GHA and phosphates?

[blackstallion]

Is this GHA? If so, what causes it to grow?

What confuses me is I know I've read phosphate will cause it to grow, but my measured levels are effectively 0, so does that just mean the uptake of phosphate by the algae doesn't let it register, but by definition because I have a ton of it, I have high phosphates?

 

[DE FISH]

Yes the gha is consuming the po4 causing a false negative I can also see some aiptasia you may want to address.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Is this GHA? If so, what causes it to grow?

What confuses me is I know I've read phosphate will cause it to grow, but my measured levels are effectively 0, so does that just mean the uptake of phosphate by the algae doesn't let it register, but by definition because I have a ton of it, I have high phosphates?

Nutrients as phosphates and nitrates will aid macro algaes and coral to grow the depleting of this nutrient will open the door for something much worst than algae, I can see it in this picture the signs of dinoflagellates. I would increase phosphates and find some natural predators for the algae

 

[blackstallion]

Nutrients as phosphates and nitrates will aid macro algaes and coral to grow the depleting of this nutrient will open the door for something much worst than algae, I can see it in this picture the signs of dinoflagellates. I would increase phosphates and find some natural predators for the algae

Where are the signs of Dinos in this picture? Is it the brown stripes in the GHA?

And if this is the case, how do I increase nutrients ie. Nitrates phosphates to battle Dinos and at the SAME time battle the GHA which are thriving because of the nutrients.

 

[blackstallion]

Yes the gha is consuming the po4 causing a false negative I can also see some aiptasia you may want to address.

Yup, I have a pretty bad infestation of Aptasia, trying to determine best path forward between file fish, CBB or peppermint shrimp.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Where are the signs of Dinos in this picture? Is it the brown stripes in the GHA?

And if this is the case, how do I increase nutrients ie. Nitrates phosphates to battle Dinos and at the SAME time battle the GHA which are thriving because of the nutrients.

Yes the brown stripes is the first signs of dinoflagellates, you can use neophos or other similar artificial source of nutrients to emended the nutrients in your tank.

 

[blackstallion]

Yes the brown stripes is the first signs of dinoflagellates, you can use neophos or other similar artificial source of nutrients to emended the nutrients in your tank.

This will help control the Dinos, but won't this create an environment for the GHA to blow up since they feed off of phosphates?

 

[sixty_reefer]

This will help control the Dinos, but won't this create an environment for the GHA to blow up since they feed off of phosphates?

You will never be able to stop GHA from growing or any other algae by limiting nutrients, the maximum you could do is stall the growth by limiting one of the nutrients, limiting one of the nutrients will allow for other nutrients that cause Cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates to become more available it will also cause your heterotrophic bacteria to go dormant as they need all three nutrients available at all times and will also cause coral to starve. As you may realise the benefits from stalling the nuisance algae from growing will bring more detrimental effects than good ones.
If you want to stall the algae with nutrients try keep your tank with a stable no3 and po4 this will aid the the pelagic bacteria to keep reducing organic and inorganic nutrients that algaes need to thrive, you could also introduce a fast growing algae like chaeto or caleurpa in a Refugium to compete with the display nuisance algae for nutrients.
the best route is always to add herbivores to keep it under control.

 

[blackstallion]

You will never be able to stop GHA from growing or any other algae by limiting nutrients, the maximum you could do is stall the growth by limiting one of the nutrients, limiting one of the nutrients will allow for other nutrients that cause Cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates to become more available it will also cause your heterotrophic bacteria to go dormant as they need all three nutrients available at all times and will also cause coral to starve. As you may realise the benefits from stalling the nuisance algae from growing will bring more detrimental effects than good ones.
If you want to stall the algae with nutrients try keep your tank with a stable no3 and po4 this will aid the the pelagic bacteria to keep reducing organic and inorganic nutrients that algaes need to thrive, you could also introduce a fast growing algae like chaeto or caleurpa in a Refugium to compete with the display nuisance algae for nutrients.
the best route is always to add herbivores to keep it under control.

Which herbivores are best suited for this task?

 

[sixty_reefer]

Which herbivores are best suited for this task?

How many gallons?

 

[Aqua Man]

takes care of the algae every time! Then add trochus snails and urchins!

 

[blackstallion]

How many gallons?

220

 

[sixty_reefer]

220

On that size tank you could try a sea hare is much better than any fish for algae once the sea hare is done all lfs will accept them back and give you credit for it.

 

[Timfish]

To elaborate on some of the above comments, corals need phosphate to compete with algae. Keep in mind PO4 is the inorganic form of phosphate and our systems also have particulate and organic forms which is available for corals and algae so even with 0.0 PO4 there's still going to be some phosphorus available. Algae release DOCs into the system which will impact corals on several levels again making it harder for corals to compete. Raise PO4 to above .03 mg/l (minimum level identifed by Southampton University to prevent phsohpate deficiency in long term studies of corals kept in aquaria). @Aqua Man's suggestion is what I've been using for decades (here's a video on using steel straws).

 

[blackstallion]

On that size tank you could try a sea hare is much better than any fish for algae once the sea hare is done all lfs will accept them back and give you credit for it.

I hear they can secrete toxins, are they safe?

 

[blackstallion]

To elaborate on some of the above comments, corals need phosphate to compete with algae. Keep in mind PO4 is the inorganic form of phosphate and our systems also have particulate and organic forms which is available for corals and algae so even with 0.0 PO4 there's still going to be some phosphorus available. Algae release DOCs into the system which will impact corals on several levels again making it harder for corals to compete. Raise PO4 to above .03 mg/l (minimum level identifed by Southampton University to prevent phsohpate deficiency in long term studies of corals kept in aquaria). @Aqua Man's suggestion is what I've been using for decades (here's a video on using steel straws).

As a start, would dosing reef roids for the corals help in upping the nutrients in the tank ie. Nitrates and Phosphates?

 

[rmorris_14]

Did you say what kind of test you used to measure your phosphates that gave you the 0?

 

[sixty_reefer]

I hear they can secrete toxins, are they safe?

I’m not aware of any harmful event regarding sea hare, I had one die on me once with no bad effects to the system.

 

[blackstallion]

Did you say what kind of test you used to measure your phosphates that gave you the 0?

Hanna

 

[Dan_P]

Is this GHA? If so, what causes it to grow?

What confuses me is I know I've read phosphate will cause it to grow, but my measured levels are effectively 0, so does that just mean the uptake of phosphate by the algae doesn't let it register, but by definition because I have a ton of it, I have high phosphates?

The algae is there because nothing including the aquarist is harvesting it

Reef aquaria are ideal habitats for algae growth. Unless algae is being eaten or poisoned, it will grow and accumulate.

Light intensity determines how fast algae might grow. In a reef take that means it can grow quickly. but the amount of nitrate will determine how close to the maximum rate the algae can grow and how healthy it will be. Phosphate throttles the growth rate. Agae only needs a little phosphate to survive and a bit more to grow at its maximum potential.