WindeyD
Active Member
I have won a long battle with GHA, and these are the changes I made; not sure if it was one particular thing or the combo of all but I am happy to report that my tank is free of GHA and looking great after 8+ frustrating months of battling the stuff. Tank is a 40B and livestock are a pair of ocellaris clowns, a starry blenny, a blue green reef chromis, cleaner shrimp, fighting conch, a pair of emeral crabs, multiple hermits (scarlet & blue leg), and multiple snails ( Astraea, turbo, bumblebee)
1. Feeding: I had been feeding Spectrum pellets once daily and switched to frozen foods 5 times weekly with 3 days of PE mysis shrimp and 2 days of rods original blend.
2. Lighting: I run a 4 bulb ATI fixture and changed up my lighting schedule; run the blues for 10 hours daily and reduced the white lights to 5 hours 5 days a week.
3. Skimmer: I have an AquaC Remora Pro and dialed it in for a very wet skim. Have to empty the collection cup 2x daily.
4. Media: I have been running a BRS dual reactor with GFO and carbon and made a point to change out both media weekly. I had been changing carbon every 2 weeks and GFO only when phosphate rose above 0 (Hannah checker).
5. Chemistry: my calcium and magnesium have always been high (500 and 1480 respectively using Reef Crystals) but alk has been on the low side. I was never too confident in my accuracy with the Red Sea alkalinity test and picked up a Hanna checker to find my alk was at 5.7dkh. I have started dosing alk using Randy's recipe #1 and my alk is now consistent at 9 and ph at 8.3; major increase in coraline growth as GHA has receded. Phosphate and nitrates have always read at 0 but the algae likely was getting to it before my test kits. If I had to guess I would say this was the single biggest factor as the recession of the algae happened quickly as soon as I started dosing.
6. Herbivores: in my particular experience finding a critter to eat it was not a fruitful endeavor. I tried turbo snails, a sea hair, and a starry blenny; the hare did eat the stuff but unfortunately died relatively quickly. The others did not touch the stuff. The only other critter I have seen eating it are scarlet hermits, but they don't eat enough to keep up with the algae growth.
7. Maintainence: weekly 5 gallon water changes, pulling algae by hand weekly (ugh), turkey basting the rock work and siphoning out as much as I can.
In my experience GHA can be a super frustrating issue and I had thoughts of hanging it up a time or two; so glad I kept at it and it's super rewarding to finally vanquish the GHA and have the thriving system I want. GHA can be beaten so for all those out there struggling with it hang in there and happy reefing!!
1. Feeding: I had been feeding Spectrum pellets once daily and switched to frozen foods 5 times weekly with 3 days of PE mysis shrimp and 2 days of rods original blend.
2. Lighting: I run a 4 bulb ATI fixture and changed up my lighting schedule; run the blues for 10 hours daily and reduced the white lights to 5 hours 5 days a week.
3. Skimmer: I have an AquaC Remora Pro and dialed it in for a very wet skim. Have to empty the collection cup 2x daily.
4. Media: I have been running a BRS dual reactor with GFO and carbon and made a point to change out both media weekly. I had been changing carbon every 2 weeks and GFO only when phosphate rose above 0 (Hannah checker).
5. Chemistry: my calcium and magnesium have always been high (500 and 1480 respectively using Reef Crystals) but alk has been on the low side. I was never too confident in my accuracy with the Red Sea alkalinity test and picked up a Hanna checker to find my alk was at 5.7dkh. I have started dosing alk using Randy's recipe #1 and my alk is now consistent at 9 and ph at 8.3; major increase in coraline growth as GHA has receded. Phosphate and nitrates have always read at 0 but the algae likely was getting to it before my test kits. If I had to guess I would say this was the single biggest factor as the recession of the algae happened quickly as soon as I started dosing.
6. Herbivores: in my particular experience finding a critter to eat it was not a fruitful endeavor. I tried turbo snails, a sea hair, and a starry blenny; the hare did eat the stuff but unfortunately died relatively quickly. The others did not touch the stuff. The only other critter I have seen eating it are scarlet hermits, but they don't eat enough to keep up with the algae growth.
7. Maintainence: weekly 5 gallon water changes, pulling algae by hand weekly (ugh), turkey basting the rock work and siphoning out as much as I can.
In my experience GHA can be a super frustrating issue and I had thoughts of hanging it up a time or two; so glad I kept at it and it's super rewarding to finally vanquish the GHA and have the thriving system I want. GHA can be beaten so for all those out there struggling with it hang in there and happy reefing!!
