Gha came out of nowhere

[trevormass7]

I went out of town for 2 days and one small patch of gha turned into an infestation. I stay on top of water changes weekly and don't over feed, don't know what I'm doing to cause it

 

[Jason mack]

Ok don't worry ! First we need more info about your tank how old is it ? What are your no3 and po4 at .. what live stock have you got in that sort of thing ?

 

[trevormass7]

Ok don't worry ! First we need more info about your tank how old is it ? What are your no3 and po4 at .. what live stock have you got in that sort of thing ?

30g tank, been up for about 4 months. Stock are 2 clowns 2 watchman goby, firefish (Is that too many?). And give me about 30 minutes to test but I just did a water change Thursday

 

[Jason mack]

Don't panic this is normal in a new tank ,it's all part of the process, your right of passage if you will, you can try and pull it out or siphon if out . Best is get some snails and hermit crabs or an urchin that will eat it .. but it will pass all part of the ugly phase I'm afraid !

 

[brandon429]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2082359
https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/268706-peroxide-saves-my-tank-with-pics-to-prove-it/?page=65





That's about seven years of hard work showing you simply what the catch up game looks like. its not really to advocate a certain method, its just to show you where nutrient chasing alone will get you

You had an inkling that what has already grown in your tank might require action, agreed it does but its not for something bad.


ideal go-to option when you see algae, is to kill it first, don't test for or ID it. make it gone using whatever mode you want. I know some good cheats, even better than those threads now that we're a few years beyond in practice circa 2017

your algae is easily fixed by Monday if chosen.

we should set water params around what grows coral best... handle algae independently of those measures. it is very easy to present the params corals like, its very hard to find the params corals like and algae starves, so we never used it in the evidence threads. not only will direct action work for your tank by Monday, but you can fix up a million bucks worth of other peoples tanks with the method.

Colonies of any invader in reefing are self supporting; in your case, the tufts of algae directly catch and hold feed for on site breakdown and you can't really test for that kind of accumulating self-support.

remove the tuft, remove the food source and the actor. the reason I wrote that much to a simple question was to convey the stresses of a hundred inactions via two links, to see how small patches get quite large all in the same nutrient settings...you are at the crossroads they wanted to be back at.

Just about all posters in the links had algae growing in just fine water conditions, and we became the peroxide parrotfish.

I would still be algae free even if I didn't wipe it out with peroxide seven years ago, it just made things easier and faster.

 

[PatW]

I have found that algae blooms all trace to a common source - nutrients. When the fish eat food, the nutrients in the food eventually end up in the water except the amount the fish use to grow in size. Without a nutrient export system, any aquarium with fish and lights will get an algae out break eventually.

Two nutrients are primarily responsible for algae blooms: nitrates and phosphates. Nitrates are easily tested. In my experience nitrates below 2 ppm should be fine. In a fish only system with less intense lighting, you can probably get by with anything below 10 ppm.

Phosphates have big effects at very low concentrations. The Hanna tester is the only test that I know of that is sensitive enough. I find that even then my phosphates read 0 because my algae outbreak has removed all the phosphate from the water. If I start seeing algae, I have phosphate issues.

So you need a nutrient export system. Water changes are the simplest but they often need to be so big as to be impractical.

Another method is beating algae with algae. You keep macro algae in a refugium with lighting. Or you can use a turf scrubber. Either way, the controlled algae takes up nutrients before algae in the tank can do it. You remove the nitrates and phosphates by taking out your algae as it grows.

Carbon dosing is also used. For this you need a bigger skimmer than your tank requires. You add a carbon source to the tank often alcohol or vinegar. Bacteria multiply given the free source of energy and in doing so tie up nitrates and phosphates in their tissues. The skimmer removes them.

You can also run tank water through GFO, granular ferric oxide, in a reactor. GFO will absorb phosphates.

 

[trevormass7]

Thanks for all the advice guys, my ammonia is reading .25 ppm and nitrates are 5 ppm but I just did a water change 2 days ago. Any idea why they're rising so fast

 

[brandon429]

search out low level .25 ammonia level reports online and see if they're prone to all out misreads, I find those search returns to confirm it
misreads happen for a host of reasons, sometimes the test kit is reflecting ammonia species you don't have to concern about

all you need to do is make sure you have a cycled tank, if you can assume there's no dying fish in your tank thereafter, owning an ammonia test kit isn't required.



5 ppm nitrate isn't bad, its on the lower end of barely acceptable and it shows quite nicely the independence of algae growth to low nutrients. they still get what they need, bacteria as a separate group of commensals provide lots of indirect nutrient benefit to them that we cannot test for; there's not much we can do about bacteria underwater in our tanks. I agree keep your nutrient sinks clean, have no filthy sandbeds as a matter of personal reefing standards. good topoff water all verified. past that, only manage your parameters around what your research shows the coral wants, they have nothing beyond that to do with algae control that works tank to tank. it would be common outcome #1116 to have your tank algae free by Monday but you have to be fed up enough to begin that journey. we only get the angry ones lol in our problem algae threads who are now open to direct action... the lucky never had to show up.

 

[trevormass7]

Just scrubbed down all the rocks and peroxide dipped the rocks without coral already encrusted to them. Cleaned up the sand and found a couple dead hermit crabs that I think are responsible for the sudden out break

 

[trevormass7]

search out low level .25 ammonia level reports online and see if they're prone to all out misreads, I find those search returns to confirm it
misreads happen for a host of reasons, sometimes the test kit is reflecting ammonia species you don't have to concern about

all you need to do is make sure you have a cycled tank, if you can assume there's no dying fish in your tank thereafter, owning an ammonia test kit isn't required.



5 ppm nitrate isn't bad, its on the lower end of barely acceptable and it shows quite nicely the independence of algae growth to low nutrients. they still get what they need, bacteria as a separate group of commensals provide lots of indirect nutrient benefit to them that we cannot test for; there's not much we can do about bacteria underwater in our tanks. I agree keep your nutrient sinks clean, have no filthy sandbeds as a matter of personal reefing standards. good topoff water all verified. past that, only manage your parameters around what your research shows the coral wants, they have nothing beyond that to do with algae control that works tank to tank. it would be common outcome #1116 to have your tank algae free by Monday but you have to be fed up enough to begin that journey. we only get the angry ones lol in our problem algae threads who are now open to direct action... the lucky never had to show up.

Thanks will do

 

[brandon429]

hey on my lunch break I basically just did the same look at this pic, a full brain coral on a dinner plate. not trying to feature how to torture a reef, just featuring how to clean one to mil spec heh.
the point isn't to insult our reefs... its to be detritus clean. by taking the time to remove my rocks and coral, I leave no part uncleaned. my sandbed was just made as clean today as the first day I put it in.

its all skip cycle work, but the secret is I have access to every nook in my tank, algae cannot hide, I stab it out with a knife like surgery.

I don't want ammonia pocketing in my sandbed, and, Ive been really lax this past quarter with it, so today it got the zap cleaning, just like its a brand new tank (only its 11)

I wont own an ammonia test kit, for me its about biotrust that simply being waste free is being ammonia free by direct linkage. We are free to clean tanks and force them to be algae free, my little old pico is the testbed.


as my reef lay taken apart and wanting me to likely hurry up instead of filming, had to grab this pic. once a frag, now a brain, and because we don't store diaper waste up under the corals, to take my whole reef apart is not bad its actually quite refreshing. the cleaner I run, the more I can feed, the more this brain coral becomes a nuisance. next year ill be trimming it off the sandbed

When we design a reef with access full, any algae rock can be put on a plate and made instantly algae free via surgery.

So glad you forced yours out did you get pics

There is no algae in my tank because last decade I stabbed it all out. by that I mean scraped off with a steak knife, roughly, then cleaned the clean area with peroxide. a little amplification trick, for the meanest growths if ever needed.

 

[trevormass7]

hey on my lunch break I basically just did the same look at this pic, a full brain coral on a dinner plate. not trying to feature how to torture a reef, just featuring how to clean one to mil spec heh.
the point isn't to insult our reefs... its to be detritus clean. by taking the time to remove my rocks and coral, I leave no part uncleaned. my sandbed was just made as clean today as the first day I put it in.

its all skip cycle work, but the secret is I have access to every nook in my tank, algae cannot hide, I stab it out with a knife like surgery.

I don't want ammonia pocketing in my sandbed, and, Ive been really lax this past quarter with it, so today it got the zap cleaning, just like its a brand new tank (only its 11)

I wont own an ammonia test kit, for me its about biotrust that simply being waste free is being ammonia free by direct linkage. We are free to clean tanks and force them to be algae free, my little old pico is the testbed.


as my reef lay taken apart and wanting me to likely hurry up instead of filming, had to grab this pic. once a frag, now a brain, and because we don't store diaper waste up under the corals, to take my whole reef apart is not bad its actually quite refreshing. the cleaner I run, the more I can feed, the more this brain coral becomes a nuisance. next year ill be trimming it off the sandbed

When we design a reef with access full, any algae rock can be put on a plate and made instantly algae free via surgery.

So glad you forced yours out did you get pics

There is no algae in my tank because last decade I stabbed it all out. by that I mean scraped off with a steak knife, roughly, then cleaned the clean area with peroxide. a little amplification trick, for the meanest growths if ever needed.

 

[trevormass7]

Not a good picture but you can see one off the large clumps bottom right

 

[trevormass7]

It spread like that over all the rocks and sand

 

[brandon429]

and to me where it is not located is the shining detail in your tank.

that is the perfect amount of algae to signify health, not problem, since its not all over the glass and rocks in thick coverage like that one spot down low.

That stuff on a real reef would've been grazes by ninety competing animals, raspers, rock biters, all vying for salad, it would be no problem in bali that's for sure. that being said, if you are using known clean topoff water and not tap water, and you have normal complement export for the tank, then id focus on cheat killing that algae and just proceeding as is with the system

I wouldn't even respond with a massive ramp up of clean up crews either, among the random things we can get in a tank that particular algae is not terrible looking at all, and its just taking up real estate where its allowed.

we do so many algae threads I need to go back and see how big your tank was

if that was at nano-reef.com, they'd pull the rocks, squirt peroxide on the algae, wipe it all off, rinse out the whole sandbed at once, and reinstall the whole tank clean via skip cycle. they would then hold normal course, changing not much about nutrients overall. it may come back, they'd repeat, and would be more careful of frag and quarantine going forward but in a couple rounds we'd have it beat.


cyano and micro algae are among the invaders that get in all tanks, all the time, via natural pathways including aerial and direct contamination by things we do not related directly to aquarium work (cyano can ride from your garden, on your hand, to your tank, its universal, even in street puddles given the right conditions)

your type of algae, and then all other invaders in reefing such as valonia, bryopsis, dinos, invasive macros, et all are requisite hitchhikers where the cause of invasion was simple import and usually always non quarantine. That is the very reason I cannot advocate nutrient wars against them, they didn't get caused by nutrients. Direct action can rid and sustain a tank of requisite hitchhikers, algae killers trick of the day.

clean up crews are all about ideal outcomes
ideally, if they work, you'll have no hand gardening to do. we have the final say in all invasions in our tank by the actions we take or do not take, my opinion.

even if major revisions to nutrients are in line here, that condition should only be ran on the tank forced back to clean/free of that algae, by hand and by burn. if we simply refuse all algae growth, we'll not be invaded but depending on ability to balance, we may be working hard or not at all to attain control over real estate and algae. in my opinion with the right hand gardening method, in a few mos your tank w be cruising not changing really anything other than some creative direct action.

 

[trevormass7]

and to me where it is not located is the shining detail in your tank.

that is the perfect amount of algae to signify health, not problem, since its not all over the glass and rocks in thick coverage like that one spot down low.

That stuff on a real reef would've been grazes by ninety competing animals, raspers, rock biters, all vying for salad, it would be no problem in bali that's for sure. that being said, if you are using known clean topoff water and not tap water, and you have normal complement export for the tank, then id focus on cheat killing that algae and just proceeding as is with the system

I wouldn't even respond with a massive ramp up of clean up crews either, among the random things we can get in a tank that particular algae is not terrible looking at all, and its just taking up real estate where its allowed.

we do so many algae threads I need to go back and see how big your tank was

if that was at nano-reef.com, they'd pull the rocks, squirt peroxide on the algae, wipe it all off, rinse out the whole sandbed at once, and reinstall the whole tank clean via skip cycle. they would then hold normal course, changing not much about nutrients overall. it may come back, they'd repeat, and would be more careful of frag and quarantine going forward but in a couple rounds we'd have it beat.


cyano and micro algae are among the invaders that get in all tanks, all the time, via natural pathways including aerial and direct contamination by things we do not related directly to aquarium work (cyano can ride from your garden, on your hand, to your tank, its universal, even in street puddles given the right conditions)

your type of algae, and then all other invaders in reefing such as valonia, bryopsis, dinos, invasive macros, et all are requisite hitchhikers where the cause of invasion was simple import and usually always non quarantine. That is the very reason I cannot advocate nutrient wars against them, they didn't get caused by nutrients. Direct action can rid and sustain a tank of requisite hitchhikers, algae killers trick of the day.

clean up crews are all about ideal outcomes
ideally, if they work, you'll have no hand gardening to do. we have the final say in all invasions in our tank by the actions we take or do not take, my opinion.

even if major revisions to nutrients are in line here, that condition should only be ran on the tank forced back to clean/free of that algae, by hand and by burn. if we simply refuse all algae growth, we'll not be invaded but depending on ability to balance, we may be working hard or not at all to attain control over real estate and algae. in my opinion with the right hand gardening method, in a few mos your tank w be cruising not changing really anything other than some creative direct action.

Haha yeah that was the week before it took over. Once it started growing on lps I couldn't afford to replace i took everything out, scrubbed and peroxide dipped the rocks without coral encrusted to it. I'll post some pictures when i get home of what it looks like now about a week later

 

[brandon429]

we do other tune ups too on our algae threads beyond the knife stabbing lol. we also blue up lights where applicable

you cant believe the changes in film and scum algae that develop on my glass, all other factors consistent, if I just crank my KEssil all the way to white.

blue is suppressive and I don't know why, corals still grow just fine.

topoff water too, make sure 0.0 and also no clouding sandbed in the tank. those are the high points we like to tune along with some cheating you've done we do it too