GHA Due to New Skimmer?

[ScoobyElla]

I‘ve been battling Green Hair Algae for the last few weeks. Last week I did the hard battle with manually removing each rock and pulling the hair off of it. I tested my Nitrates (Salifert) and Phosphates (Hanna) and they were 1ppm and .03ppm. I’m assuming I bottomed out my No3 and Po3 and that’s why I had the GHA.

I put a in-tank skimmer (Tunze 9012 DC) in October. Is it safe to assume this is the reason why I bottomed out?

Where do I go from here I was always running high nitrates and phosphates which I attributed to the little to no growth from my corals. And finally saved up the money to buy a skimmer and now I’m battling the other way, pretty ironic how this hobby works. Any suggestions? I run a HOB with biological filtration, and I’d like to stay that way without dosing anything. Thoughts?

55gal Tank is 2.5 years old with 5gal water changes weekly

SG 1.025
Temp 78.5-79 (never lower/higher)
Alk- 7.3
Calc -395
Mag - 1350

 

[blaxsun]

The skimmer will help reduce waste, but it also improves oxidation. So yes, it's possible it was a (small) contributing factor. An in-tank UV might help with algae issues in the long run.

 

[p1u5h13r4m24]

A skimmer will remove the bacteria that consume N and P. Your nutrients bottom out because gha is consuming it and bacteria is consuming it than you are skimming out those bacteria. Manually remove the gha so it’s low enough for turbo snails to mow down. Ad 1 turbo snail per 10g maybe add an extra one or two. Feed enough to keep your nutrients up you don’t want to bottom out and start out your beneficial bacteria .