Best ways to control GHA

[rubadakis]

Hi. I am having some problems dealing with GHA. Please name your best tips for controling it. Thanks!

[andykee]

you need to find and diagnose the source of the problem. it is most likely due to excess nutrients in your water. are you overfeeding your tank?

 

in terms of getting rid of what you already have, manual removal is the best way to go. once you get it all nice and short, you can add a turbo snail to munch down what is left.

[Mad Frags]

Hair Algae

 

Steps In Order:

 

*Identify type of HA...Bryopsis, Derbasia - treatment is dependant on type.

*Observe your system and find cause - excess nutrient/phosphate.

*Check Skimmer and make sure it is running at it's fullest potential. Run wet.

* Remove as much as you can manually.

* Do water changes! Dont worry about trace elements fueling the algae if nutrients are high.

*Cut light cycle in half after a day of complete darkness.

*Add herbivors to take care of the remainder.

 

Remember - find the root of the problem before you proceed. Otherwise you will always have a repeat. Also, UV's are not necessary, but do help in controlling free floating spores of Bryopsis in the water. HTH.

[rubadakis]

Thanks for the tips!

 

Aquapod 12g with 70w metal halides

 

My parameters:

 

1.024

nitrate 0

nitrite 0

ammonia 0

phosphate 0 (am using salifert test, but i am sure there has to be phosphates)

ph 8.3

temp 78-80

calcium 380-420

 

filters:

 

aqua c nano remora protein skimmer

"soap dish" chaetomorpha modification

polyfilter

chemipure

yesterday added julian sprungs phosphate remover

 

lights were on for 9 hours, as of yesterday am reducing the light period to 6 hours, I can't go shorter because I have two crocea clams!

 

I also have a sun polyp coral...he gets to eat every other day...i never let the mysis shrimp go loose on the tank.

 

What can I do? lawnmower blenny? sea hare? prodibio? fw mollies!!???

 

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[supahtim]

how long has it been running for? how old is the bulb? what's the livestock?

 

the reason why your phosphates are reading 0 is because the GHA is naturally sucking them all up. just make sure it doesn't go from suck to blow. jk.

 

just rip it out manually. you're going about it the right way. keep it up!

 

Tim

[Truck_Under_Water]

I bought some rock that had GHA in a nice clump. Some turbos in my cleanup crew had it gone in just a few days.

 

Not saying that introducing algae controlling organisms is the answer, but in my case the GHA was introduced and not grown in my tank lol.

[rubadakis]

Thanks for the help!

 

my livestock:

 

1 six line wrasse

4 hermit crabs (blue legs)

1 turbo snail

cleaner shrimp

1 astrea snail

4 nassarius snails

2 crocea clams

sun coral (15 polyps)

assorted zoas

bubble coral

assorted polyps

organ pipe coral (white)

favia

[djchristone]

a few mexican turbos cleared up my gha

[masterbuilder]

What djchristone said...works everytime

[rubadakis]

ok...I reduced my light period to 6 hours a day...change the 6 month old metal halide bulb...remove as much gha (manually) as possible...clean the protein skimmer...added phoshban...gha is no longer growing but still looks pretty healthy...has anyone tried prodibio bioclean? any drawbacks?...what about lanthanum chloride from vanson/seaklear?

 

HELP HELP!!!

[jimmy595]

My emerald crab takes out my hair algae/bryopsis, he pinches it with his claws, and then twists. Although she works kinda slow. Maybe try one of these. Try to get a female(circular flap on underside as opposded to narrow strip).

[djchristone]

why bother asking for help when you don't listen?

 

a few mexican turbo snails -___- did you read it this time and register?

 

you can do all that...RO/DI water, phosguard/whatever, and it still wont clear it. trust me i've tried it all. the mexican turbos cleared it. almost overnight listen won't you?

[noobwithatank]

for me.. all i did was cut from a 10 hour light cycle down to a 4 hour, manually remove as much as possible. add more flow an waterchanges within 2 weeks it was all gone

[sambo123]

like everone is saying, you have added enough additives just stop adding anything else and get a better CUC, then remove it manually as well. it will work in a few weeks, trust me.

 

Try adding 3 more astrea, 4 more Turbos, and add an emerald crab or 4 more hermits (scarlets)

[FishFreak77]

Won't removing the GHA manually cause the pores to break up and spread in the water just causing the problem to get worse? That is why I have been scared to scrape off too much of mine. Is this even true?

[ben1234]

although many people have put there 2 cents in i figure the more the better. NO MORE ADDITIVES if you cannot keep a aquarium without adding chemicals you really shouldnt keep one. Chemicals shouldnt be the answer to problems, good reef keeping habits should be. If you have gha research type look at what your doing wrong (such as not enough herbivorous animals) and correct problems. BALANCE IS KEY

[Buehler]

The best cure for GHA is to never promote it in the first place!

 

On a more serious note, GHA is there because of excess nutrients. Rather than just trying to find something to eat it (which, I tried EVERYTHING and almost nothing would touch it, including Turbo Snails). Finding the source of the GHA is the first step toward prevention. As mentioned above, it may be the fact that you are introducing too many additives. You may also be over feeding, have too long of a light cycle, etc. If you are using flake food with Phosphates, that'll do it too. Use of tap water can cause problems. Try to use RO or distilled. Lack of water changes can also cause problems, not to mention the health of the fish. So unless you have a skimmer, keep up on those as well! The salt you are using may also have unwanted stuff in it...so ask around and check labels.

 

Once you get the source of the GHA under control, then try some different CUC to minimize it at that point. The only thing that has worked for me are a couple Scarlet Hermits and periodic "harvesting" of the GHA----basically, just pick it off the rocks and immediately put it into a glass jar with a little bit of water. Don't let it float around the tank...or yes...you may have more GHA than you started with.

 

Good luck! GHA is a pain, but it can be kept under control. It won't happen over night, however, so give it some time after you make changes!

 

HTH

[SeeDemTails]

If your snails arent eating it, it is because you dont have enough and thye have a sense of security and dont eat as much or as rapidly.....ad about twice what you have now and they will freak out and compete with each other....this is the only way snails are really effective. I assure you this will help.

 

Emerald crabs work great too....everytime I get a zoa rock with HA in the zoas he takes care of it for me in no time, with no harm to the zoas.

 

As far as manual removal does, use a gallon jug and some air hose....suck the algae into the hose, then pinch and pull....all that you pull off goes into the hose and is syphoned out of the tank. This is the best way to manually remove it.

 

Then as like 10 people have said before, add more snails!!!! Make them compete with each other!

[rubadakis]

The best cure for GHA is to never promote it in the first place!

 

On a more serious note, GHA is there because of excess nutrients. Rather than just trying to find something to eat it (which, I tried EVERYTHING and almost nothing would touch it, including Turbo Snails). Finding the source of the GHA is the first step toward prevention. As mentioned above, it may be the fact that you are introducing too many additives. You may also be over feeding, have too long of a light cycle, etc. If you are using flake food with Phosphates, that'll do it too. Use of tap water can cause problems. Try to use RO or distilled. Lack of water changes can also cause problems, not to mention the health of the fish. So unless you have a skimmer, keep up on those as well! The salt you are using may also have unwanted stuff in it...so ask around and check labels.

 

Once you get the source of the GHA under control, then try some different CUC to minimize it at that point. The only thing that has worked for me are a couple Scarlet Hermits and periodic "harvesting" of the GHA----basically, just pick it off the rocks and immediately put it into a glass jar with a little bit of water. Don't let it float around the tank...or yes...you may have more GHA than you started with.

 

Good luck! GHA is a pain, but it can be kept under control. It won't happen over night, however, so give it some time after you make changes!

 

HTH

 

 

My salt: tropic marine pro reef

water: distilled or R/O

i have an aqua c nano remora skimmer (24/7)

i added 3 more astreas

I do 1.5 gallon water changes 2x a week! (12g Aquapod)

I am also removing as much as possible from the rocks

I will stop using the salifert additive

I am only feeding frozen mysis (i get rid of the dirty water before feeding)

Thanks for the help...i'll keep you posted...hopefully within the next few weeks the tank will be gha free again...