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I don’t understand what you mean by this.we're all using data designed to promulgate invasions.
And what do you mean by ‘work thread’?
Thanks
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I don’t understand what you mean by this.we're all using data designed to promulgate invasions.
Easier to find if you let a little film algae grow and follow his little trail. You’ll see one every 30-40 bite marks. Little half moon/triangle scratch about 1.5-2mmAnd not to hijack your thread, but I have a purple short spine urchin in my tank......guess I'll be breaking out the magnifying glass tonight.
Speaking of which, I just found a BIG one on my glass. That’s next to a baby copepod. It’s about 4mm longEasier to find if you let a little film algae grow and follow his little trail. You’ll see one every 30-40 bite marks. Little half moon/triangle scratch about 1.5-2mm
How long has it been since you did this?Dinos, cynos, algae of all kinds. I've tried all kinds of methods to resolve issues with all LR in place in the tank bc of NOT wanting to re-aquascape.
But sometimes the heck with aquascaping, you've gotta get the LR out of the tank so you can surgically work on the problem.
I recently decided to do this and here's how it went:
I have bowling ball sized LR in my 6ft 180g so pulling them was not smthg I wanted to do but with turf algae embedded into the pores of the LR like cancer, I saw no other option than quiting the hobby.
Accepting the mild re-aquascape, I pulled every LR as my final option after 6+ mos of frustration "in-tank" treatments.
I pulled only one LR at a time laying the LR on an old bathtowel on a work table. I kept the corals happy by squirting SW from the tank on them every 5mins to keep them WET.
I went to the $1 store and grabbed TWO small spraybottles that were DIFFERENT in COLOR from their "Beauty Isle ". One loaded with SW in one colored bottle. The other loaded with fully concentrated H2O2. H2O2 is cheap.
Exposed areas of LR where there were no corals but nuisance matter...I treated by spraying H2O2 in a surgical manner...not allowing H2O2 drips and flows to touch corals. It's a lot easier than it sounds with a papertowels in hands and a very good small handheld spraybottle. My technique was to spray H2O2, manage overspray and potential rivers/flow, then scrub area with old toothbrush. It's kinda cool to watch the area bubble up with the H2O2 actively oxygenating the area. I WORKED IN SMALL AREAS AT A TIME. I would concentrate on 2inx2in sections.
Not one of my corals died... some LR I had out of the water for 30mins working on them. Key was to spray corals with SW and keep them wet.
HTHs someone who has reached their last option before giving up.
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Ouch!Speaking of which, I just found a BIG one on my glass. That’s next to a baby copepod. It’s about 4mm long
Excellent framing of the issue in my opinion Neil.
a work thread is made by posting something like: 'send me all your gha invasions to tackle' and then we watch that individual work for pages and pages either pulling it off or not.
That is a 100% opposite knowledge angle compared to reading a book, article, or web entry where a pro discusses how to beat GHA and doesn't use live examples. Work threads test noncompliant tanks, and the method, in real time vs isolating the author from ease/no accountability for gha claims.
In my opinion these are basic summaries of how we start and its impact on gha, vs how we could start and how that has impacted GHA in work threads I know of:
common approach:
store detritus in the rocks and sand, don't ever remove it with deep cleaning. deep cleaning is destabilizing. allow all uglies phase, expect it, let your tank fill to the brim that's part of cycling. don't act directly on the rock outside of the tank, it can kill the rock. Your algae is using up all the nutrients that's why your tests aren't working correctly. The only way to kill gha is to strip all the N and P out of the system, algae is a nutrient issue. You are only allowed to kill it with weeks long parameter chasing and indirect needs.
uncommon approach, a thread built on the polar opposite of those lines of thought above:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reef2reef-pest-algae-challenge-thread-hydrogen-peroxide.187042/ (a work thread)
in order to beat GHA much better in this hobby, we need more people making work threads to see what really, truly works for the masses and writing about that vs just an artist in his/her home. we are using info in this hobby for GHA control that hardly ever works, hence the decades of ongoing gha challenges.
every time I read an article about algae control, Im thinking: 'where's your data from other peoples tanks' and I hardly ever see that data or get to consider it.
I couldn't care less how GHA looks.... my psychological mindset.... I'm more worried my corals are getting "choked out" when GHA surrounds a colony of zoas/palys... then starts to grow INSIDE the colony.... that's when I start caring about algae in my tankit was then illuminated to me that GHA issues are a psychology mindset from the reefer, its not a plant or chemistry thing. its a resolve thing. we do have final say, some take that.
If I had this situation I'd add a small army of urchins to the tank (tuxedo and halloween are both fantastic). I'd suggest 1 or more urchins per 20 gallons as a rule of thumb. Buy them as small as you can find them. Urchins not only eat hair algae but they scrape off a tiny layer of the rock along with it. Rocks will stay clean in every accessible area.