GHA Removal-Tried Everything?

[Fitz]

I have a Coralife Biocube 29 and have been struggling with GHA for over a couple months now. The tank has been up since late December. I have well water running through copper pipes in my house and it is "hard water", and I use this source to make my RO/DI. I'm thinking my source water is the problem, even though I'm still running it through RO/DI? I do 15% water changes every week, making sure I suck out all the detritus I can in the back chambers. I top off each day with fresh RO/DI water. I have an air stone hooked up to the return on a timer which I run for 3 hours overnight to get extra O2 into the water. I feed pellet food every other day, LIGHTLY, to 2 clowns and a royal gamma. I also have a cleaner shrimp and several coral frags. For filtration, I run an aquamaxx skimmer, and have the In-tank media basket with filter floss at the top, followed by the filter pad from foster and smith that has the carbon, gfo, and ammonia remover in it. Next level down has carbon and GFO and a media bag, and the bottom level has chaeto with the JBJ nano LED light. I have a CUC with an emerald crab, a few hermits, and a few turbos. 

 

Just today I started the vinegar dosing. I do not know what else to do. I was thinking maybe I have to get a reactor for the GFO? I tried the CPR nano reactor, but it churned up the GFO so much, and sent dust out covering my whole tank. What other reactors will fit in the back chamber without modification? Or maybe one that can be secured to the exterior of the tank and have lines running into the back chamber?

 

Am I missing something? Any suggestions? 

[HarryPotter]

Remove rock and sand and replace if you really want to fix the issue IMO

[Glweek]

Step up your W/C game! ive been doing 15% (4 gal) w/c every three days for over 2 months now or so and FINALLY the algea is going away, almost down to zero at this point. It was so bad that i was going to shut the tank down and just decided to "get through the rest of my salt" as nobody in my are uses what i use so i would have had to thrown it away. my corals started looking much better after the first three weeks of this and now there are only a few patches here and there.

[Clown79]

Gfo works best in reactors.

 

If you want to use something in a media bag, phosguard would be better.

 

What are your nitrates and phos levels?

 

Vodka dosing has pros and cons.

 

Finding your cause is super important as all else is a bandaid. Until the cause is changed, the problem will return.

 

Test your ro/di water. If it's the issue buy distilled.

If the water source is  no good, waterchanges will do nothing.

 

Do you vacuum your sand 

 

Blast rocks with turkey baster 

 

How often is floss changed

 

How much gha are we talking about and where is it?

 

 

[KnH]

 

[HarryPotter]

Anyway if you tried everything already you're just screwed and nobody can help ?

[DocReef]

I can attest to the hydrogen peroxide. Had a large outbreak and got it under control with this. I even dipped my corals with minimal issues. I also use Vibrant and have had good results. Make sure you have a clean up crew to finish it off. 

[Fitz]

Ordered some phosguard and a TDS meter. Will switch out the GFO, up the water changes, and try the peroxide 

[Superdave]

I fought a long battle with GHA and finally got it under control.  While I am not certain which of the approaches I took made the difference, here is what I did.  

 

I cut way back on lighting (dark for several days, then only a couple hours for a couple of weeks there after and or when it got bad again)

Emerald crab: I went through several of these before I found balance of feeding it enough and not making it spoiled to where it didn't keep GHA in check.

Phosguard: small bags of it (cheap pantyhose from drug store) every week (give or take) along with my water changes. 

Physical removal: I would pull out by hand as much as I could on a regular basis with rock still in tank.  Occasionally, I would pull rock out so I could more fully remove it.  I found cheap wire brushes from Home Depot were effective.  

"Algae scrubber": I allow algae to grow on part of my Bio-Wheel 110 (minus the wheel, used for water movement with cartridge for physical filtration) where the water returns/spills back into the tank.  My thinking is if it has a place to grow "outside" of the tank, let it thrive there as opposed to all over the rocks.  Additionally, I was not using this filter when the GHA was out of control.  Maybe adding it (the cartridge gets really filthy after a few days!) helped in terms of extra filtration?  

GSP: Am not sure if my green star polyp made any difference, but I let it grow wildly (search my posts and you will a pic here and there of how it took up nearly 2/3 of my 5.5 gallon tank.  Perhaps it out-competed the GHA for nutrients?  Again, just a guess but I wanted to mention it.  

 

While it might be a pain to buy water, I would consider doing so.  Your water may not be the primary cause of the outbreak, but perfectly pure water will help.  The frustration of the GHA is worth 6 months of water purchases in terms of money and time spent in my opinion.  If it does not help at all after a few months, then you have ruled out your water as the culprit.  

 

TIME!!  I tried to "rush" the process at one point and ended up loosing a fish (I believe due to stress) from too large of a water change.  Be patient and if it takes a few months more to get it in check, it is worth the time.  

 

Good luck!

[brandon429]

Fitz

 

I claim gha is the easiest to fix wanna try a tank rebuild real quick

 

its all skip cycle work and you can set it all back up without the algae after a thorough fonging of the substrates. for all the prevention and containment methods above, the trick is you don't run them in the presence of the actual algae. you run them after the rip cleaning.

[Clown79]

The best way to rid yourself of the is:

 

Find the cause of the nutrients and correct

 

Take rocks out(if it's on the rocks) scrub, rinse, peroxide dip, rinse.

 

If it's on the sand. Remove sand and

 

1. Wash completely and replace

2. Replace with new sand

[Fitz]

Update:

 

reading zero TDS on my RO/DI water before salt. Water directly from the well is at 130 TDS. Phosgard just came in. Will put it in the tank tomorrow 

[Fitz]

Another update. Problem still does not seem to be getting any better. Will give it another couple weeks and start dipping in peroxide at that point. 

[Tamberav]

On 7/12/2017 at 9:17 PM, Fitz said:

 I have an air stone hooked up to the return on a timer which I run for 3 hours overnight to get extra O2 into the water.

 

 

You have a skimmer, sufficient flow, is there a reason for this?

 

The way we grow green hair algae in algae scrubbers is by running air through it using an air stone. It makes the scrubber an ideal spot to grow GHA. If you are feeding the return sending bubbles into the display, you are making your display a more ideal spot for GHA. 

 

 

[Fitz]

6 hours ago, Tamberav said:

 

 

You have a skimmer, sufficient flow, is there a reason for this?

 

The way we grow green hair algae in algae scrubbers is by running oxygen through it using an air stone. It makes the scrubber an ideal spot to grow GHA. If you are feeding the return sending bubbles into the display, you are making your display a more ideal spot for GHA. 

 

 

I thought algae consumed CO2 just like any other plant, not oxygen? I'm running the air stone as I've heard lots of people have success with putting microbubbles into their tank at night. The GHA is the same as before I was doing it. 

[Tamberav]

8 hours ago, Fitz said:

I thought algae consumed CO2 just like any other plant, not oxygen? I'm running the air stone as I've heard lots of people have success with putting microbubbles into their tank at night. The GHA is the same as before I was doing it. 

They do but upflow algae scrubbers use air stones, my guess is it offers ideal flow, maybe CO2 from atmosphere. I am just wondering if you are turning your tank into a algae scrubber since the conditions are ideal to grow algae already.

 

Are you running the air from outside? I would think that would be ideal if your idea is to raise pH at night and ward of CO2. Otherwise you would only match the conditions inside your house. 

 

Just a thought, your husbandry looks good. 

[chevegan]

Yep algae scrubbers use air bubbles to promote more gas exchange, air bubbles don't carry pure oxygen there is co2 as well in the air :). Anyway here is my very easy fix. Take out the rock and manually remove as much as you can. Then do a 3 day lights out. You will be releasing a ton of nitrate and phosphates back into water column so have 10-15 gallons of new salt ready. At the end of your 72 hrs you will be SHOCKED. Do your water change (proper temp and salinity of course) and move on with your life. 

 

The phosgaurd will absorb what is released but there will likely be way more than it can suck up unless you replace everyday for the 3 days. By the way this would be a great time to start an algae scrubber or chaeto reactor! As the GHA dies the scrubber or reactor will go crazy! lol Trust me it works. MANY MANY MANY reef keepers do a 72 hr lights out once a month as good husbandry on very very large tanks as well as nano.

 

If you're desperate you can dose 1 dose of algaefix marine at the start of the 72hrs. But I would try it without first.

 

BTW what if any livestock do you have in the tank. That would be good to know 

[Fitz]

Yes, I know there's CO2 in the atmosphere but someone said algae scrubbers work off oxygen so I was confused lol. For livestock I have 2 clowns and a royal gamma 

[Tamberav]

3 hours ago, Fitz said:

Yes, I know there's CO2 in the atmosphere but someone said algae scrubbers work off oxygen so I was confused lol. For livestock I have 2 clowns and a royal gamma 

Sorry, I didn't sleep enough. I did not mean pure oxygen, just air/atmosphere. 

[holy carp]

Fluconazole got rid of my GHA - it did come back, but I plan to try it again for a longer duration to see if it has a permanent effect like it did on my bryopsis.

[Fitz]

Should I test the RO/DI water for Phosphate? It reads zero TDS, but does zero TDS mean zero phosphate. 

[duderubble]

My worst gha attack was resolved with a lettuce nudibranch. And quick.  Better than any manual scrub you could do, but this assumes you also get the chemistry issues resolved. 

 

My current tank s doing much better with larger water changes less frequently. 50% bi-weekly. 

[brandon429]

also wanted to update

 

don't dip in peroxide

 

post pics and get a custom plan for a 48 hour fix, don't dip though. that exposes nontargets to the bubbly

 

the way we correctly prepare certain spots for treatment is more important than the peroxide, and its location specific. there is a targeting method avail that w wipe your gha fast, fast.

 

The key with algae problems is in prevention vs removal separation

 

all the forums are using preventatives as the removers, that's why there's so many constant algae challenge tanks forever.

 

if we just hand remove all algae using an algaecide cheat, and prep the surfaces correctly, we hardly ever need preventers. But if the algae keeps coming back, then preventers like ATS, carbon dosing, refugia, various dosers like vibrant or fluco, any and all come into play

 

the number one thing you want to avoid in algae control habits is adding things to the water, or taking action to the water, to affect things anchored to a rock. When we have waterborne algae we act on the water

 

when we have anchored algae we act on the anchors

 

the longer we delay action, the more anchoring and fragmenting goes on/perpetuation

 

algae hope to land in tanks where there's hesitation and indirect action on them as they mass together in a self-supporting feed-attaining detritus catching community.

 

The number one way you know someone is off track in an algae correction thread is if any algae can be seen in their tanks at the time of the analysis (means they've been farming it on purpose, usually due to not being shown alternatives)

 

the rarest posts are the ones where they show up exhausted from constantly hand removing the offender, the tank looks spectacular because it was forced that way, and they want to reduce this manual gardening mode.

 

its been neat watching dosers like Fluco come about where water additions really do work on anchored substrates. The reason I wont hop on that all the way is because the old method works well and to me is a safer habit system. the fluco is the nuc cheat as needed lol. do whatever works not a prob!

 

I thought it would help to know we get common posts where keepers have met all the goal care methods you employ, exclude the hand guiding part, and still get gha (it's so well adapted) 

 

It's been neat collecting tank fixes using a hidden secret we had all along, even with lesser prevention methods in place.