This is my last resort before i completely give up on my tank. I believe i have gha

snow 905

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Just take your time the more stuff you put in is more stress on the tank and thats never good. Just keep reading and read some more . Just go slow and try not to strip the water of all no3 and no4 . Just my two cents
 

Ligershark

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Youre using a uv so you wont notice a big difference w the carbon. Remove the carbon and do not replace it...ever. Dose fluconozole and always keep a maintenance dose in your tank. Hang on back fuge skimmers suck. I had a 46 bow front w a eheim canister and precision marine hob as my first setup. I understand what youre going through.

Dose your tank w fluconozole and blast the tank with light. Use double the recommended dose. After a month or two do water changes but add fluconozole powder to the fresh saltwater. This will get you back on track until you figure out how to keep your nutrients down. And do not re add carbon to your filter.
 

BigRedReefer MT

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Some advice here I would consider great and some I would consider questionable.
I am currently battling GHA myself so I know your frustrations, the water change schedule is definitely helpful in this battle.
1. As mentioned before, rinse out your sponges for your canister every few days. I am running a aquaclear HOB on my 75 and cycle through 3 sponges weekly. I rinse in tap water, soak in bleach water over night, rinse again, soak in ro/di water with double dose dechlorinator over night and dry before reuse.
2. As mentioned before, test your saltwater from lfs for nitrate and phosphate, if they don't use ro/di themselves then you could just be adding fuel for algae growth with every change out.
3. Reduce your photo-period to about 6 hours a day. If your led lighting has seperate channels, then reduce intensity on the channel with red and white LEDs.
4. When you perform water changes, two ways to go about it. 1.) either zip tie a tooth brush to your drain line so it sucks out the GHA as you scrub it and removes the nutrients. Letting it float around the tank only keeps it spreading and as it decomposes it releases the nutrients back into the water column fueling more growth. 2.) When doing water changes fill your buckets with waste water but leave room for displacement of rock and your hands. I do a three part wash. In one bucket to scrub, rinse and scrub in next, rinse and back into the tank. This allows you to manually remove it and rinse excess nutrients from rock surface before reintroducing to the tank.
5. Food. Overfeeding is probably the number one cause of all issues green and slimy. I personally moved to all frozen foods thawed and rinsed in ro/di water. Pellet and flake foods are more nutrient dense than live foods, any uneaten portion is going to release much more nutrients than live foods.
6. Protein skimmer. I didn't read where you mentioned a skimmer in use so I'll just suggest you get one. I run a reef octopus classic 2000 hob on my system, a quick search on Amazon will provide you with hours of results. One thing to remember is a skimmer is essential life support. Oversized is generally better but not always. Look for something that will give you adjustability over water in and out.
7. Patience. Nothing good in this hobby happens fast. I've been battling for 6 months now. When I went to pick up my tank from my old house it was being fed and topped off by my old landlord. It had been in his care for three weeks and compared to your tank it was the frickin Amazon jungle. Now, I only grow small Tufts in the week between water changes
 

jarjor1982

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Vibrant Aquarium Cleaner knocked out my GHA the last round I fought it. Afterward, routine pwc’s and good husbandry seems to do the trick. You can also continue to use the cleaner but be sure to check your nutrients bc it makes it look great and you can end up forgetting to do the pwc’s.
 

fattiremike

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To backup a thread above, I had been fighting bubble algae for about 10 years, no kidding. I would get the edge, then the bubbles would take over. I tore my tank down numerous times to scrub it all down. I have been reefing for at least 15 years, so I wasn't about to quit, but I stumbled upon a thread about Vibrant. I didn't have much to lose, so I purchased some and started dosing in double doses. It took some time, like six months, but no more bubble algae! I kept dosing then eventually weened my tank off of it. Now I have a normal refugium running and have an occasional bubble that I poke with a stick. The reviews on Amazon are horrible, but I think that is because people's filtration systems are not up to par with keeping up with the amount of phosphates etc. that are going to come from the dying algae that Vibrant causes. I have an extremely oversize skimmer and was using 200 micron filter socks at the time. It works. I had absolutely no ill effects from Vibrant.
 

vetteguy53081

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Lights seem very bright. Reduce whites and increase blues. I highly recommend a sea hare to take this down as well as use of Vibrant BUT follow directions carefully. A clean up crew of turbo sbnails, astrea snails, trochus snails and lawnmower blenny will help also

Two things I wonder:

WHAT TYPE OF WATER ARE YOU USING?? ( TAP OR WELL??)
IS TANK AT OR NEAR A WINDOW?? (This is the #1 cause in may cases of out of control algae).
 

Dkeller_nc

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Hey folks, I've seen a number of mentions about a "maintenance" concentration of fluconazole in tanks. One was even a commercial coral facility.

I would strongly recommend that you not do this. Fluconazole works by interfering with the synthesis of ergosterol in algae (which is essential to formation of new cells). It is not out of the realm of possibility that you could create a "super strain" of GHA or (much, much worse) of bryopsis that's partially or totally resistant to fluconazole. That would be a disaster for you tank, and in the case of the commercial facility, the entire reef tank hobby.
 

BestMomEver

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Welcome to the reef! Sit back and take a breath. I guarantee my tank has looked worse than yours. My suggestion would be to get an ICP test done. Go on the Bulk Reef Supply website and order two test kits. One for your fresh water and one for salt. Make sure you ask permission from the LFS owner to test their water. I did this and learned that my LFS probably wasn’t changing out their RO/DI cartridges often enough.

I would not suggest that you add more fish. It will only increase the bio load which will increase the algae. Most fish won’t eat the really long stuff anyway. Get it short andafter a while a tang or something will keep it down.

I would remove the canister filter. They can be phosphate factories. Can you tell me the manufacturer of your lights? Also, you’re test results for nitrate and phosphate are probably showing 0 because the algae is eating it all. It’s for sure there. I would also suggest Red Sea NO3PO4X or NoPox. It works well. Use it every day as directed. Pick the stuff off all the time. What test kits are you using?

We’ll get this straight. No more stress. We’re hear to help.
 
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BestMomEver

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Some advice here I would consider great and some I would consider questionable.
I am currently battling GHA myself so I know your frustrations, the water change schedule is definitely helpful in this battle.
1. As mentioned before, rinse out your sponges for your canister every few days. I am running a aquaclear HOB on my 75 and cycle through 3 sponges weekly. I rinse in tap water, soak in bleach water over night, rinse again, soak in ro/di water with double dose dechlorinator over night and dry before reuse.
2. As mentioned before, test your saltwater from lfs for nitrate and phosphate, if they don't use ro/di themselves then you could just be adding fuel for algae growth with every change out.
3. Reduce your photo-period to about 6 hours a day. If your led lighting has seperate channels, then reduce intensity on the channel with red and white LEDs.
4. When you perform water changes, two ways to go about it. 1.) either zip tie a tooth brush to your drain line so it sucks out the GHA as you scrub it and removes the nutrients. Letting it float around the tank only keeps it spreading and as it decomposes it releases the nutrients back into the water column fueling more growth. 2.) When doing water changes fill your buckets with waste water but leave room for displacement of rock and your hands. I do a three part wash. In one bucket to scrub, rinse and scrub in next, rinse and back into the tank. This allows you to manually remove it and rinse excess nutrients from rock surface before reintroducing to the tank.
5. Food. Overfeeding is probably the number one cause of all issues green and slimy. I personally moved to all frozen foods thawed and rinsed in ro/di water. Pellet and flake foods are more nutrient dense than live foods, any uneaten portion is going to release much more nutrients than live foods.
6. Protein skimmer. I didn't read where you mentioned a skimmer in use so I'll just suggest you get one. I run a reef octopus classic 2000 hob on my system, a quick search on Amazon will provide you with hours of results. One thing to remember is a skimmer is essential life support. Oversized is generally better but not always. Look for something that will give you adjustability over water in and out.
7. Patience. Nothing good in this hobby happens fast. I've been battling for 6 months now. When I went to pick up my tank from my old house it was being fed and topped off by my old landlord. It had been in his care for three weeks and compared to your tank it was the frickin Amazon jungle. Now, I only grow small Tufts in the week between water changes
This is some of the best advice I’ve seen in a long time. Thanks @BigRedReefer MT !
 

DuckyinthePotty

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+1 on you making your own salt water.

I purchased water from my LFS and some brand name salt water in the past for water changes on my frag tank. I can't be 100% sure that these added undesired hitchhikers and fuel excessive amounts of algae but I can say that when I stopped using those sources of water my tank seemed to have stabilized itself in terms of algae growth. I have been using water from my main display ( only has rocks and one clown ) to do water changes and the algae in my frag tank seem to hold steady in terms of growth. I don't mind the algae because my blenny and snails seem to like more natural food. I am also certain that the water I use from my main tank is polluted with nitrates and phosphates because it has a pretty bad case of cyano but for some reason it doesn't fuel algae growth in my frag tank as much as the store bought water did.

I am still a newbie at this but I just wanted to throw out there that any water you make is probably still better than anything you buy at the LFS. More work up front could mean less issues in the long run.
 

javafish

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I I would get rid of the engineer gobies They will Stir up your sandbed and lot they love to dig and that will bring up all the junk in your sand
 

BigBossReefer

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I feel your pain.... I have a 175 gal reefer with 17 fish and about 30 SPS frags so I have to feed a lot. No getting around it. My GHA was worse than yours from what I can see in the pic. My tank is one year old and I’ll tell you how I’ve gotten the GHA under control (80% of it anyway).

-First recommendation: Never...ever... add a chemical directly to your tank. If anything, pull the rocks out and spray + scrub them with hydrogen peroxide. This is a last ditch effort. But I know it works because I removed half of the rock from my tank (the smaller rocks) and tried it myself with 12% food grade peroxide. Make sure that you rinse the rock very well before putting it back. You will need a secondary biological filter in your sump to safely do this (marine pure etc...) to avoid recycling your tank. Again this should be your last resort after you have tried the following.

-Second recommendation: Get the best protein skimmer that you can afford. I have a Vertex alpha and it is very efficient and well built. A cheap skimmer is a complete waste. You don’t have to spend $900 on a skimmer if you can’t but I’d at least look in the $400-$500 dollar range to get something that works. The skimmer is essential for my next and most important recommendation.

-Third recommendation: Use NoPox for the export of No3 and Po4. Add a bunch of bio media to your sump where you’ll be adding the NoPox, Brightwell Xport No3 and Marinepure both work very well and I have both (get rid of the canister filter). When you first start using NoPox the bacteria will be blowing up like crazy and you’ll have to check your skimmer every day. I suggest buying Brightwell NeoPhos to add Po4 when needed. I know that sounds crazy but if your system has zero phosphate the bacteria will not consume the No3. This is without a doubt the strongest and most rapid way of controlling No3 & Po4. I dose morning & night based on the recommendations on the bottle. I would also use one bottle of Microbacter7 when you start this process so you get the best strains of bacteria growing. An efficient skimmer is a must to remove the bacterial blooms from the consumption of NoPox.

-Fourth recommendation: Manually remove the GHA once per week with a water change. I hold my thumb and index finder at the end of the hose while pulling off the algae so it gets sucked out of the tank, shut off all flow. It’s a complete pain in the butt but it’s the best way to do it. NEVER brush it off and let it go everywhere in your tank. It will spread even worse, trust me it can get worse.

Be patient, this will take 2-4 months to get under control. Keep everything in your tank as consistent as possible: light schedule, dosing, alkalinity (around 8-9 dkh, very important), temperature, and feeding. Don’t stop feeding or feed too little. Try to feed what you think your system needs to consume to be healthy. I have to feed 6-8 cubes plus two sheets of sea veggies algae per day to feed my system. Only use water changes to remove the GHA, detritus, and replace trace elements. Not to control No3 & Po4 because it will not work. I would make your own saltwater if you have an RODI system. I wouldn’t rely on your LFS for that. I’ve tried a refugium with chaeto, a Pax Bellum with chaeto, and massive water changes and none of it worked. NoPox, manual removal, and if necessary externally applied peroxide are the only things that have worked for me. If you are dead set on an algae scrubber I would try the Santa Monica Surf, it grows hair algae so you don’t have to worry about the chaeto dying off. Sorry for the long reply, but I’ve spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours dealing with this issue. Hopefully it helps and best of luck! If you have any specific questions let me know.
 
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JHUMike

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I recently corrected an algae issue using "Vibrant for reef aquariums" produced by Underwater Creations Inc. It was recommended by a friend who had success. Seems to have worked very well but once it kicks in filter socks etc. need to be replaced/cleaned much more often. Bottle says ingredients are "95% cultured bacteria blend, 1% amino acids, .5% vinegar, 3.5% other"
 

Travv

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Do you think it's possible that 20% water changes every week is preventing the tank from being able to fully cycle?

Definitely agree RO water and saltwater from LFS could be a problem.

Welcome by the way! Hope you are able to get it figured out. You came to the right place!
 
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Ok so the lfs has been screwing me. It’s my fault too but I’ve been getting practically fresh water from them i tested this time and couldn’t get a reading tasted it there’s a trace of salt. But that’s why the hair algae has been thriving in my opinion. Dumb on my part for just assuming it’s ok. I’m on my way to recovery. I purchased a spotted tail blenny i think it’s called and a lawnmower blenny and snails and emerald crabs and it’s getting better and better by day. I appreciate everyone’s help
 
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Abonifay

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I I would get rid of the engineer gobies They will Stir up your sandbed and lot they love to dig and that will bring up all the junk in your sand
They’ve been there and don’t mess with anything anymore after they build their burrow they just come out to eat
 
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Abonifay

Abonifay

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So I’m making my own water now any recommendations on salt to use?
 
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