GHA HELP!

[RobertTheNurse]

Hey everyone,

I've been battelling GHA over the last few months...and im having problems controlling it. Most recently I did 30% x 4 water changes in a week which brought my nitrates from 25 to 5...right now they are a 10 and im scheduled to do my biweekly 20% water change in the coming days. My phos has always read 0, which im assuming is because the GHA is nuking it.

I use a cannister eheim filter where I only stock ceramics and Matrix bio balls in filter bags.

I've noticed a growth in corraline algae beginning on the tank as well, and all the fish and corals seem to be living life comfortably...its just trying to get control of GHA. Last week I started manually removing the stuff...and to no surprise it keeps coming back...will this ever end?

I've added astrea snails and turbo snails...have a blue and red legged hermits...but im assuming because the algae is longer they aren't interested in it.

Tanks been running for about 8 months now. Dkh is 10. Salinity 1.025 temp 77.4.

I uploaded a video that you hopefully can see and give me any input. I currently do NOT have a skimmer, which I know can contribute to this problem. Im hesitant to start playing around with chemical cures.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Rob

 

[RobertTheNurse]

I turned on the whites so you can get an idea. My lights run mainly on blues and only on for 8 hrs.

 

[arking_mark]

Doean't really look that bad. The tank looks like it's maturing nicely. I recommend more CUC, using Vibrant, and keep up the water quality.

If you have a sump, you can also try to out-compete the GHA with a refugium or even keeping macro algae in the main tank. I use caulerpa prolifera in one of my tanks.

One other thaught is getting a sand sifters (fish or inverts) which will keep your sand immaculate.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

How often do you clean out the canister? Also if the gha really bothers you an urchin will work very well ~Shaun K

 

[RobertTheNurse]

How often do you clean out the canister? Also if the gha really bothers you an urchin will work very well ~Shaun K

When I first got my tank I used everything that came with the cannister including the foams. At around month 5 I started cleaning the foams weekly. Until a month ago I completely got rid of the foam altogether. I just cleaned the cannister completely about a month ago when I started using filter bags...so ill maintain the weekly maintenance of the cannister in and of itself.

I will have to research vibrant. Will it kill the coralline thats beginning to grow? Will it impact my CUC if it infact does kill the algae? Or its supposed to combat nuiscance algae as described in my post?

 

[RobertTheNurse]

sorry I meant ill maintain cannister mainatance monthly lol

 

[AlgaeBarn]

sorry I meant ill maintain cannister mainatance monthly lol

You would be surprised how often you should maintain them. I tried to do monthly before but they gunk up really fast. ~Shaun K

 

[RobertTheNurse]

You would be surprised how often you should maintain them. I tried to do monthly before but they gunk up really fast. ~Shaun K

Yeah i guess ill see what it looks like this first month. As you can see I dont have much livestock. Im really taking this thing slow and steady instead of jumping in and loading it up.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Yeah i guess ill see what it looks like this first month. As you can see I dont have much livestock. Im really taking this thing slow and steady instead of jumping in and loading it up.

When i say you will be surprised i mean REALLY surprised. My tank only has a yellow watchman and its a 25g. ~Shaun K

 

[RobertTheNurse]

When i say you will be surprised i mean REALLY surprised. My tank only has a yellow watchman and its a 25g. ~Shaun K

Things I've learned from this hobby thus far...always learning brother.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Things I've learned from this hobby thus far...always learning brother.

Learning is a good thing! I picked a canister because of no sump room and no room for HOB ~Shaun K

 

[RobertTheNurse]

Learning is a good thing! I picked a canister because of no sump room and no room for HOB ~Shaun K

You recommend Vibrant? Hear some people say it crashed their tank...lowered their nitrates to 0...scared lol

 

[AlgaeBarn]

You recommend Vibrant? Hear some people say it crashed their tank...lowered their nitrates to 0...scared lol

I never recommend chemicals. I don't believe its to the point you should be worrying currently. ~Shaun K

 

[arking_mark]

I never recommend chemicals. I don't believe its to the point you should be worrying currently. ~Shaun K

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Am I missing something? ~Shaun K.

 

[RobertTheNurse]

Yeah i hear ya. That's the one thing that's got me interested --- its bacteria lol not chem

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Yeah i hear ya. That's the one thing that's got me interested --- its bacteria lol not chem

Yeah i should have worded it differently. A chemicals definition is different substances that have been prepared. Im not comparing it to hydrochloric acid in that sense. lol ~Shaun K

 

[youngreefer10g]

How often do you clean out the canister? Also if the gha really bothers you an urchin will work very well ~Shaun K

What type of urchin would you recommend? I have a 30 gallon that has a pretty bad GHA breakout. I did a 3 day blackout and I clean the filter pads weekly. I clean it off the rocks and it comes back like the next day. I have a clean up crew from reef cleaners that has done nothing. I’m just worried it’s gonna get on top of some of my nicer corals and steal all the light from them.