GHA doesn’t go away...

[dave57]

Hey guys been battling gha algae for about 4 months already and haven’t not found a solution.. my tank will be two years old in September. The bloom was caused by an accidental dose of too much nitrates and neglect for about 3 months (new baby).
Tank is reefer 525 xl approx 100 gallon with rock displacement.

Filtration:

Skimmer rated for 300 gallons
Refugium with growing cheato (h380 light)
Siporax and marine pure for biological filtration
Vodka dosing maintaining my nutrients at 0.25 ppm nitrates (redsea)
0.02 phosphates (Hanna ulr)
GFO and carbon reactor

Lighting:

2 Hydra 52HD 20k spectrum 12 hours. (Didn’t have algae before with this schedule before)

Tried:
CUC: lawnmower blenny, yellow tang, sailfang tang, foxface, tuxido urchins, astrea snails, trochus snails, turbo snails,
Scrubbing rocks
Siphoning algae
Fluconazole
Redfield Ratio balancing nutrients
Big water changes

Idk what else to do, I believe I have the worst gha outbreak in reefing history lol? Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[GBRsouth]

Have you tried turning out your display lights for a few days and leaving your refugium light on normal schedule?

 

[dave57]

Have you tried turning out your display lights for a few days and leaving your refugium light on normal schedule?

Haven’t tried that, would the sps okay?

 

[jsker]

Haven’t tried that, would the sps okay?

Yes.

I look at though you have the right plan to get the nitrates back under control. It is better if the correction is gradual then fast. How many snails are in the system? I added about 50 different CUC snails on they clean up my system nicely when I had a bloom.

 

[dave57]

Yes.

I look at though you have the right plan to get the nitrates back under control. It is better if the correction is gradual then fast. How many snails are in the system? I added about 50 different CUC snails on they clean up my system nicely when I had a bloom.

Total of probably 20, many of my turbos died..and are lazy which snails would you recommend getting more of? Ya my nitrates have been stable now for about a week at this new low level. They were at 5 ppm nitrates and 0.04-0.07 phosphates for about 2 months, I’ll turn my lights off today, and keep my refugium on schedule

 

[jsker]

How are you phosphates doing now? Pretty much what you have in there plus blue hermit crabs. I found a CUC package from one of the online retailers and purchased it. I still have 3 turbos that I have had for 2+ years on the job and have done well for me. Out of the almost 75 at one point, I have about 20 still on the job.

 

[dave57]

Phosphates are stable low 0.01-0.02 on ulr hanna, ya I have some blue hermits too occasionally see them.

 

[dave57]

It’s been three days since the lights have been off, algae looks very diminished should I leave the light off for a fourth day or would that cause trouble with my sps Corals?

 

[dave57]

hmmm...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It’s been a couple days. The alge should have.
Well done nothing.

I would smash it.

 

[tom39]

Have you considered an algae turf scrubber? I have had great success with using one and would not have a tank without one.

 

[dave57]

Have you considered an algae turf scrubber? I have had great success with using one and would not have a tank without one.

Well I have a refugium that’s all

 

[tom39]

In the past, I had tried a fuge but never had much success as others have reported to have. Plus I found a fuge to be a lot of work which far outweighed the benefits of having one.
That led me to build and add an algae turf scrubber (ats) to my equipment list. From that point forward I could not be happier and will say that it was and still is the best decision I have ever made to rid a display tank of algae and to keep it from ever returning. It was not a fast solution but once added, my DT went from an all out infestation of gha to almost elimination of gha in 90 days. (see link below for pics)
However, as we all know, every tank is different and not all methods work for every situation but IMO looking into an ats is worth the time and effort.
Here is the link to my experience and build of an ats: https://www.algaescrubbing.com/threads/on-the-right-track.333/
As you will see, I built my 1st ats but certainly there are options out there for purchase. The cost of a scrubber is not on the cheap side but then again nothing in this hobby is. Also, I am not promoting any brand of ats but my reasearch and use of one has shown me that the style shown in my build is far superior in performance to other types out there.

Hope it helps and good luck,
Tom

 

[dave57]

In the past, I had tried a fuge but never had much success as others have reported to have. Plus I found a fuge to be a lot of work which far outweighed the benefits of having one.
That led me to build and add an algae turf scrubber (ats) to my equipment list. From that point forward I could not be happier and will say that it was and still is the best decision I have ever made to rid a display tank of algae and to keep it from ever returning. It was not a fast solution but once added, my DT went from an all out infestation of gha to almost elimination of gha in 90 days. (see link below for pics)
However, as we all know, every tank is different and not all methods work for every situation but IMO looking into an ats is worth the time and effort.
Here is the link to my experience and build of an ats: https://www.algaescrubbing.com/threads/on-the-right-track.333/
As you will see, I built my 1st ats but certainly there are options out there for purchase. The cost of a scrubber is not on the cheap side but then again nothing in this hobby is. Also, I am not promoting any brand of ats but my reasearch and use of one has shown me that the style shown in my build is far superior in performance to other types out there.

Hope it helps and good luck,
Tom

I’ve looked into it but I feel like the algae scrubber and refugium with cheato are basically doing the same thing, my refugium is fairly new but it grows a lot of cheato.