I Need Help. GHA battle

[RWReefer]

I skimmed but didn't see what is your current light schedule ?

This is what is currently going. It’s been an issue with and without light though. Runs below for 5 hours, with a 4 hour ramp up in the morning and a 5 hour ramp down in the evening.

 

[fandaga]

Personally I would just keep the lights off until it’s completely gone. Maybe do a couple large water changes spread out over a few weeks.

 

[RWReefer]

Personally I would just keep the lights off until it’s completely gone. Maybe do a couple large water changes spread out over a few weeks.

Will that kill the GSP?

 

[Naekuh]

Will that kill the GSP?

Yes... it has a chance to kill any corals that need sunlight.
But chances are your GSP will die b4 the GHA will by doing this. And even more of a chance not to even put a dent in your GHA.

 

[fandaga]

Personally I would just keep the lights off until it’s completely gone. Maybe do a couple large water changes spread out over a few weeks.

Will that kill the GSP?

Maybe you can give the gsp back to your LFS for credit and then buy back once the tank is under control?

 

[RWReefer]

Seems like a good range (+/- 0.3) but the numbers can't be right.

Confirmed today via recalibrated handheld Milwaukee ph tester that I am 8.0-8.2.

 

[vetteguy53081]

There’s no other way to put it. GHA is destroying my enjoyment of this hobby. It’s on everything. Glass, rocks, growing in GSP, powerheads, etc.

Tank is over a year old now. Started with dry Marco rock aquascape and live rock in sump. 7 current fish, plus an abundance of turbo snails, ceriths, an urchin, a couple conchs. Just added a tomini tang to help.

Current parameters:
Nitrate: 7.9
Phosphate: 0.23
Alk: 7.8

Was lax on tank care for a bit as life took over. I’ve been diligently pulling GHA out, scrubbing rocks clean and siphoning out the GHA, have auto water change set up and going, pulling clumps of GHA off the sand bed every couple of days, running an algae scrubber in the sump.

Currently feeding frozen brine shrimp that has been defrosted and rinsed as well as a snack of TDO chromaboost every now and then.

Not sure what else I can do to get this under control. Any help is appreciated.

Seeing no coral on this rock, I would place rock it in a container of tank water and pull off as much as you can by hand and scrub the rest with a firm toothbrush and some 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Return rock to tank, reduce white light intensity and number of hours of white lighting for a few days and add some snails such as :
Astrea
cerith
turbo grazer
trochus

A Pencil urchin

8-10 Caribbean blue leg hermits

Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
What is your phosphate level?
Is tank at or near a window?

 

[RWReefer]

Seeing no coral on this rock, I would place rock it in a container of tank water and pull off as much as you can by hand and scrub the rest with a firm toothbrush and some 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Return rock to tank, reduce white light intensity and number of hours of white lighting for a few days and add some snails such as :
Astrea
cerith
turbo grazer
trochus

A Pencil urchin

8-10 Caribbean blue leg hermits

Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
What is your phosphate level?
Is tank at or near a window?

I’m gonna knock down the white lights starting today.

Have 25 additional turbos, a couple emerald crabs, and another pencil on the way.

Use a modified BRS 7 stage since I’m on a well and plow through anion resin. Plumbed in a spare mixed bed on the end of the filtration system since I had it laying around. 0 TDS for this system.

Phosphate chart as follows:

The jumps up and down are from when I test before and after running GFO, just to get a gauge of what’s happening in the tank.

No direct sunlight on the tank. It is in a room that gets evening sun but I keep the blinds closed at all times.

 

[fandaga]

I can confirm that a pencil urchin is pretty ****** with gha. The only problem is that they can be a pain once the algae is gone. Mine knocks over all corals that aren’t glued down extremely well and has also started eating the one acro that survived my gha.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’m gonna knock down the white lights starting today.

Have 25 additional turbos, a couple emerald crabs, and another pencil on the way.

Use a modified BRS 7 stage since I’m on a well and plow through anion resin. Plumbed in a spare mixed bed on the end of the filtration system since I had it laying around. 0 TDS for this system.

Phosphate chart as follows:

The jumps up and down are from when I test before and after running GFO, just to get a gauge of what’s happening in the tank.

No direct sunlight on the tank. It is in a room that gets evening sun but I keep the blinds closed at all times.

UV rays will penetrate blinds, shades and curtain and contribute to this. Apply Black construction paper to the glass side that faces window/gets that evening sun

 

[bruno3047]

Question about your experience of carbon dosing. It sounds like it’s a really good method of lowering nutrients and outcompete algae. However, if the nutrients are too low, wouldn’t the corals get starved of nutrients? Also if nutrients bottom out, is there

I’ve never had any issues with dinos. As far as nutrient requirements for your corals, the bacteria that consume the nutrients are more efficient than both algaes and corals so they’re going to get first crack at your nutrients. But I don’t believe it’s going to interfere with the corals growth processes. In fact, during my research on carbon dosing, I learned that the bacteria that consume the nutrients actually become food for the corals and so corals actually help in the nutrient export process. In any case, I am not a scientist so I googled the question “what is more efficient at consuming nutrients in a reef tank bacteria or corals, and this is what it came up with in AI

Yes, bacteria are more efficient at consuming the raw nutrients like nitrate and phosphate in a reef tank, a process often enhanced by carbon dosing. While corals use some of these nutrients, they are not as efficient at processing the high levels of nitrates and phosphates found in the water, and their consumption is more indirect. Bacteria can convert these excess nutrients into a usable form or remove them entirely, making the system healthier for both fish and corals.

Bacteria vs. corals in nutrient consumption

• Bacteria: Utilize organic carbon to grow and multiply, consuming and processing large amounts of excess nutrients like nitrate and phosphate. This process effectively "exports" these nutrients from the water column.
• Corals: Rely on the nutrients converted by bacteria and need phosphates to thrive, but they cannot efficiently absorb large amounts directly from the water. In high-nutrient systems, corals may thrive due to the abundance of nutrients provided by the bacteria, but they are not the primary nutrient processors in the same way bacteria are.

How nutrient cycling works

• Carbon dosing: This is a common method to boost the bacterial population by providing them with a food source (carbon). The bacteria then consume excess nutrients.
• Exporting bacteria: Once the bacteria grow, they become part of the tank's biomass. They can be removed from the water by a protein skimmer, or they can be consumed by corals, filter feeders, and other organisms, thereby removing the nutrients from the system.

Be more than happy to help you any way that I can if you have any other questions. For more info from Google AI you can just click on the “carbon dosing” link in blue in the text. Good luck.

 

[RWReefer]

UV rays will penetrate blinds, shades and curtain and contribute to this. Apply Black construction paper to the glass side that faces window/gets that evening sun

Like, all the time? It’s the front of the tank.

 

[RWReefer]

Seeing no coral on this rock, I would place rock it in a container of tank water and pull off as much as you can by hand and scrub the rest with a firm toothbrush and some 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Return rock to tank, reduce white light intensity and number of hours of white lighting for a few days and add some snails such as :
Astrea
cerith
turbo grazer
trochus

A Pencil urchin

8-10 Caribbean blue leg hermits

Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
What is your phosphate level?
Is tank at or near a window?

Do you know what hydrogen peroxide ratio to use?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Do you know what hydrogen peroxide ratio to use?

1.5-2ml per 10 gallons

 

[daikaijureefer]

I have a fish that ate all my hair algae and is begging for more now that it’s almost all gone. I have some of the same dry rocks as you and I believe these rocks become a magnet for nutrients and hair algae until they have a decent biofilm or outcompeting organisms on them. If the hair algae is the main thing on them, then the other biological processes are going to take longer to take hold. Lots of good suggestions here for getting rid of it. I’d say your measurable nitrates and phosphates are on the high side because what youre not measuring is the bound nutrients in the algae which is probably uptaking those nutrients pretty quickly.

 

[Reef_Engineer]

Going through this on my grow out tanks. I added three more DI resin filters and was able to beat it down little by little. - Its working out for me!

 

[MidWestReef'n]

I use a denture brush on my rocks to scrub it off and then siphon it out with a hose. Its a battle for me as well. I have low nutrient levels , but ran an icp test and found out I have high co2 levels. That combined with strong.lighting. I would give the icp test a shot.

 

[Grog]

Nothing is going to fix that algae but better maintenance and manual removal. Already mentioned is a toothbrush and canister filter. Additionally I would remove rocks and scrub in WC water.

This is what I did. Pull rocks. Scrub in WC water. Put the scrubbed rocks in the sump for a two or three week timeout, instead of a total dark period in the system as I had corals in the tank.

I rotated rocks, cleaning a few during each weekly water change. Eventually, it went away.

I didn't use a toothbrush but a nylon bristle brush for cleaning pots and pans from Walmart.

 

[RWReefer]

And away we go. Going to give each section a good brushing out of the tank, and spot treat in the tank as needed. Reinforcement CUC arrives on Thursday. White lights turned down. Running GFO and monitoring for now. LFS is open on Thursday so I’ll go look for some corals as well.

 

[ReeferMo]

There’s no other way to put it. GHA is destroying my enjoyment of this hobby. It’s on everything. Glass, rocks, growing in GSP, powerheads, etc.

Tank is over a year old now. Started with dry Marco rock aquascape and live rock in sump. 7 current fish, plus an abundance of turbo snails, ceriths, an urchin, a couple conchs. Just added a tomini tang to help.

Current parameters:
Nitrate: 7.9
Phosphate: 0.23
Alk: 7.8

Was lax on tank care for a bit as life took over. I’ve been diligently pulling GHA out, scrubbing rocks clean and siphoning out the GHA, have auto water change set up and going, pulling clumps of GHA off the sand bed every couple of days, running an algae scrubber in the sump.

Currently feeding frozen brine shrimp that has been defrosted and rinsed as well as a snack of TDO chromaboost every now and then.

Not sure what else I can do to get this under control. Any help is appreciated.

Relax, we all go through this stage
First 4-5 day blackout could help but also I’m not sure if you mentioned you need some algae eaters. Tangs and an emerald crap will clean it up in no time. Especially in a blackout. Ones it’s gone it won’t come back so fast or at all

Listen. I had 2 new tanks in the past 7 years. And both had the same issue after a month or 2-3. I did black out and some some removal by pulling out a bunch and then netting it out. The point is green algae hair is a part of the cycle that some ppl avoid with more effort and patience. But the way it’s now. Just do a black out even for 48 hours (at least don’t put in the light ) and have a tang that eats em. Like a yellow tang/ purple tang and a bunch of other. A fox face would destroy it A emerald crap would help (more then help). It will pass after a while and the cycle will continue. Don’t sweat just wait