GHA?

CWalters · Mar 10, 2023

Not sure if this is GHA or Bryopsis, obviously hard to tell without microscope. I dosed reefflux about a week and a half ago and nothing yet. Have 2 tuxedo urchins as well on the CUC that aren’t making a huge dent. I do manual removal when I have a chance.

PO4 last test was .07
NO3 showed 0 on Hanna Nitrate HR test

SchrutesReefs · Mar 10, 2023

Looks like gha to me, but I’m no pro. Your NO3 reading is expected since it’s fueling the algae growth.

CWalters · Mar 10, 2023

SchrutesReefs said:
Looks like gha to me, but I’m no pro. Your NO3 reading is expected since it’s fueling the algae growth.

That’s what I assumed with the NO3 being low, that it was being used up by algae. Any other options?

SchrutesReefs · Mar 10, 2023

Manual removal and keeping nitrates in check. Which is tough since the false readings, but getting them close to maybe 5 without bottoming out should starve the gha. I (fingers crossed) have not ever had to deal with gha personally, but I bet there are dozens of threads on here of different ways to combat it. @vetteguy53081 seems to have a good understanding of ways to fighting nuisance algae.

Lavey29 · Mar 10, 2023

Get your hands wet more often

olonmv · Mar 10, 2023

Get you a Mexican turbo snail. I believe it’s 1 per ten gallons. They destroy GHA.

CWalters · Mar 11, 2023

olonmv said:
Get you a Mexican turbo snail. I believe it’s 1 per ten gallons. They destroy GHA.

I’ve had a few. The 6 that I had seemed lazy lol

I never finish anythi · Mar 11, 2023

CWalters said:
I’ve had a few. The 6 that I had seemed lazy lol

Get a sea hare .

Roatan Reef · Mar 11, 2023

olonmv said:
Get you a Mexican turbo snail. I believe it’s 1 per ten gallons. They destroy GHA.

CWalters said:
Not sure if this is GHA or Bryopsis, obviously hard to tell without microscope. I dosed reefflux about a week and a half ago and nothing yet. Have 2 tuxedo urchins as well on the CUC that aren’t making a huge dent. I do manual removal when I have a chance.

PO4 last test was .07
NO3 showed 0 on Hanna Nitrate HR test

SchrutesReefs said:
Manual removal and keeping nitrates in check. Which is tough since the false readings, but getting them close to maybe 5 without bottoming out should starve the gha. I (fingers crossed) have not ever had to deal with gha personally, but I bet there are dozens of threads on here of different ways to combat it. @vetteguy53081 seems to have a good understanding of ways to fighting nuisance algae.

Lavey29 said:
Get your hands wet more often

Yep Yep....I've dealt with GHA a plenty, not as bad as this though...get a Shrimp net, or a fine micron net and when doing manual removal of GHA, go by sections at a time and then use said net to scoop particles out of tank...try to Scrub rocks, corals as much as you can, then scoop up free particles...keep doing once a week with at least a 10% water change...it will get better, but you have to commit to at least once a week of doing that.

olonmv · Mar 11, 2023

Roatan Reef said:
Yep Yep....I've dealt with GHA a plenty, not as bad as this though...get a Shrimp net, or a fine micron net and when doing manual removal of GHA, go by sections at a time and then use said net to scoop particles out of tank...try to Scrub rocks, corals as much as you can, then scoop up free particles...keep doing once a week with at least a 10% water change...it will get better, but you have to commit to at least once a week of doing that.

Tried manual removal weekly, sometimes daily, for months and it just kept growing. Added the snail and there’s a huge improvement within 2 weeks. Dudes a GHA beast. Best part…..not having to manually remove anything.