treating with fluconazole then redosing at 2 weeks if not responding.