How to get rid of green/brown hair algae?

[zagi23]

Hello.
I need help to get rid of GHA. It's all over my back side of a tank (600 l).
Tank is 3 years old and before this, I didn't have any algae issue. All the parameters are stabile for a long time.
I have a mix tank, with a lot of SPS. I dose complete Red Sea program, and the only thing that I recently changed is that I started dosing powder, instead of liquid KH.
Nitrates are 1-2, and the phosphates are 0,03. NO3 and PO4 were like this even before algae outbreak, and are like this for a long long time.
We read somewhere about dosing H2O2. But in our case, the spot treatment is not possible.
Can someone tell me the procedure and dosing? What about lightning and carbon while dosing it?
I bought 3% H2O2.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Hello.
I need help to get rid of GHA. It's all over my back side of a tank (600 l).
Tank is 3 years old and before this, I didn't have any algae issue. All the parameters are stabile for a long time.
I have a mix tank, with a lot of SPS. I dose complete Red Sea program, and the only thing that I recently changed is that I started dosing powder, instead of liquid KH.
Nitrates are 1-2, and the phosphates are 0,03. NO3 and PO4 were like this even before algae outbreak, and are like this for a long long time.
We read somewhere about dosing H2O2. But in our case, the spot treatment is not possible.
Can someone tell me the procedure and dosing? What about lightning and carbon while dosing it?
I bought 3% H2O2.

Suggest first, become a human lawn mower and get busy

GHA doesn't appear out of nowhere... Likely as you read more on how to deal with this, you'll realize it came in on an incompletely dipped frag. BRS has a good video on dipping - Best of 2019 seems latest because of COVID. Because of dealing with it, I've expanded my dipping from just 1 type to all three types recommended - 1) iodine based, 2) natural based and 3) hydrogen peroxide (but not on coral itself - just plug - or just toss plugs unless softies). Also considering 4) Bayer (insecticide - not covered) because I just might meltdown if BUGS also got in my tank... SO all that is to prevent it from coming back

It didn't get like that overnight... It will not go away overnight - figure at least as long and probably longer... Anything you can pull out and scrub with toothbrush then rinse and return to tank, do that. Get in there nightly and start pulling & picking. If you really want it eradicated, look to Vibrant but that is a multi-month process and dying algae may make your parameters crazy as it releases back from algae into system, but deal with that as it comes. Stop reading this and get busy. Yes, leaving roots will grow back.

First post of this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a...atic-algae-and-the-means-to-control-it.87351/

Good luck

 

[RobB'z Reef]

Have you thoroughly searched this site on gha? It's one of the most posted subjects ever. Hundreds of threads of advice and approaches to solving this already exist.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

what I did for my problem is I would take out a rock one at a time and scrub it like crazy in a different bucket. When I scrubbed off about 90% then I used vibrant and that worked for me to finish it off. Of course, you need to check your feeding and lighting habits, and increase CUC.

There is no one way to fix it, it requires an all-out attack plan from every angle.

 

[blasterman]

That looks like brown/green turf algae that's been making its way around in my area. It grows slow, but its dense.

Peroxide dosing won't affect it. Needs to applied directly. Turbos also won't touch it. Vibrant didn't phase mine, but its worth a shot.

Seems easy to remove if its on the back of your tank with a razor blade scraper. Need a filter to pull the chunks though

 

[RobertTheNurse]

What kind of water do you use? Also, what I would do is:

1. Check water quality (RODI)
2. Test parameters with reputable sources (not API)
3. Manually remove GHA.
4. Clean all pipes and filtration.
5. Perform Perform several LARGE water changes over the next week. (30% day 1, 30% day 3, 30% day 6)
6. Buy CUC: Conch for sandbed, dozens of other snails.
7. Continue Manual removal on an ongoing basis.
8. Perform 20% WCs weekly
9. Dose HALF recommended dose of Vibrant every 2 weeks.
10. Clean filtration ongoing during this process.

Even though mine was not as bad. That helped me.

 

[NanoMan16]

Ahhh the good old GHA problem. Every reefer or fish only tanker runs in to it from time to time. As everyone else will tell you monitor your parameters. In my experience it thrives when nitrates are above 10. Cut back on your light cycle. Consider a 3 day black out in your tank. Your corals will be fine don’t worry. A firm tooth brush and a 50% water change will be your best friend. Also to kept it in check once you get it drastically reduced emerald crabs work wonders. Look for the small little guys they are the most active on GHA in my opinion. I’m sure others will disagree but worked for me many times. Good luck. I’m a fan of the natural approach rather than chemical and additive treatments.

 

[vetteguy53081]

GHA a broad term that covers hundreds of species of green simple filamentous algae. The best thing about this algae is the ease of pulling it by hand to remove and prepare to rid of it. It takes patience but pull by grabbing it. Get as much as you can by hand, Thereafter, you can loosen the rest with a hard toothbrush and be sure to net or siphon what you loosen with toothbrush.
An excess of nutrients, particularly phosphates and nitrates contribute to GHA, so you may want to have these levels tested. Keep an eye on possible iron and potassium sources which may also help fuel/feed hair algae. Hair algae spores and fragments are so abundant that keeping it out of the tank via quarantine is unlikely to be successful. Your best bet to preventing this algae from taking hold is to maintain a regular water change regimen, maintain your filtration and perform manual/natural algae removal as it forms. Proper magnesium levels generally help deter GHA.
After these steps, reduce white light intensity or even turn of white lights for abut 4-5 days. When done, add some clean up crew such as Caribbean Blue Leg hermits, larger Cerith and astrea snails, Chitons, Turbograzer snails and conchs.

is your tank at or near a window?

 

[Dkcav59]

Ahhh the good old GHA problem. Every reefer or fish only tanker runs in to it from time to time. As everyone else will tell you monitor your parameters. In my experience it thrives when nitrates are above 10. Cut back on your light cycle. Consider a 3 day black out in your tank. Your corals will be fine don’t worry. A firm tooth brush and a 50% water change will be your best friend. Also to kept it in check once you get it drastically reduced emerald crabs work wonders. Look for the small little guys they are the most active on GHA in my opinion. I’m sure others will disagree but worked for me many times. Good luck. I’m a fan of the natural approach rather than chemical and additive treatments.

My tank is 17 weeks old and has had brown algae for about 3 weeks. Long brown algae!! However, parts of it is turning green. My tank is a 55 and my Parameters are stable. Fish are happy and fat.
I have my lights at 5%white and 100%blue. Power head and I'm running a Marineland OTB filter. I change filters every 3 weeks. I haven't really done anything other than do top offs and clean the glass. The water is starting to smell like the ocean! I have around 60#s of dry Rock and it's all covered with long brown algae! There are 3 turbo snails and 3 astraea snails. I DO NOT want use chemicals, but, the wife is ready to chuck it all and get artificial resin decor as in the show Tanked. We really don't want to do that, but, it's just so dis- heartening!! We both want the " pretty white sand with crystal clear water"! I gave way more patience than her, but, it's even trying my patience! Any advice please?

 

[FUNGI]

Let the wife know that the resin deco will get covered with this also.....

 

[FUNGI]

My tank is 17 weeks old and has had brown algae for about 3 weeks. Long brown algae!! However, parts of it is turning green. My tank is a 55 and my Parameters are stable. Fish are happy and fat.
I have my lights at 5%white and 100%blue. Power head and I'm running a Marineland OTB filter. I change filters every 3 weeks. I haven't really done anything other than do top offs and clean the glass. The water is starting to smell like the ocean! I have around 60#s of dry Rock and it's all covered with long brown algae! There are 3 turbo snails and 3 astraea snails. I DO NOT want use chemicals, but, the wife is ready to chuck it all and get artificial resin decor as in the show Tanked. We really don't want to do that, but, it's just so dis- heartening!! We both want the " pretty white sand with crystal clear water"! I gave way more patience than her, but, it's even trying my patience! Any advice please?

Whats the Pox and Nox levels?
Tank is new so its part of the stage