need some advice on GHA......

[haze2276]

Hello everyone I am new to the forum and have a couple of questions. I have been battling hair algae now for a few months and starting to feel like I am losing lol. First off I am using canister filters due to not having the room in the stand (I use two a fluval 305 and a fluval 406) the 305 was introduced in order to run phosphate removers and it returns slowly to the tank the 406 runs 2 chemipure, gac, rowaphos. I also have a euro usa hob skimmer. The tank is 75 gallons by the way. I have removed the rock on numerous occasions and scrubbed them . At first I thought it was my old t5 bulbs that originally caused it so I "upgraded" to the current usa marine orbit led lights and since then realized that it wasn't a strong enough to do much. Since the I have reused my coralife ho 2 bulb t5 fixture and my zoas are doing great. I have a hanna checker for phosphate and it reads 0.02 nitrates are 5 ppm everything Elsa is zero. I have a sea hare and big cuc and although the breakout is 100 times Better I still have a few rocks with what seems to be a flowing carpet. Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post just at my wit's end.

 

[Tahoe61]

If possible please post an image to rule out Byropsis.

Do you have a lot of fish, do you really need the canister?

What types of snails or hermits? A lot is fine but not if they are not going to eat GHA, not all cuc are created equal.

What is your water source and have you tested it for nitrates and phosphates?

Exactly how old is your tank?

Only as a last resort would I disturb the scape and remove rocks to scrub, there are better ways, you just need to nail down what will work. It will not get better over night

 

[haze2276]

Ok here we go lol:

4 stage ro/di for make up water
2 ocellaris clowns
1 fire fish
1 magnificent fox face
1 lyre tail anthias
1 sea hare

If I got rid of canister what would I use being that there is no room for refugium?

As far as cuc:
about a dozen small cerith snails
12 trochus snails (the ones that can upright themselves)
10 or so of turbo snails(the ones that can't upright themselves)
red legged hermits and blue legged hermits about a dozen of each .... nu counts could be a little off due to some die off but I would say pretty close. Tan is about two years old. Like I said I though it was old bulb and bought the led but in recent days added back my t5 light fixture with new bulbs.

 

[haze2276]

I am on my phone at work i cant,upload pics but I am 99% sure it is gha

 

[haze2276]

Just wanted to give an update for anyone interested in fixing their gha problem brandon429 sent me a private message detailing the use of 3% hydrogen peroxide to combat this problem since I have not been able to beat it back by lowering nitrates and phosphate levels. I took a rock out that was covered with gha and poured Regular peroxide on the gha then rinsed in bucket of salt water then put back in tank then watched the gha literally melt away with absolutely no adverse effects to fish or corals... I wanted to thank him for all his help...

 

[brandon429]

Some tanks respond to that alone, some need a little prevention work. its Easy to tell... based on growback speed


if it doesnt come back for three months id not try to up the po4 restriction and work on target removal. if it comes back fast then we could step up po4 command a bit

gha is not a nutrient issue in many tanks, algae will grow in pristine low nutrient water in natural settings if grazing is stopped, nature uses manual removal and never nutrient starvation. oligotrophic waters still grow algae in nature.