I had a few outbreaks of GHA..first in my display then in my sump. A good batch of urchins, turbo snails and hermit crabs did a great job...especially since I initially overstocked it in the hopes to clear it out. HOWEVER, i really never eradicated my GHA until I put in a turf scrubber. I dont know if this was just coincidental timing or if the turf scrubber made it so that GHA 'decided' not to grow any where else...but I have had no problems since my turf scrubber has gone in my sump.
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Please help me with my GHA
- Thread starter Yates273
- Start date
Nitrates 7 and phosphates 0 aren’t going to cause such a GHA outbreak. I’d be concerned of going to 0 because I’d rather have gha than dinos. The gha feeds on nitrates and phosphates. So it could be sucking up the phosphates faster than you can read it or your testing is wrong.
What kind of fish do you have? Some algae eaters won’t pick off rocks. Also, they won’t eat algae if you’re feeding them too well. Why work for the food if it’s readily available elsewhere?
What kind of fish do you have? Some algae eaters won’t pick off rocks. Also, they won’t eat algae if you’re feeding them too well. Why work for the food if it’s readily available elsewhere?
urchin removed all coraline. Only coraline that exists is where he can not get to
GHA came after I beat Dino’s. Right now Dino’s seems a lot easier to beat. This GHA is invasive on some of my frags. I have to constantly pick off so it doesn’t smother my Duncan’s and some of my zoas. My outbreak came from 75+ ppm nitrates that I found after buying a Hanna nitrate tester. The api that I was using for nitrates was way off. I actually thought there was something wrong with my Hanna. I should have known. As far as fish for algae I have a yellow tang, foxface, 2 barred rabbit fish, and a lawnmower Blenny. CUC consists of One pincushion urchin( soon to be 2), emerald crab several snails, a couple scarlet hermit crabs and a fighting conch.
i will admit I try to feed algae once a day soaked with Selcon. My Plank feeds 4 times a day which is freeze dried mysis and coral food.
What algae scrubber do you use? I am open to researching everything to assist with my issue.
I am using the Ice Cap small pro. Doing great..only issue i had was getting it into the sump to begin with! After that, I ron popeil'ed it. I set it and forget it (until at least monthly maintenance)
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Not dosing phosphates since I probably have in the water but getting false reading due to GHA don’t want to add too much
No issues with it leaking. I’m going off of the negative reviews. I was looking at Icekap but the reviews scared me. Hmm this one is different from one I was looking at. Can this be mounted outside next to my sump if I were to fix plumbing to put pump in sump? I’m liking the price also. What size tank are you running this on? Do you still run any macro algae? Sorry for all the questions just trying to figure this out.I am using the Ice Cap small pro. Doing great..only issue i had was getting it into the sump to begin with! After that, I ron popeil'ed it. I set it and forget it (until at least monthly maintenance)
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This one goes directly in the sump so leaking is a non event..its how it is designed. I have this on a 90 gallon with a 30 gallon sump. I actually do have cheato running in the same sump compartment but very little room so debating on which one I want to continue with. It is pretty quiet and has done a great job dropping nutrients.
Jamie S
NJRC Member
Any update on the GHA problem? I dosed flux rx on Sunday and seeing some minor results so far. Also noticing my nutrients are rising from 0.00 PO4 to 0.02 and 7 NO3 to 20 as of last night since i tested last weekend. I'll be monitoring them a little closer now. I ordered Microbacter Clean since i saw an interview with the CEO of Brightwell Aquatics and he said that the Clean was designed to combat the GHA. That should be arriving today and I'll start dosing that combined with a few more doses of Microbacter7. My Orp has dropped significantly the last few days since I turned my skimmer back on which I'm a bit concerned about but I'm guessing that may be because the algae is breaking down? If somebody has a more definitive answer please let me know.
Still battling, this week I plan on adding another urchin thanks to Mwil. Picking up some more turbo snails as well. I did notice some of my live rock was very clean which indicates someone is doing their job. I refuse to give up on this battle. This has been a challenge, but that’s what makes this hobby so interesting. Keep us posted with your flux rx and Microbacter clean approach.
How many hermits do you have. When i had a large patch of GHA and dumped in about 30 of them..they methodically cleaned rock by rock. Was funny watching the swarm. No one was off by themselves..they worked as a unit until each rock was cleaned.
I had green hair algae in my current tank (about 15 months old) so I feel your pain. Only thing worked for me long term is flux rx. I have used it twice. The first time it was good for six months then GHA slowly came back but a second dose wiped them out. Flux RX can work slowly, up to 2 to 3 weeks. The good thing is it does not hurt anything at the prescribed dosage. So if I see signs of GHA coming back I would not hesitate to dose again. I have read it worked for many so if I were you I would give it another try.
Vibrant have worked for me in my old tank but only once. I don't use it anymore in favor of flux rx.
Hydroxy Peroxide worked really well for spot treatment. The problem is once you see the algae in a spot it will soon getting out of control. So spot treatment just delay the inevitable. Also keep in mine dosing Hyrdoxy Perioxide does hurt corals if in significant amount.
Snails, crabs and urchins help but a crap shoot. I have had 4 emerald crabs many years ago wiping out a new tank full of hair algae but have not been able to reproduce the result. I have 30 hermit crabs in my 70g tank it did nothing.
One thing I do I think helps is dosing phosphate and nitrate to keep the tank at least not nutrient restricted in any component. and dose NOPOX to keep bacteria happy. In small amount anyways. I don't think starving the tank or black out work for GHA.
I have an SPS tank and the corals starting to cover the rocks. Once the rocks are covered there is no place for algae to grow. and that is what I am hoping to happen eventually.
Vibrant have worked for me in my old tank but only once. I don't use it anymore in favor of flux rx.
Hydroxy Peroxide worked really well for spot treatment. The problem is once you see the algae in a spot it will soon getting out of control. So spot treatment just delay the inevitable. Also keep in mine dosing Hyrdoxy Perioxide does hurt corals if in significant amount.
Snails, crabs and urchins help but a crap shoot. I have had 4 emerald crabs many years ago wiping out a new tank full of hair algae but have not been able to reproduce the result. I have 30 hermit crabs in my 70g tank it did nothing.
One thing I do I think helps is dosing phosphate and nitrate to keep the tank at least not nutrient restricted in any component. and dose NOPOX to keep bacteria happy. In small amount anyways. I don't think starving the tank or black out work for GHA.
I have an SPS tank and the corals starting to cover the rocks. Once the rocks are covered there is no place for algae to grow. and that is what I am hoping to happen eventually.
I have used reef flux on 2 occasions it did cause some of the GHA to whiten but never fully eradicate it like others. I have been using a shop vac with micro brush attachments to pull out. My biggest concern with the GHA is it keeps growing on my Duncan’s, zoas and torches. It comes off very easy but it def is irritating the Duncan’s and a couple zoa frags. I know reef flux is safe which is why I tried it. I would really like to try this with the natural approach so my tank will not rely on a chemical to right itself. I def don’t have a GHA problem like I have seen on other tanks where it has totally taken over but it’s enough to bother me considering my 2 other tanks have never had this problem with GHA. I have said it before Dino’s we’re easier to eradicate thank GHA.
If it does work I would do a follow up dose. I think once it's gone it will stay gone for at least a while allowing the eco system to re-balance itself. Once the GHA is gone in my tank I see the regular green algae to grow a lot fast on the glass and even diatoms. and the nutrient no longer bottom out. all good sign to me.
It has always been a mystery to me why some algae grow in the tank but not others. There must be some chemical warfare going on as well. I have never see a good explanation anywhere. in our tanks we have all kind of algae but under the right condition nothing grow out of control.
It has always been a mystery to me why some algae grow in the tank but not others. There must be some chemical warfare going on as well. I have never see a good explanation anywhere. in our tanks we have all kind of algae but under the right condition nothing grow out of control.
Adam L
NJRC Member
I also dose neophos for same reason