GHA in new tank

[PPBlimpy]

So I recently threw together a 54G tank out of left over bits and pieces I have collected. Ended up being a cool tank.

Going to be a long read

The issue I have is the rock, phosphates and GHA.

About 65Lbs of " dry" rock were used, this rock came out of a 90G that was abandoned after only being up for 3 months. Livestock was sold and the pumps were just shut off. Tank sat stagnant for approx 9 months before I bought everything. by that time the tank was only half full of water etc.

I put the rock and set it on my basement floor, let it dry out with no plans to use it. Then I got an itch and an idea for a second tank and in reality i really should have bleached and dark cured for a number of months.

Added about 15lbs of rock and a couple media bricks from my big tank upon start up to help seed. My big tank has high phosphates. 1.0+

Dosed Dr.Tims ammonia and bacter7.

For the first 2 weeks all was well. Tank was processing the ammonia like it should. nitrates were at 6. Was testing only nitrates every 2 days. Then nitrates started going down.
decided to measure phosphates that time and the tank was at .6 Phos....first thought... the rocks do leach. Dang.....

When I saw the .6 on the test I did kick on the ATS in hopes to curbed any outbreak. That didn't work.
Also have lots of flow so dead spots should be minimal

Then rolled in the GHA but only on the dry rock. long nasty etc. Tank is now 4 weeks old. Just spent 2 hours last night sucking GHA out. Did about half the tank. Added a foxface temporarily from my big tank to "help" also have added 2 turbo snails and a small pincushion urchin. Stopping today to get about 8-10 turbo snails.

Laying in bed last night thinking about it.

What if I just let the GHA run wild for a bit?
Will it consume the Phosphates bound in the rock and sand?

After maybe 4 or 5 weeks spend a good weekend scrubbing and treat the tank. I actually don't mind the GHA look. Big green flowy. Kinda neat to watch.The problem then is i have already transferred corals from my big tank and don't want them to be suffocated.

first picture is before water was added.

Only been running the halide for pictures. Will ad more photos tonight of current condition

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Do you have cuc in there? I would beef that up and make sure your phosphates and nitrates aren't high

 

[PPBlimpy]

Do you have cuc in there? I would beef that up and make sure your phosphates and nitrates aren't high

I have only 2 turbo snails, 4 bumble bees and a small pincushion urchin. Picking up 8 more turbo snails today.
also transferred over my Foxface from my big tank hoping he helps. I have seen him eat GHA previously when I added a rock from another tank that had GHA on it into my big tank

I have not tested the tank in a couple days, well really since the GHA outbreak took full swing but the last time I tested nitrates it was down to 3.1 and phos was up at .62. little out of balance.

Just curious if I let it run. Will the GHA consume and deplete the Phosphates that may be leeching eventually?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree that an expanded CUC is a very good way to go.

I readily grow hair algae in my refugia, but not in my display.

 

[PPBlimpy]

I agree that an expanded CUC is a very good way to go.

I readily grow hair algae in my refugia, but not in my display.

That is the current plan. Also going to ad a bottle pods.

any fish eat the GHA when grown out? I know most like picking at the rocks.

My other issue is I am leaving for 5 days tomorrow morning. At its current rate it is going to look like a jungle.

I do plan to cut the lights down to only 4hrs a day while gone.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

so if I understand correctly you mean you used the old rocks without cleaning them? I imagine they would leach out dissolved organics from all the dead stuff inside of it. the docs will feed the algae IMO

 

[PPBlimpy]

so if I understand correctly you mean you used the old rocks without cleaning them? I imagine they would leach out dissolved organics from all the dead stuff inside of it. the docs will feed the algae IMO

yes. This is exactly what I did. Not a smart move I know. This was a impulse tank setup. I always told myself the next tank would be ocean direct rock but I had everything here on the shelfs. I am figuring this will cause some issues in the short term.

With this tank I wanted to glue a lot of the rock to the walls since it is small and an od shape. Its a 54G corner tank and most tanks I have witnessed like this as a reef struggle with the aquascaping. Not that mine is great but I am happy with it and think it would grow in nicely.

If i went ocean rock i would not have been able to do this.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

yes. This is exactly what I did. Not a smart move I know. This was a impulse tank setup. I always told myself the next tank would be ocean direct rock but I had everything here on the shelfs. I am figuring this will cause some issues in the short term.

With this tank I wanted to glue a lot of the rock to the walls since it is small and an od shape. Its a 54G corner tank and most tanks I have witnessed like this as a reef struggle with the aquascaping. Not that mine is great but I am happy with it and think it would grow in nicely.

If i went ocean rock i would not have been able to do this.

In that case a protein skimmer will help and/or increased water changes, activated carbon also binds docs.

though I gotta tell you that is a fantastic looking aquascape and I wouldn't change it either. good luck

 

[annihil8ted]

I personally would let the algae grow. As long as they don't pose a risk to the existing coral, let them collect the phosphate and then yank them out. I find grown clusters of GHA to be easier to remove than the smaller bits found clinging to rock, usually just let the CUC get to those

Could also be a good time to collect the GHA and start an algae scrubber. Should help with reducing phosphates too

 

[exnisstech]

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know exactly what the causes of GHA are but IME it is not caused by high PO4 regardless of what people say.
This tank ran PO4 0.4 - 0.6 for 6 years and had no algae

I replaced it with the tank below. It has been up a bit over 2 years and has had what many consider elevated N and P the entire time. PO4 has never been below 0.4 and often will exceed 0.9 which is high as my Hanna can test. Again no algae. All the rock in the display was dry but I did butt a lot of live rock in the sump..

I think getting some herbivores and coral growing could help out.
Maybe my tanks are strange because the only tanks I have had with a GHA issue are tanks running at or near 0 N and P

 

[PPBlimpy]

There is a skimmer running, was thinking about adding carbon tonight actually. Have a bag of GFO in there now, put it in before the algae reared its head. Just did a 10G water change on Wed and will have to wait till next thur or friday for the next.

Appreciate the compliment on the aquascape. This is the first time I actually spent the time to do one. I usually just stack rocks. In the end i want this to be a SPS dominant mixed reef. I have the flow and the lights. 240 par on the Sand bed, 590 top of rock island and over 770 1" below surface. that is with the halide on the 50% setting running 208W.

 

[PPBlimpy]

I personally would let the algae grow. As long as they don't pose a risk to the existing coral, let them collect the phosphate and then yank them out. I find grown clusters of GHA to be easier to remove than the smaller bits found clinging to rock, usually just let the CUC get to those

Could also be a good time to collect the GHA and start an algae scrubber. Should help with reducing phosphates too

I was thinking about letting it grow. It is easier to clean.
My DIY Algae scrubber has been online for about 10 days now. I actually think its to much light as it is not growing in the center of the screen at all.

 

[PPBlimpy]

I'm not knowledgeable enough to know exactly what the causes of GHA are but IME it is not caused by high PO4 regardless of what people say.
This tank ran PO4 0.4 - 0.6 foe 6 years and had no algae

I replaced it with the tank below. It has been up a bit over 2 years and has had what many consider elevated N and P the entire time. PO4 has never been below 0.4 and often will exceed 0.9 which is high as my Hanna can test. Again no algae. All the rock in the display was dry but I did butt a lot of live rock in the sump..

I think getting some herbivores and coral growing could help out.
Maybe my tanks are strange because the only tanks I have had with a GHA issue are tanks running at or near 0 N and P

my big tank runs the same. 70-75 nitrate and phos above 1.1

no issues with algae. then again I have 8 tangs in that tank but it runs well.
so I don't really think its a phosphate issue so much a young tank syndrome. It needs time.

i want to keep them lower on this tank because i plan to push a lot of SPS and LPS, high par, lots of flow etc.

my big tank is fully mixed, and a lot more forgiving.

 

[exnisstech]

my big tank runs the same. 70-75 nitrate and phos above 1.1

no issues with algae. then again I have 8 tangs in that tank but it runs well.
so I don't really think its a phosphate issue so much a young tank syndrome. It needs time.

i want to keep them lower on this tank because i plan to push a lot of SPS and LPS, high par, lots of flow etc.

my big tank is fully mixed, and a lot more forgiving.

It's mystery to me sometimes.
I have a tank I started 3 years ago and had to dose N and P for two year's and I did nothing different than the tank above with high nutrients. It worked out well because it's an SPS tank, mostly acros but I have no idea why they settled in a such different levels.

 

[PPBlimpy]

Dropped In 6 more large turbo snails and 3 blue leg hermits.

Tank looks better after the manual removal but still lots of GHA.
I did catch the foxface munching a bit.

I do feel bad. He is too large for this tank. But he is in here to do a job.

I am on the hunt for a juvenile Mag Foxface for this tank. Will let it grow out and swap into my big tank.

Just took the video. Tank actually looked 10x worse yesterday

 

[BriDroid]

More turbo snails is a good plan. My 40 was fighting dinos, once those went away hair and turf algae took over. I added some tuxedo urchins and turbo snails and within a week it’s almost gone.

 

[PPBlimpy]

I am up to 8 large turbo snails in here.

I have more CUC in this 54 then my 210. That is partially being my porcupine puffer snack on them but it stays pretty clean with lots of tangs.

I am leaving for 5 days, I am going to reduce the lights to 4 hours daily while I am gone. And keep the ATS on full time. We will see what kind of mess I come home too

 

[PPBlimpy]

I am not much of a photographer

 

[EnterName]

The tank is very young and probably going through the ugly phase fueled by the excessive phosphate bound to those rocks.

The transferred corals are an issue, otherwise I would just let it grow, harvest, and repeat until all those nasty nutrients are gone. Remember that algae growth requires more than just phosphate and a nitrogen source. I could imagine it would be much worse if you provided iron and other required trace elements regularly. This might actually be needed sooner or later or the growth will slow down even though phosphate levels are still through the roof. Your corals won't like their new home for quite some time... I can't promise you they will make it as phosphate swings can cause them real trouble and they might struggle to get the trace elements the algae is eating up.

If you can take out individual rocks I would give them a bath in acidified RO/DI (e.g..with HCl) after rinsing them. This brings bound phosphates back into solution by attacking the outer layer of those rocks. As these rocks are quite "old" I can't promise this will be enough but it will at least remove some phosphate and detritus.

 

[PPBlimpy]

The tank is very young and probably going through the ugly phase fueled by the excessive phosphate bound to those rocks.

The transferred corals are an issue, otherwise I would just let it grow, harvest, and repeat until all those nasty nutrients are gone. Remember that algae growth requires more than just phosphate and a nitrogen source. I could imagine it would be much worse if you provided iron and other required trace elements regularly. This might actually be needed sooner or later or the growth will slow down even though phosphate levels are still through the roof. Your corals won't like their new home for quite some time... I can't promise you they will make it as phosphate swings can cause them real trouble and they might struggle to get the trace elements the algae is eating up.

If you can take out individual rocks I would give them a bath in acidified RO/DI (e.g..with HCl) after rinsing them. This brings bound phosphates back into solution by attacking the outer layer of those rocks. As these rocks are quite "old" I can't promise this will be enough but it will at least remove some phosphate and detritus.

The corals are coming from my big tank. That has been sitting at 75 nitrate and 1.1+ phos.


Truthfully not worried about the corals other than being smothered possibly.