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GHA is killing me slowly


no694terry

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90 day old tank 15gallon column

 

1 clown

1 turbo snail

1 coral banded shrimp

1 emerald

4-5 hermits

14g RC CUC

10 coral frags

AC50

425 and 250 koriila nanos

steady 78°

 

coralcompulsion 35w 18k par38 bulb 7.5 hrs/day

2 gallon water changes a week, sometimes 4 a week

AC50 currently has 3 day old chemipure elite, was carbon and phoszorb for about 2 weeks

 

I try and siphon as much snail poo as i can doing water changes but it seems to be "abundant" but i can see why with all the algea thats growing. I feed my clown a few pellets a day. He eats everyone before they reach the sand. Being a tall narrow tank, i didnt get the best aquascaping to prevent dead spots behind the rock, other than bristle worms how can i improve or what can i do to cut down the growth?? The corals are starting to grow in nicely, and its in my office at work, so i cant really climb inside with a toothbrush. I need to starve it out without hurting the coral

 

 

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HarryPotter

Parameters?

 

1 or 2 Mexican turbo snails would make quick work of it!

 

If your phosphates are high perhaps try a chemical media such as GFO. Or reduce your light cycle.

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out > in while spot feeding corals that eat.

 

get another turbo?

 

once a little patch takes hold it will stay with perfect params unless something eats it. it is hardy. i have a 1mm patch in a coral that snails cant get too and it has persisted for 1.5 years, not noticeable unless you know it is there.

 

i like the water change schedule, and of course "are you usign good rodi".

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if you did the peroxide method, you would have no gha and your after shots would look like 1000 we've collected :)

 

sure there are other ways, just not ones that comply within 4 days we moderately have the edge on that system.

 

custom peroxide approach after seeing your full tank shot-99% clean in 4 days regardless of anyones take. this would be a customer offered approach based on unique pic details, ergo outcomes will comply within 4 days under the constraints you have. what someone did or didn't do in another tank has no bearing when a custom approach is ran. those get unique outcomes

 

alt options:

set up algae scrubber, compliance date unknown, if it works you will have both removal and preventative.

set up carbon dosing, compliance date unknown, if it works " "

set up gfo, same, risk bleaching etc " "

 

there is no best way, we just choose among the current options based on details unique for each invasion. even if you choose an alt way from the few above, be sure and run them on a clean tank, not an invaded tank. making your tank algae free in 4 days literally has no down side and it doesn't exclude any of the options above.

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my API test kits say I'm "perfect" lol.

 

I thought about peroxide dosing my 90 fowlr at home that has gha, but the gha in that tank is diminishing greatly with water changes and vacuuming with nothing else. I put an algea scrubber on it and its clean. I could take this clown home for a while and just stop feeding all together

 

the chemipure elite has carbon, gfo and something esle in it. I have noticed the daily diatoms have not been back since i started the phoszorb, but i removed it after 2 weeks to put the chemipure in

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chipmunkofdoom2

my API test kits say I'm "perfect" lol.

 

I thought about peroxide dosing my 90 fowlr at home that has gha, but the gha in that tank is diminishing greatly with water changes and vacuuming with nothing else. I put an algea scrubber on it and its clean. I could take this clown home for a while and just stop feeding all together

 

How "perfect" we talking here? Ideal parameters mean different things to different people. Not trying to be pedantic here... people just have wildly different ideas of what is okay. I remember reading a post on another forum where a guy said his parameters were perfect and his corals were unhappy. Come to find out later his Mg was 1600ppm, Alk was 13 dKh, and Ca was well above 600ppm. Might not have been the only cause of his coral unhappiness, I do believe most reefers would agree those values are too high.

 

Where did your rock come from? Was it dry? Could be that the rock is still having die-off or that it's leaching PO4/NO3.

 

I'd stick with the 4g per week water changes. Two is likely too small on a 15g, especially if you're having nutrient problems. Also, if you don't have a skimmer, even a cheap airstone driven one will likely help. A skimmer will also allow you to dose an organic carbon source. If you're looking to starve out the algae, biopellets or some other form of organic carbon dosing may be the best way in your scenario. I'm starting to see results from my vodka dosing.. as I'm basting off the rocks daily, tufts of algae are breaking off and floating away and getting sucked into my HOB filter.

 

Additionally, it's common to have nitrate/phosphate test results at or near zero despite having a huge algae outbreak. The reason is that the algae is taking all the nutrients out of the water.

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phosphates and nitrates are "0".

 

Its probably the rocks leaching then. I got my 2 main rocks out of my home tank that had problems but they were in the sump. The other rock i got from the LFS, unknown history

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Cencalfishguy56

phosphates and nitrates are "0".

 

Its probably the rocks leaching then. I got my 2 main rocks out of my home tank that had problems but they were in the sump. The other rock i got from the LFS, unknown history

probably rock to be honest, I used my LFS dry rock in my old tank and my god it was always a battle with algae, came to the conclusion it was my rocks leaching phosphates

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Your phosphates and nitrates read 0 because the algae is consuming them in order to grow. Could be the rocks, could be your water supply, but manual removal, water changes, and chemical treatment are your best bets.

 

Good luck.

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it may be a detritus issue too, theres a good bit. I have a 3' long rigid air tube, just used my spacer heater to form a bend on the end so i can get in the nooks and crannies better siphoning. Today on my lunch break i'm going to vacuum the crap out of it and change 2 more gallons, then again on friday and start a 4 gallon a week schedule for a while. I need to pick up another bucket of salt, i went through that 160g bucket in less than 3 months

 

I have huge bristle worms at home that seem to keep the detritus at bay there, i never see it at home, but here i fear my CBS may be eating my worms :angry:

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  • 2 weeks later...

GHA is a pain... but a small amount is an indicator of a healthy tank, if algae won't grow - neither will your coral. The goal is to create an environment where your coral have the advantage.

 

Do

  1. Reduce your photo period to 8 hours or less. Most small algae species are efficient for very long photo periods - up to 18 hours. Most coral on the other hand begins to drop off in efficiency after 2-8 hours. This means that near the end of a longer photo period algae will be more competetive for resources than your coral.
  2. Change your light spectrum to favor more blue / remove red if possible. If you have older lights - replace the bulbs. If you have LED's decrease the red channel significantly or run it for < 4 hours per day.
  3. Drop N and P to 1.0-10.0 and 0.0 to 0.02 respectively. For coral to produce energy they need nitrate and a very small amount of phosphate. if you try to bottom your nitrate out you'll just starve your coral and will continue to have GHA issues. P is also necessary, but in even smaller amounts. N or P depletion can rate limit the bacterial conversion of the other - if your N is 0 and your P is still 0.04 then you will need to add more nitrate in order to drop your phosphate. Having this ratio is important for good coral health.
  4. Add an algae scrubber. If you really want to rid your display of algae you may be best served by a scrubber. This will allow the algae to grow where you want it. A good approach would be to have the algae scrubber turn on near the end of your photo period, and to have it turned off a few hours before your main lights turn on.
  5. Take care of your detritus issue + increase flow to areas accumulating detritus + make sure you have a method for extracting detritus over time (skimming/filter socks/mech)
  6. Dose Hydrogen Peroxide, or preferrably dip rocks in H202 / water mix. This is a sure fire way to eliminate hair algae but can harm shrimp and some coral. It's not the safest solution but it WORKS 100% of the time. It's important to note that you will need a great nutrient export schedule following H202 treatment.
  7. CUC are sort of a last ditch effort, don't go crazy here as they'll just mask your problem. A small CUC is necessary as you need something to trim back the algae to manageable levels. The problem is that CUC poop and die and releasing all that they've consumed back into the water. If you do introduce a CUC focus on sustainable species like a small selection of copepods, antrhopods, astrea snails, red/blue leg hermits (riskier/will die), and possibly a couple emerald crabs (if you're feeling lucky).

Don't

  1. People may tell you to do water changes, but unless you can change huge volumes of water regularly over a period of weeks you will not be able to easily fix the issue. That said - do keep up with your regular WC schedule. (just saw that this is only 15g... regular 30% water changes while agressively killing off the algae are def doable)
  2. Don't add tons of CUC critters to fix the issue, this is not a long term solution
  3. Don't try to bottom out your nitrates while ignoring your phosphates.
  4. Don't trust your phosphate checker unless it is capable of measuring < 0.01 increments

This is what I've learned from my years in the trenches of algae town.

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GHA is a pain... but a small amount is an indicator of a healthy tank, if algae won't grow - neither will your coral. The goal is to create an environment where your coral have the advantage.

 

Do

  1. Reduce your photo period to 8 hours or less. Most small algae species are efficient for very long photo periods - up to 18 hours. Most coral on the other hand begins to drop off in efficiency after 2-8 hours. This means that near the end of a longer photo period algae will be more competetive for resources than your coral.
  2. Change your light spectrum to favor more blue / remove red if possible. If you have older lights - replace the bulbs. If you have LED's decrease the red channel significantly or run it for < 4 hours per day.
  3. Drop N and P to 1.0-10.0 and 0.0 to 0.02 respectively. For coral to produce energy they need nitrate and a very small amount of phosphate. if you try to bottom your nitrate out you'll just starve your coral and will continue to have GHA issues. P is also necessary, but in even smaller amounts. N or P depletion can rate limit the bacterial conversion of the other - if your N is 0 and your P is still 0.04 then you will need to add more nitrate in order to drop your phosphate. Having this ratio is important for good coral health.
  4. Add an algae scrubber. If you really want to rid your display of algae you may be best served by a scrubber. This will allow the algae to grow where you want it. A good approach would be to have the algae scrubber turn on near the end of your photo period, and to have it turned off a few hours before your main lights turn on.
  5. Take care of your detritus issue + increase flow to areas accumulating detritus + make sure you have a method for extracting detritus over time (skimming/filter socks/mech)
  6. Dose Hydrogen Peroxide, or preferrably dip rocks in H202 / water mix. This is a sure fire way to eliminate hair algae but can harm shrimp and some coral. It's not the safest solution but it WORKS 100% of the time. It's important to note that you will need a great nutrient export schedule following H202 treatment.
  7. CUC are sort of a last ditch effort, don't go crazy here as they'll just mask your problem. A small CUC is necessary as you need something to trim back the algae to manageable levels. The problem is that CUC poop and die and releasing all that they've consumed back into the water. If you do introduce a CUC focus on sustainable species like a small selection of copepods, antrhopods, astrea snails, red/blue leg hermits (riskier/will die), and possibly a couple emerald crabs (if you're feeling lucky).

Don't

  1. People may tell you to do water changes, but unless you can change huge volumes of water regularly over a period of weeks you will not be able to easily fix the issue. That said - do keep up with your regular WC schedule. (just saw that this is only 15g... regular 30% water changes while agressively killing off the algae are def doable)
  2. Don't add tons of CUC critters to fix the issue, this is not a long term solution
  3. Don't try to bottom out your nitrates while ignoring your phosphates.
  4. Don't trust your phosphate checker unless it is capable of measuring < 0.01 increments

This is what I've learned from my years in the trenches of algae town.

 

This is great advice, all in one post! Learned a few things, hopefully I won't need it...

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