Does a skimmer helps with GHA when nutrients are low?

[KonradTO]

Got a bad start on this tank, so have been fighting an uphill battle. Its hard, but eventually I hope I will win.

I am a super-newb, so my experience is probably zero compared, but in my case with UV light 24/h+ 3 days blackout it disappeared and never came back. Now I keep UV (13W in 32g) on 12h/day

 

[KonradTO]

Maybe briopsis not GHA?

how can I tell? it looks like long dark green/brown strings and once out of the water is basically slime.

 

[Lavey29]

I must have a super-version of it, since I always had Mg around 1550 in my tank (red reef coral pro)

My full story started around 6 month old tank. I saw GHA developing but also saw coraline starting. I thought the coraline and my basic cleaner crew would defeat the GHA but didn't happen and the jungle grew everywhere. At 9 months I raised my magnesium to 1500 and added 3 tuxedo urchins and 2 big turbos. 3 weeks later the tank was completely stripped of algae. You can defeat yours naturally also just may take a little longer. These tanks really go through phases of biodiversity development.

 

[Lavey29]

how can I tell? it looks like long dark green/brown strings and once out of the water is basically slime.

Briopsis has a fern like appearance on the ends and is typically much harder to manually pull off the rocks

 

[KonradTO]

My full story started around 6 month old tank. I saw GHA developing but also saw coraline starting. I thought the coraline and my basic cleaner crew would defeat the GHA but didn't happen and the jungle grew everywhere. At 9 months I raised my magnesium to 1500 and added 3 tuxedo urchins and 2 big turbos. 3 weeks later the tank was completely stripped of algae. You can defeat yours naturally also just may take a little longer. These tanks really go through phases of biodiversity development.

Ok wow 3 tuxedo. How big is the DT? I think in mine (32g) I can keep 1 tuxedo max 2. I keep hearing wonders about those, I definitely will get one soon.

 

[KonradTO]

Briopsis has a fern like appearance on the ends and is typically much harder to manually pull off the rocks

I think this is GHA, definitely not feathery looking.

 

[Crabmanns aquatics]

Hi all,
As mentioned in the title I am considering to get a small skimmer for my 32g system (15g sump+fuge).
Despite I have low nutrient levels (2ppm NO3, 0.03ppm PO4, tested with Hanna and confirmed with ICP test) I still get GHA growing.
I undestood from previous threads that the main help will come from increasining my CUC size at this point, but having said this do you think a skimmer would help with reducing GHA or I should invest more on getting a bigger CUC population?
Until now I controlled nutrients with macros, but since the GHA problem I lowered nutrient levels and macros now are getting covered in GHA instead of growing. Basically nutrients are too low for them I guess.
So, now I am not sure how to proceed. At the moment I could get:

an urchin + 1 emerald crab AND a skimmer
OR
several snails (20?), 2 emerald crabs and 2 urchins

RN my CUC is composed by:
5 bumblebee snails
2 Trochus snails
2 Ceriths
2 Nassarius
6 Hermits

The tank is very lightly stocked (1 bicolor blenny, 1 chromis, 1 sixline and 1 YWG)

Do you have suggestions regarding CUC and CUC vs skimmer?

The nitrate and phosphate are definitely there and high its just that the algae is consuming it so you wont see it in a test. I would definitely recommend a skimmer and the problem is most definitely high nutrients. If you had low nutrients you would not be experiencing GHA It needs lots of nitrate and phosphate to grow. If you were to manually remove all the algae i would bet money that you see a major phos and nitrate spike.

 

[SlugSnorter]

I am a super-newb, so my experience is probably zero compared, but in my case with UV light 24/h+ 3 days blackout it disappeared and never came back. Now I keep UV (13W in 32g) on 12h/day

My UV exploded, the replacement tore in shipping, and the other replacement didn't have working bulb. working on getting a new UV system ready though, hard to find good HOB ones.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Lol my self-sufficient small ecosystem dream is finally crushed. May I ask how often do you clean GHA from your rocks? I start to think that if I had more corals covering rocks they would have prevented GHA to grow. Does this make sense?

A tooth brush (the kind intended for dentures), bottle brushes, and a whole lot of elbow grease works great for scrubbing algae off of rocks and crevices. If at all possible, try not to remove the rocks for scrubbing. A CUC will help, but it won't rid the system of long hair algae. As to the original question about a skimmer... IMO, it will help but not solve your problem. The skimmer will remove some of the dissolved organics that will result from scrubbing the rocks and keep it from contributing to the nutrient build-up. Also using a filter sock or floss, or even a net to catch the loose algae during scrubbing and immediately removing it will export a lot of nutrients.

 

[KonradTO]

My UV exploded, the replacement tore in shipping, and the other replacement didn't have working bulb. working on getting a new UV system ready though, hard to find good HOB ones.

Maybe you could just get a normal HOB filter big enough for fitting it inside. Mine is inside the filter section (the tank used to be a AIO) where the water goes for the overflow to the sump, so there is decent flow

 

[SlugSnorter]

A tooth brush (the kind intended for dentures), bottle brushes, and a whole lot of elbow grease works great for scrubbing algae off of rocks and crevices. If at all possible, try not to remove the rocks for scrubbing. A CUC will help, but it won't rid the system of long hair algae. As to the original question about a skimmer... IMO, it will help but not solve your problem. The skimmer will remove some of the dissolved organics that will result from scrubbing the rocks and keep it from contributing to the nutrient build-up. Also using a filter sock or floss, or even a net to catch the loose algae during scrubbing and immediately removing it will export a lot of nutrients.

using a skimmer with GHA can lead to dinos. manual removal and a cuc will help, a good cuc will stop new GHA and manual removal gets rid of the stuff thats too long

 

[Crabmanns aquatics]

how can I tell? it looks like long dark green/brown strings and once out of the water is basically slime.

is there bubbles in it?

 

[KonradTO]

A tooth brush (the kind intended for dentures), bottle brushes, and a whole lot of elbow grease works great for scrubbing algae off of rocks and crevices. If at all possible, try not to remove the rocks for scrubbing. A CUC will help, but it won't rid the system of long hair algae. As to the original question about a skimmer... IMO, it will help but not solve your problem. The skimmer will remove some of the dissolved organics that will result from scrubbing the rocks and keep it from contributing to the nutrient build-up. Also using a filter sock or floss, or even a net to catch the loose algae during scrubbing and immediately removing it will export a lot of nutrients.

Until now what I did was taking every small rock out and brushing, for the glass and plastic stuff I scrape it with a blade and brush rocks with an hard plastic brush (those for cleaning electric stuff), all while pumps are off so I can catch big chunks of algae with a net.
I hoped there was a way to get rid of them entirely. I mean many tank pictures here in the forum show no trace of GHA. Are all of them cleaning 500g tanks everyday with toothbrushes?

 

[SlugSnorter]

Until now what I did was taking every small rock out and brushing, for the glass and plastic stuff I scrape it with a blade and brush rocks with an hard plastic brush (those for cleaning electric stuff), all while pumps are off so I can catch big chunks of algae with a net.
I hoped there was a way to get rid of them entirely. I mean many tank pictures here in the forum show no trace of GHA. Are all of them cleaning 500g tanks everyday with toothbrushes?

no, nobody would keep tanks if that were the case lol.

A proper CUC will eat new GHA, and manual removal will get rid of the big stuff. Also, as a tank gets more mature and biodiverse bacteria and algae on the rocks will outcompete the GHA

 

[Nonya]

I see. This is very annoying, how people keep those crazy stocked tanks without taking all rocks out every week for brushing?

They don't.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Until now what I did was taking every small rock out and brushing, for the glass and plastic stuff I scrape it with a blade and brush rocks with an hard plastic brush (those for cleaning electric stuff), all while pumps are off so I can catch big chunks of algae with a net.
I hoped there was a way to get rid of them entirely. I mean many tank pictures here in the forum show no trace of GHA. Are all of them cleaning 500g tanks everyday with toothbrushes?

So, the rocks in my tank are mostly mortared together but some are not. I try to keep the all the rocks in the water to help promote the growth of organisms that grow in & on the rock where the light is limited (Cryptic Life). I believe these organisms have a lot to do with maturing the tank. Taking the rocks out of the water can harm some of those organisms and delays the maturity process. If the scrubbing can't be done effectively while the rocks are in the water, take them out, but return them asap and only rise them is water taken from the tank.

I'm of the opinion that healthy tanks always have the potential to grow algae. My CUC helps, but I still need to scrub the rocks my 90 every once in a while. It still gets hair algae in holes and crevices in the rock and even a little Cyano pops up here & there. I also use a turkey baster a couple of times a week to knock "stuff" off the rocks. It was a lot of work when I first decided to manage it this way, but now it is easy.

Too much light in the yellow to red part of the spectrum or old bulbs that have lost much of the blue part of the spectrum can also make algae grow more quickly.

 

[SlugSnorter]

So, the rocks in my tank are mostly mortared together but some are not. I try to keep the all the rocks in the water to help promote the growth of organisms that grow in & on the rock where the light is limited (Cryptic Life). I believe these organisms have a lot to do with maturing the tank. Taking the rocks out of the water can harm some of those organisms and delays the maturity process. If the scrubbing can't be done effectively while the rocks are in the water, take them out, but return them asap and only rise them is water taken from the tank.

I'm of the opinion that healthy tanks always have the potential to grow algae. My CUC helps, but I still need to scrub the rocks my 90 every once in a while. It still gets hair algae in holes and crevices in the rock and even a little Cyano pops up here & there. I also use a turkey baster a couple of times a week to knock "stuff" off the rocks. It was a lot of work when I first decided to manage it this way, but now it is easy.

Too much light in the yellow to red part of the spectrum or old bulbs that have lost much of the blue part of the spectrum can also make algae grow more quickly.

depends on tank environment too. Ive seen a number people who don't do any manual cleaning at all (besides maybe some vacuuming when doing WCs) once their tank becomes very mature

 

[ReefGeezer]

depends on tank environment too. Ive seen a number people who don't do any manual cleaning at all (besides maybe some vacuuming when doing WCs) once their tank becomes very mature

Absolutely. That's the goal. You have to do the work to get there though.

using a skimmer with GHA can lead to dinos. manual removal and a cuc will help, a good cuc will stop new GHA and manual removal gets rid of the stuff thats too long

At the risk of inviting Dinos to my tank... Dinos (the ones we consider pests) occur for many reasons because there are more than one type involved. In my simplistic and generalized view, they occur when inorganic nutrients are low and DOC is elevated. This imbalance can occur for many reasons, and results in a lack of competition for space in which to grow. In my opinion, using a skimmer is not anywhere near the top ten of the reasons Dinos may occur, and generally speaking, make an outbreak less likely.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Absolutely. That's the goal. You have to do the work to get there though.

At the risk of inviting Dinos to my tank... Dinos (the ones we consider pests) occur for many reasons because there are more than one type involved. In my simplistic and generalized view, they occur when inorganic nutrients are low and DOC is elevated. This imbalance can occur for many reasons, and results in a lack of competition for space in which to grow. In my opinion, using a skimmer is not anywhere near the top ten of the reasons Dinos may occur, and generally speaking, make an outbreak less likely.

OP is dealing with rather low nutrients due to GHA, using a skimmer on top of it can cause a risk of bottoming them out. Pest dinos are always present, but isn't competitive enough to overgrow the tank in good conditions. If OPs nutrients bottom out, something that can be more competitive in those conditions will take control (dinos)

 

[ReefGeezer]

OP is dealing with rather low nutrients due to GHA, using a skimmer on top of it can cause a risk of bottoming them out. Pest dinos are always present, but isn't competitive enough to overgrow the tank in good conditions. If OPs nutrients bottom out, something that can be more competitive in those conditions will take control (dinos)

I disagree. Maybe we could discuss it in a new thread.