Algae help

[Bill92]

Hello, new here, ive had my tank running for about a year now and the parameters have been quite stable although phosphate is a little high 0.13 ish but doesnt fluctuate much

Anyways ive had this algae for a while and thought its just ugly stage but hasnt went and just keeps growing

It kind of looks like grass and looks kindve nice when it flows left and right with the wave makers but i think its time for me to get it gone now and need advice on what i should do

Ill post up a pic and hoepfully it helps

Thanks

 

[Glenner’sreef]

So it’s all cause and affect. Something you’re doing or not doing is causing the algae to grow. Is your water rodi? Tap water would definitely keep this stuff living. How reliable is your 0.13? Could you get another test result from a different test? How long are your lights on? How balanced is your tank? Food, flow, cuc, fish? All thing that will either help or hinder removal. Maintenance schedule. How cleannis the tank always? Answer some or all of these and others will chime in and get you back on track.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Don’t worry with parameters, if you want to remove the green hair algae look at purchasing a sea hare, they will eat all that algae for you. Once she’s finished return it to local fish store or pass it on to another member of the reefing community.

 

[Duffer]

Phosphates are not fluctuating for the fact that GHA is consuming them and feeding of of them. Most likely you are getting a false reading on your tests.

 

[Bill92]

Ill try answer all the questions above

Ive also used ro water for top off, i use nsw for water changes for now untill i get coral then will switch to mixing my own

I use hanna ulr for testing phosphates

My lights are on for around 10 hours But in saying that i have purchased radion g5's just havnt set them uo yet and have been reading and could possibly be the white cheap lights i have now that could be helping the issue so from tomorrow they will be blue only

I have 2 clowns 2 chromis 1 bicolour blenny 2 mollies, i have 2 hermit crabs, 3 nassarius snails and about 10 trochus

I feed once a day, mysis shrimp
For flow i have the jebao power head but the dual one and on the other side i just have a singlr power head
Then obviously i have the return that helps agitate the surface

For maintenance i was doing waterchanges fortnightly but as of 6 weeks ago i have slacked off abit and left a bit more of a gap between changes


Hope this helps

 

[Bucs20fan]

My best guess is you have elevated nitrates and phosphates, and the GHA is feasting on it. +1 to a sea hare if you want an organism to help, only other option for that stage would be manual removal in my opinion.

 

[SlugSnorter]

My best guess is you have elevated nitrates and phosphates, and the GHA is feasting on it. +1 to a sea hare if you want an organism to help, only other option for that stage would be manual removal in my opinion.

Blue Tux Urchin (olderish tanks) and Pitho Crabs are good too, they don't eat as much, but they can help and don't need to be sold off after.

 

[Bill92]

My best guess is you have elevated nitrates and phosphates, and the GHA is feasting on it. +1 to a sea hare if you want an organism to help, only other option for that stage would be manual removal in my opinion.

Right

Plan of attack for now untill i get some more advice is
Manual removal, reduce lighting to only blue
Get more trochus and turbos ? And try find a urchin or sea hare

 

[SlugSnorter]

My best guess is you have elevated nitrates and phosphates, and the GHA is feasting on it. +1 to a sea hare if you want an organism to help, only other option for that stage would be manual removal in my opinion.

GHA can return a lot of the time if the issue that caused it is not also adressed.

 

[Bucs20fan]

Every one of us has GHA at some point or another and more than once it just happens. If you are only feeding that little a day, have you used antibiotics at any time? A bacterial dieoff will definitely make GHA explode. You could dose with hydrogen peroxide some people find that effective. Also those plain white lights are algae monsters, I learned this from experience. Changing your lighting will help in the long run but still will not eliminate the GHA long term. If your phos wont budge you can always buy some phosguard which helped me tremendously in my bad GHA outbreak. I just made sure the phos didnt bottom out, bc then you swing the door wide open for dinos.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Right

Plan of attack for now untill i get some more advice is
Manual removal, reduce lighting to only blue
Get more trochus and turbos ? And try find a urchin or sea hare

If you use a "nuke eater" like a hare that will eat everything but then needs to be rehoused, theres a decent chance the GHA will just come back. IMO, its best to setup a stable crew that can keep the GHA in check but not starve combined with manual removal and keeping nutrients in check. Also, not much really eats GHA once it gets really long, so keep note of that. A pitho crab might be good.

 

[Bucs20fan]

My favorite algae warriors are trochus snails. Now the heavy hitters are turbos and a tuxedo urchin. All of these options will help get rid of your GHA but most of these options, barring the Sea hare and the tuxedo will not eat GHA at that stage. Its grown too long for them to bother. They will eat it like crazy as it grows once its somewhat under control. I say you get some phosguard, or GFO to help lower your phosphates. The algae will start to die within a week.

 

[Bill92]

Hey guys just an update, i bought some astrea and tochus snails and git the phosguard etc ready but ive made a post on fb an there are saying its turf algae

Just wondering if anyone can give me a proper id here

Thanks got some better pics

 

[SlugSnorter]

Hey guys just an update, i bought some astrea and tochus snails and git the phosguard etc ready but ive made a post on fb an there are saying its turf algae

Just wondering if anyone can give me a proper id here

Thanks got some better pics

hard to tell, does it have visible roots, and is it hard to pull off?

 

[sixty_reefer]

Hey guys just an update, i bought some astrea and tochus snails and git the phosguard etc ready but ive made a post on fb an there are saying its turf algae

Just wondering if anyone can give me a proper id here

Thanks got some better pics

Definitely not turf algae, it will be GHA possibly Chlorodesmis aka maidens hair algae, is any of your cuc eating it? That would help with a right id

 

[Bill92]

hard to tell, does it have visible roots, and is it hard to pull off?

I havnt tried to pull it off as of yet, going to do a water change in the next couple of days and try to remove as much of it as possible manually

Definitely not turf algae, it will be GHA possibly Chlorodesmis aka maidens hair algae, is any of your cuc eating it? That would help with a right id

So i have some trochus and some astrea snails, they seem to be in and around it but hard to tell if they are eating it, my molly and bicolour blenny peck at it throughout the day
Hope that helps

 

[sixty_reefer]

I havnt tried to pull it off as of yet, going to do a water change in the next couple of days and try to remove as much of it as possible manually


So i have some trochus and some astrea snails, they seem to be in and around it but hard to tell if they are eating it, my molly and bicolour blenny peck at it throughout the day
Hope that helps

The reason I ask is if it’s standard green hair algae cuc will eat it, if it’s maidens hair algae nothing will eat it as it’s poisonous for most inverts and fish.

 

[Bill92]

The reason I ask is if it’s standard green hair algae cuc will eat it, if it’s maidens hair algae nothing will eat it as it’s poisonous for most inverts and fish.

Ohh ok , well my molly and blenny eat it and they are still swimming lol so i dont think its poisonous