What could be feeding my green hair algae??

[Bthomas]

I've been battling green hair algae for a couple months now and it keeps coming back.
The tank has been set up for 4 months and still has no fish in it only a few snails and crabs so I'm not feeding the tank much. Nitrates arnt super high (20-25). po4 is undetectable but I know that could be because the algae is consuming it.
I'm running carbon and gfo in a reactor and I'm manually removing as much as possible during weekly water changes but it keeps coming back..
I'm about to start dosing peroxide but even if that kills it it will continue to come back until I figure out the cause right?
Don't have a picture at the moment but can get one tomorrow if needed. Its definitely green hair algae and is growing on the rocks and sand bed..

 

[tangtime]

At 4 months, that is typical. Get some snails and give things more time to stabilize. 4 months is pretty much a newborn tank.

 

[Bthomas]

At 4 months, that is typical. Get some snails and give things more time to stabilize. 4 months is pretty much a newborn tank.

Yeah I kinda figured that but are u saying it will just eventually go away on it's own with no intervention from me?

 

[HB AL]

Your gonna need to manually remove as much as possible until it subsides. If you add chemicals to knock it down remove as much as possible so it doesn't just waste away in the tank creating more or other headaches. It's possible your rocks are loaded and leaching stuff into the water since you aren't feeding any livestock and your nitrates are high. It might take a long time and a lot of patience.

 

[Bthomas]

Your gonna need to manually remove as much as possible until it subsides. If you add chemicals to knock it down remove as much as possible so it doesn't just waste away in the tank creating more or other headaches. It's possible your rocks are loaded and leaching stuff into the water since you aren't feeding any livestock and your nitrates are high. It might take a long time and a lot of patience.

I heard a lot of great things about the dry rock I bought when I started the tank (Billy's reef rock). One of the things was that it wouldn't leach phosphates.. oh well I guess I'll keep trying to remove as much as possible (some is very hard to get to) and may hold off on the peroxide dosing. Next fish purchase is going to be a foxface once the current group is out of quarantine so hopefully that will help also

 

[Bj’s Reef]

Your tank is going thru the ugly duckling stage. Just remove by hand what you can, also keep your parameters correct and ride it out. Sooner or later your tank will settle down and turn into a beautiful swan. I had the same problem when I setup my tank don’t give up it will pass.

 

[vic5hands]

You could try a Sea hare
Three days all gone

 

[theMeat]

Maybe vodka dose. Follow instructions to a tee, and it takes time.

Also could hurt to do 72 hour lights out, cover tank so no light gets in. Followed by big water change

 

[theMeat]

Maybe vodka dose. Follow instructions to a tee, and it takes time.

Also could hurt to do 72 hour lights out, cover tank so no light gets in. Followed by big water change

 

[theMeat]

...

 

[tangtime]

When mine was like that I just picked out the long strands the snails/fish took care of the rest. I do have an idol that loves to eat gha though if it appears which is non existent at this point.

This was my tank after 3 months.

 

[Bthomas]

When mine was like that I just picked out the long strands the snails/fish took care of the rest. I do have an idol that loves to eat gha though if it appears which is non existent at this point.

This was my tank after 3 months.

Mines like this also but in a lot more places

 

[Jeepguy242]

You could try a Sea hare
Three days all gone

just make sure to return the Sea Hare to the LFS before it starves

 

[Bj’s Reef]

What type of water are you using? Your water source could be hurting your efforts, to control the algae.

 

[Bthomas]

What type of water are you using? Your water source could be hurting your efforts, to control the algae.

Rodi water

 

[rickysreef]

Try vibrant. It’s amazing.

 

[maroun.c]

Most probably rocks leaching. I'd run GFO and change weekly and also do water changes to drop the nitrates. Biopellets or vodka dosing would also help.

 

[GEORGE WALTER]

I'm having a similar problem and I'm trying a competing refugium with Chaetomorpha and a Kessel grow light. I've had it on for about 3 weeks and the lighting is still ramping up (I'm up to 5 hours a night) but I'm seeing noticable Chaet growth. I'm hoping once I get to 12 hours/night on the refugium, the Chaet will out compete the tank's algae. I have to admit, I'm not noticing a significant decrease in algae growth in the tank yet even with my nightly manual removal ritual...maybe if I squint my eyes real hard I can see clear spots...

Have any of you had good or bad results trying something like this? Am I wasting my time?

 

[Jeepguy242]

I'm having a similar problem and I'm trying a competing refugium with Chaetomorpha and a Kessel grow light. I've had it on for about 3 weeks and the lighting is still ramping up (I'm up to 5 hours a night) but I'm seeing noticable Chaet growth. I'm hoping once I get to 12 hours/night on the refugium, the Chaet will out compete the tank's algae. I have to admit, I'm not noticing a significant decrease in algae growth in the tank yet even with my nightly manual removal ritual...maybe if I squint my eyes real hard I can see clear spots...

Have any of you had good or bad results trying something like this? Am I wasting my time?

i am working on the same problem right now....

i am also dosing phosphate and nitrate for my sps...

the algae in the display is not spreading now, but it is very green.... still manually removing it every 2 weeks.... i am on a month with my H380 and i have mega growth on my cheato now.... so much that i had to remove half of it.....

its working but slow....

 

[laverda]

Manual removing gha just spreads it to other areas unless you dose a little hydrogen peroxide to kill the little bits that brake off and float around to spread.

 

[laverda]

i am working on the same problem right now....

i am also dosing phosphate and nitrate for my sps...

the algae in the display is not spreading now, but it is very green.... still manually removing it every 2 weeks.... i am on a month with my H380 and i have mega growth on my cheato now.... so much that i had to remove half of it.....

its working but slow....

If your fighting gha I would not dose phosphate or nitrate. You have plenty already, or you would not have gha.

 

[laverda]

I find that a lot of people that have gha do not clean their mechanical filtration often enough. That is especially true of canister filters(gha factories in my experience). Filter sock, floss or filter pads and canister should be cleaned twice a week to help control gha. Once under control they should be cleaned weekly. While mechanical filtration works well are removing detritus from the water column it is still in the system breaking down into nitrate and phosphates until you clean or change the filter media.