2 months battle of GHA / BHA. CAN YOU ACTUALLY BEAT THIS PEST.

[MS139]

Im at a point of giving up!

My tank is 30 gallon tank AIO and has been running for 5 months.

Heres the story. My LR is literally covered with algae. I checked my no3 and po4 and they are barely detectable. Albeit because of the algae is consuming them faster than I can test them.

I tried everything. Getting a chaeto. I use nopox and reduce feeding. I also did alot of brushing and removing them from the LR. THEY KEEP COMING BACK AND MULTIPLY.

I then did a H2O2 dip on my LR. and all algae on the LR is gone. Checked my No3 and they are at 25ppm but 0 phosphate.

I keep on dosing nopox to reduce po4. I did smaller water changes of 10% everyday for 3 days straight. No3 wont budge. Still maintaining at 25ppm. I dont feed during this period

So I did another bigger WC of 20%. Two times. Two ****** times. Now NO3 is finally at 10ppm. Using salifert test kit.
PO4 is still 0(SALIFERT). Im gonna check with hanna ULR this weekend.

Hair algae is still there though. But on the corner of my tank. Some on coral plugs. Some on my monticap. I dont have any clue how to remove them without annoying them. Those I can remove during WC, I siphoned them out

So heres my plan. I know my po4 is there because GHA is there. But im gonna start feeding more(ONCE A DAY) to increase PO4. which I hope will be use by Nopox to balance out my no3. WC is also scheduled for this weekend. HELP ME! I DONT KNOW IF I OVER REACT OR WHAT. but I JUST CANNOT eradicate them out of my tank!

 

[MS139]

Im using bubble magus QQ2. My photo period is 12pm to 8pm. I replace my filter socks every 2 days. Throw my skimmate once a week. I use RODI 0TDS

 

[Dj A-Ron]

Do you have a sea urchin? If not I’d try to add one. Adding a pincushion urchin was the only thing that really worked for me. Cleared my rock in a week

 

[MS139]

Do you have a sea urchin? If not I’d try to add one. Adding a pincushion urchin was the only thing that really worked for me. Cleared my rock in a week

I don't. I have 2 Turbos and 1 hermit crab. Im gonna get one. Will it bulldoze my frags?

 

[toadstool_paradise]

You can try a sea hare as well, they demolish gha. I also found that manual removal along with plenty of snails and a chiton got rid of my hair algae. To be honest I didn’t even do many water changes. I found that my urchin moved too many frags for my liking so I donated him haha.

 

[Duncan62]

Im using bubble magus QQ2. My photo period is 12pm to 8pm. I replace my filter socks every 2 days. Throw my skimmate once a week. I use RODI 0TDS

Get some small emerald crabs and an urchin. Miracle workers for algea.

 

[Duncan62]

You can try a sea hare as well, they demolish gha. I also found that manual removal along with plenty of snails and a chiton got rid of my hair algae. To be honest I didn’t even do many water changes. I found that my urchin moved too many frags for my liking so I donated him haha.

If things are loose the urchin will knock them over. Lol. When mine got larger I was forced to glue everything! Still there is no better grazer for all algea. They will scrape Coraline off rocks.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

Do you have a sea urchin? If not I’d try to add one. Adding a pincushion urchin was the only thing that really worked for me. Cleared my rock in a week

+1 my urchins cleaned out my problem in a week. Was amazing.

 

[PeterC99]

Im at a point of giving up!

My tank is 30 gallon tank AIO and has been running for 5 months.

Heres the story. My LR is literally covered with algae. I checked my no3 and po4 and they are barely detectable. Albeit because of the algae is consuming them faster than I can test them.

I tried everything. Getting a chaeto. I use nopox and reduce feeding. I also did alot of brushing and removing them from the LR. THEY KEEP COMING BACK AND MULTIPLY.

I then did a H2O2 dip on my LR. and all algae on the LR is gone. Checked my No3 and they are at 25ppm but 0 phosphate.

I keep on dosing nopox to reduce po4. I did smaller water changes of 10% everyday for 3 days straight. No3 wont budge. Still maintaining at 25ppm. I dont feed during this period

So I did another bigger WC of 20%. Two times. Two ****** times. Now NO3 is finally at 10ppm. Using salifert test kit.
PO4 is still 0(SALIFERT). Im gonna check with hanna ULR this weekend.

Hair algae is still there though. But on the corner of my tank. Some on coral plugs. Some on my monticap. I dont have any clue how to remove them without annoying them. Those I can remove during WC, I siphoned them out

So heres my plan. I know my po4 is there because GHA is there. But im gonna start feeding more(ONCE A DAY) to increase PO4. which I hope will be use by Nopox to balance out my no3. WC is also scheduled for this weekend. HELP ME! I DONT KNOW IF I OVER REACT OR WHAT. but I JUST CANNOT eradicate them out of my tank!

Beautiful aquarium! Your corals are spectacular!

Part of the algae problem is probably from the newness of your setup. This will abate in time. In the meantime, have you looked into an Oxydator? Providing the extra oxygen to your aquarium is great for the fish and wards off the nuisance algae. Also look to get the chaeto established and stop dosing Chems to treat NO3 &PO4. Cheaper, easier and better for your aquarium.

 

[Dj A-Ron]

I don't. I have 2 Turbos and 1 hermit crab. Im gonna get one. Will it bulldoze my frags?

Yeah, they will grab frags and wear them as hats for a day… but I just use a dab of glue and glue them down to the rock. It’s no big deal to pop them off the rocks if you want to move them later. But I would try the urchin. Once the problem is gone you could always return him. I’ve left mine and my rocks are almost totally clear all the time. Except the very small crevices that he can’t get into. A tiny bit of algae doesn’t bother me though. The hermits pick at that stuff a little. Like another person said too, once the urchin clears the hair algae he’ll then start eating the coralline algae off the rocks so not sure if that will bother you or not..? I just let him do his thing and it’s been fine. Funny how he grabs empty shells and wears them as hats. My daughter named him Spiky so I can’t get rid of him now

 

[Lavey29]

Beautiful tank but if you are trying to increase phosphate why are you dosing nopox which is a phosphate reducer? You said you prefer natural approach so controlling nitrates with balanced feeding, water changes. Refugium, etc... phosphate can easily be increased by feeding your corals more such as reef roids, reef chili, etc...

 

[Duncan62]

Beautiful tank but if you are trying to increase phosphate why are you dosing nopox which is a phosphate reducer? You said you prefer natural approach so controlling nitrates with balanced feeding, water changes. Refugium, etc... phosphate can easily be increased by feeding your corals more such as reef roids, reef chili, etc...

Couldn't agree more!