Finally, success overcoming GHA!!!!

[sawdavis]

After four years of battling GHA, I finally got the best advice from my Local Reef guy and got it under control in three months:

1) stop using chemicals. I tried Vibrant and it killed both my cheato and GSP and not GHA, which seemed to grow when I dosed it. I also used Flux Rx which did get rid of it but it grew back in less than a month.

2) Get rid of all red lights in display tank (it is good for growing Cheato in the refugium, however).

3) bump up Magnesium levels to 1400ppm. This keeps algae from growing back. GHA hates it but the corals love high Mag levels.

4) keep Nitrate and Phosphates low (which I already was doing). My Phosphates were <.1 ppm and Nitrates.5 ppm.

In addition to the above advice, I also did the following:

1) Keep water temperature between 77 and 78 F. My snails kept dying and finally I read that above this temperature level they die. So now I have a good supply of snails in my tank that eat the algae. I also have a Tuxedo Urchin.

2) I added a UV Sterilizer. This kills any minute traces of algae in addition to bad bacteria.

3) I added Cheato and a Cheato light in my Refugium. This helps keep my Nitrates and Phosphates low.

4) Empty the Skimmer cup and wash out the filters daily.

4) When I was battling the GHA, I picked off clumps of Algae every day and scrubbed the rocks with a toothbrush before weekly water changes. I also blew the rock off daily with my turkey baster. Then I used a fish net to get the algae I had picked off out of the water (this while the pumps were on). I don't have to do this anymore because I don't have any clumps of algae anymore.

Here is a picture of my tank-, not totally GHA free but well on its way. I still get other kinds of algae like that brown stuff on the sand but I just bury this to keep it under control.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

 

[theMeat]

Great advice

 

[killer2001]

1) Keep water temperature between 77 and 78 F. My snails kept dying and finally I read that above this temperature level they die. So now I have a good supply of snails in my tank that eat the algae. I also have a Tuxedo Urchin.

Not convinced on this one. I keep my tank between 78.5 and 79 F and my snails are just fine. In fact, I wish they would stop depositing eggs everywhere!

 

[sawdavis]

Maybe the type of snails? I was having trouble keeping the Mexican snails. Forgot their actual names. They were the large ones.

 

[Rp8]

Hooray!!! Bye bye GHA!

 

[damsels are not mean]

While it's good you got over the GHA bloom, this advice is so vague. You tried 8 different things in the course of the few months. How do we know what worked and what didn't? How do you know the tank didn't just mature past the bloom on its own? It isn't really repeatable.

For example: I have no GHA in my display despite not doing any of these things except that I've never used vibrant or anything and I managed cyano blooms with manual cleaning.

-I run my lights very white so there's a lot of red in there. Probably far more red than you ever had.
-Mag is not elevated
-Haven't ever tested phosphate but nitrates have been everywhere from 2-250ppm over the lifetime of the tank currently in the 20s
-Water temp goes between 75 and 82 seasonally
-No UV
-No skimmer to clean
-Had chaeto to reduce nutrients, didn't notice a difference when added or when removed.

edit: there is a tiny patch of GHA on a return nozzle that I recently 3d printed. Maybe it's just not "cured" like the rock is since it's new?

 

[theMeat]

While it's good you got over the GHA bloom, this advice is so vague. You tried 8 different things in the course of the few months. How do we know what worked and what didn't? How do you know the tank didn't just mature past the bloom on its own? It isn't really repeatable.

For example: I have no GHA in my display despite not doing any of these things except that I've never used vibrant or anything and I managed cyano blooms with manual cleaning.

-I run my lights very white so there's a lot of red in there
-Mag is not elevated
-Haven't ever tested phosphate but nitrates have been everywhere from 2-250ppm over the lifetime of the tank currently in the 20s
-Water temp goes between 75 and 82 seasonally
-No UV
-No skimmer to clean
-Had chaeto to reduce nutrients, didn't notice a difference when added or when removed.

His point was doing multiple things religiously is what won the battle.

 

[damsels are not mean]

His point was doing multiple things religiously is what won the battle.

I don't think this case proves that, though. Lots of people have done some collection of these things with varying success and yet many still struggle with algae in new tanks. There is no pattern across cases of algae cleanup working except time and scrubbing.

 

[sawdavis]

Well I was battling this for many years. I don't think my steps were vague. I think that not using chemicals and getting my water parameters in balance, eliminating my red lights (which I was using in my white lights for my display tank), upping my Magnesium levels , and reducing my water temp so that my snails were not dying and able to do their job, were the main things that turned things around. I am just excited that I was finally able to see the light at the end of the GHA tunnel. Just wanted to share my success. Sorry you found it lacking.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Well I was battling this for many years. I don't think my steps were vague. I think that not using chemicals and getting my water parameters in balance, eliminating my red lights (which I was using in my white lights for my display tank), upping my Magnesium levels , and reducing my water temp so that my snails were not dying and able to do their job, were the main things that turned things around. I am just excited that I was finally able to see the light at the end of the GHA tunnel. Just wanted to share my success. Sorry you found it lacking.

I mean, it worked for you. Why change? I'm just so cynical I've been on the forums too long. You did the work instead of hoping for a magic bullet. Not many reefers can say the same except those who are in it forever.

 

[sawdavis]

I mean, it worked for you. Why change? I'm just so cynical I've been on the forums too long. You did the work instead of hoping for a magic bullet. Not many reefers can say the same except those who are in it forever.

I don't really understand your perspective. You say you never had a GHA problem so how would you know how difficult it is to get rid of. I have been coming to this sight for advice about this problem for many years because I had this problem and have tried lots of stuff that people suggested. I am just giving those with a GHA problem the benefit of my experience and what worked for me.

 

[DanTheReefer]

I really like your leather and elegance

 

[Hermie]

carbon dosing did it for me, along with everything else I tried

 

[bushdoc]

After four years of battling GHA, I finally got the best advice from my Local Reef guy and got it under control in three months:

1) stop using chemicals. I tried Vibrant and it killed both my cheato and GSP and not GHA, which seemed to grow when I dosed it. I also used Flux Rx which did get rid of it but it grew back in less than a month.

2) Get rid of all red lights in display tank (it is good for growing Cheato in the refugium, however).

3) bump up Magnesium levels to 1400ppm. This keeps algae from growing back. GHA hates it but the corals love high Mag levels.

4) keep Nitrate and Phosphates low (which I already was doing). My Phosphates were <.1 ppm and Nitrates.5 ppm.

In addition to the above advice, I also did the following:

1) Keep water temperature between 77 and 78 F. My snails kept dying and finally I read that above this temperature level they die. So now I have a good supply of snails in my tank that eat the algae. I also have a Tuxedo Urchin.

2) I added a UV Sterilizer. This kills any minute traces of algae in addition to bad bacteria.

3) I added Cheato and a Cheato light in my Refugium. This helps keep my Nitrates and Phosphates low.

4) Empty the Skimmer cup and wash out the filters daily.

4) When I was battling the GHA, I picked off clumps of Algae every day and scrubbed the rocks with a toothbrush before weekly water changes. I also blew the rock off daily with my turkey baster. Then I used a fish net to get the algae I had picked off out of the water (this while the pumps were on). I don't have to do this anymore because I don't have any clumps of algae anymore.

Here is a picture of my tank-, not totally GHA free but well on its way. I still get other kinds of algae like that brown stuff on the sand but I just bury this to keep it under control.

“Hair algae: The risk scenario is characterized by high nitrate and phos-phate concentrations, or high nitrate values compared to phosphate ones (section 8.4). The following measures are recommended:
-Balancing the nitrate and phosphate concentrations, slowly decreasing the excess nutrient concentration. GFO can be used to decrease phosphate concentration.
- Attenuating the red and white part of the light spectrum as much as possible, reducing the photoperiod.
- Pruning the algae and removing them in extreme cases. If the algae are not accompanied by dinoflagellates and the aquarium is mature, organic carbon can be used to reduce inorganic nutrient”

Excerpt From
Reefkeeping Fundamentals
Angel Cegarra

Reefkeeping Fundamentals

Lifestyle & Home · 2022

books.apple.com

This material may be protected by copyright.

As you see your approach ( or at least large part of it) is backed up by reef aquarium books.

 

[Reefbuds]

Them snails

 

[floatchop]

Awesome! Good job on the follow through. Lots of folks give up.

 

[Scdell]

Funny thing GHA is.......I've had it. I got rid of it. Tried almost everything to eradicate it.
I finally dosed flucanozole which did the trick. Been well over 6 months and none in the tank.
I spent hundreds on Gfo, phosguard with no luck. No3 and PO4 were low but the evil stuff didn't go away. That stuff creates it's own nutrients. I'm not doing anything differently now than when I had it. Running high whites, no UV, etc. NO3 and PO4 are still down. I can't grow cheato now. It died out after the GHA went away. With GHA I was struggling to keep PH at 7.9- 8.0. Now it's at 8.4-8.5 consistently. That stuff takes over a tank. I don't know how but it does. I'm glad it's gone.

 

[sawdavis]

“Hair algae: The risk scenario is characterized by high nitrate and phos-phate concentrations, or high nitrate values compared to phosphate ones (section 8.4). The following measures are recommended:
-Balancing the nitrate and phosphate concentrations, slowly decreasing the excess nutrient concentration. GFO can be used to decrease phosphate concentration.
- Attenuating the red and white part of the light spectrum as much as possible, reducing the photoperiod.
- Pruning the algae and removing them in extreme cases. If the algae are not accompanied by dinoflagellates and the aquarium is mature, organic carbon can be used to reduce inorganic nutrient”

Excerpt From
Reefkeeping Fundamentals
Angel Cegarra

Reefkeeping Fundamentals

Lifestyle & Home · 2022

books.apple.com

This material may be protected by copyright.

As you see your approach ( or at least large part of it) is backed up by reef aquarium books.

Thanks. I was keeping my Phosphates and Nitrates low but it did no good. What did it was eliminating the red from my lights and upping the magnesium levels. That was when I saw a real change.

Many people on this site complained about GHA and wondering why because their Nitrates and Phosphates were near zero. But I never read about anyone eliminating their red lights and upping the Mag levels to above 1400 ppm.

 

[djf91]

But then there are also plenty of tanks out there that don’t eliminate red lights and don’t have nuisance algae.

In all honesty, I think it’s about creating the more desirable habitat for the more desirable competitors to occupy the rockwork. Corraline and bacteria. Healthy corraline will not allow nuisance algae to grow on it.