GHA CUC Options for a 5g

[itsyahboydanny]

Hey guys I have a 5g with some green hair algea thats not going away. I have 1 mexican turbo but I'm wondering what else I should put in to help get the GHA out. I'm considering a emerald crab but I have a mostly zoas and I do have a juvenile clown fish so I don't want it to get excited and start taking bites of them. I was also thinking a peppermint shrimp but idk if they actually eat GHA. Any help would be appreciated!

[frags]

Blue leg crabs are suppose to, I think the best are turbo snails I would get a few more... they usually get fussy if it's to long some times you need to trim it down first and then they will mow it down.

[jestep]

Frequent water changes.

 

What's your NO3 and PO4 at, and what's your feeding schedule?

 

In a 5 gallon, it's going to be pretty much impossible to have any natural denitrification going on. You may be able to find something that eats it, but the problem is there's too many nutrients in the tank.

[itsyahboydanny]

Frequent water changes.

 

What's your NO3 and PO4 at, and what's your feeding schedule?

 

In a 5 gallon, it's going to be pretty much impossible to have any natural denitrification going on. You may be able to find something that eats it, but the problem is there's too many nutrients in the tank.

 

 

Blue leg crabs are suppose to, I think the best are turbo snails I would get a few more... they usually get fussy if it's to long some times you need to trim it down first and then they will mow it down.

 

I think I definitely will get a few more turbos, but the GHA is kind of long though. The GHA only came in on my frags, it didn't grown in my tank. my no3 and po4 are both very close to 0, with the api test kits its hard to tell but they are very close to not there and today is the day before my weekly water change. I feed everyday or every other day but only pellets and my fish catches every single one. Do peppermints eat GHA? or will a emerald become opportunistic and eat zoas or fish? Or will the GHA just go away? Any other suggestions?

[frags]

The GHA will go away if it does not have enough phosphate etc to live. Not sure about the peppermint shrimp, and the emeralds I believe eat bubble algae.We have such a fine line in our little reefs between enough nutrients for our corals and not to much that it will feed nuisance algae like gha.The key I believe is export...water changes, Gfo, algae that's harvested such as a turf scrubber or chaeto. The easiest one for us nano reefers and I believe is the best is water changes! If you do a water changes and you are still dealing with algae then do a bigger one or do them more frequent until you get to that balance.There still could be other problems like possible phosphate leaching from the rocks or an old dirty sand bed. If that's the case then GFO is the ticket.

 

By the way cool little tank

[jestep]

I wouldn't put more turbos in, just my opinion. I would increase the water change frequency. Add some GFO to keep PO4 down. Don't overdo it though. Go by the brand instructions, or even start at half the amount and add the rest a week or two later. Then replace every 3 - 4 weeks. 1 turbo in a 5 should be able to knock it out. Once the algae is gone, you won't be able to support even 1 turbo in a 5 gallon. If you do get more, make sure you have a place to rehome them after the algae is gone.

 

If you know someone that has a Hanna PO4 meter or super accurate PO4 test kit like a salifert or red sea, it would be worth checking before you do a water change. The API ones just aren't accurate enough. Another thing that happens when you have a decent amount of algae is that the algae itself consumes the PO4 and NO3, so you are getting a biased reading when you test because the free nutrients are tied up in the algae and not available in the water column.

[itsyahboydanny]

I wouldn't put more turbos in, just my opinion. I would increase the water change frequency. Add some GFO to keep PO4 down. Don't overdo it though. Go by the brand instructions, or even start at half the amount and add the rest a week or two later. Then replace every 3 - 4 weeks. 1 turbo in a 5 should be able to knock it out. Once the algae is gone, you won't be able to support even 1 turbo in a 5 gallon. If you do get more, make sure you have a place to rehome them after the algae is gone.

 

If you know someone that has a Hanna PO4 meter or super accurate PO4 test kit like a salifert or red sea, it would be worth checking before you do a water change. The API ones just aren't accurate enough. Another thing that happens when you have a decent amount of algae is that the algae itself consumes the PO4 and NO3, so you are getting a biased reading when you test because the free nutrients are tied up in the algae and not available in the water column.

I am doing bi-weekly water changes now and I also picked up 2 more turbos, they are all really small like smaller than a quarter. Ill eventually give them back to the lfs or to a buddy. I also started mixing my own water using win dixie ro-distiled water and red sea coral pro salt. I think this should take care of it but we'll see! Thanks for the advice! I can only find the api to so ill just have to wing it and judge it based on progress.

[CronicReefer]

My turbo is a fiend for GHA so I keep him around. You should have good luck with yours.

[tdannhauser30]

You said the hair algae was kind of long, and when I first got Bryopsis, I thought it was some sort of hair algae. Came the same way on a few frags I bought.. Yours is probably just GHA but the story was so similar I thought Id share