Green hair algae taking over

Llorgon · May 28, 2020

I agree. They are almost definitely higher than the test suggests.

Could be the sun, although with the blinds closed it doesn't get a ton of sun, but maybe it's enough to contribute.

I could be feeding too much. I feed once a day and either 1/4 cube of frozen or some flakes or pellets.

Dan_P said:
If you have enough snails to eat the GHA, you don’t to add or adjust anything.

I definitely don't have enough cuc, but they have been hard to come by since this pandemic started. And all the places I usually order from aren't shipping livestock because they can't guarantee they will arrive on time. It's frustrating! I'm still waiting for the turbo's I bought a few weeks ago to start making any sort of dent in the gha.

Dan_P · May 28, 2020

Llorgon said:
I agree. They are almost definitely higher than the test suggests.

Could be the sun, although with the blinds closed it doesn't get a ton of sun, but maybe it's enough to contribute.

I could be feeding too much. I feed once a day and either 1/4 cube of frozen or some flakes or pellets.

I definitely don't have enough cuc, but they have been hard to come by since this pandemic started. And all the places I usually order from aren't shipping livestock because they can't guarantee they will arrive on time. It's frustrating! I'm still waiting for the turbo's I bought a few weeks ago to start making any sort of dent in the gha.

I had very good luck buying Mexican turbos from LiveAquaria 4 weeks ago. All survived and annihilated all algae in the tank. On the down side, I am now feeding thesnails dried algae sheets to keep them alive!

PerculaBen · May 28, 2020

Llorgon said:
I definitely don't have enough cuc, but they have been hard to come by since this pandemic started.

John at reefcleaners.org is shipping. My third order is coming this weekend, including 2 Mexican turbos.

Llorgon · May 28, 2020

Dan_P said:
I had very good luck buying Mexican turbos from LiveAquaria 4 weeks ago. All survived and annihilated all algae in the tank. On the down side, I am now feeding thesnails dried algae sheets to keep them alive!

PerculaBen said:
John at reefcleaners.org is shipping. My third order is coming this weekend, including 2 Mexican turbos.

Unfortunately neither places ship to Canada.

Llorgon · Jun 1, 2020

Got my bottle of waste away today!

Should I slowly ramp down on the vodka dosing or is it ok to dose both at the same time?

Llorgon · Jun 3, 2020

Did a half dose of waste away last night. No ill effects so far.

I will up the dose a bit after 48hrs.

cjpitt80 · Jun 11, 2020

Any update?

Llorgon · Jun 11, 2020

Ah sorry! Work has been crazy busy! Too many late nights.

I did my first full dose of waste away on Sunday after I did my water change. So next dose should be this sunday. I am keeping up with my 0.7ml vodka/day. So far no ill effects to any inhabitants and no bacterial blooms.

I am still seeing algae growth, but doing nightly brushing of the rocks along with manual removal seems to be keeping it in check. Some places are looking better other the same or a little more algae.

I will post water params and some pictures later on today.

Llorgon · Jun 11, 2020

Here's some photos of how the tank is looking today. Still seeing new growth, but trying to keep it in check with scrubbing the rocks daily.

I wonder if it's worth taking half the rocks out one water change, remove all the algae I can and then do the other half a week later?

Cbones1979 · Jun 21, 2020

I’m losing the gha battle too at the moment. Water changes and trying to pull off rocks. Just appears in other rocks. I have a ton of cuc including recenty pitho crabs bit it’s getting to the point it’s almost in every crevice of the tank

Llorgon · Jun 26, 2020

So it's been awhile since I did an update. Rocks are looking a bit better with my daily scrubbing. I am noticing some growth on the back wall though.

Been keeping nutrients low with vodka dosing and waste away. I am going to be on vacation for a week so we will see what the tank looks like when I get home

Llorgon · Jul 24, 2020

Been busy of late with a few week long camping trips. Tank is still pretty algea filled.

Getting a bit better on the rocks, but the back wall has exploded with gha.

I've been keeping up with vodka dosing and weekly waste away dosing. Also been doing weekly water changes although that has slipped with the camping.

How can I get a head on this? I find if I do multi water changes in a week. My all, call and mag get pretty high.

Cbones1979 · Jul 24, 2020

Llorgon said:
Been busy of late with a few week long camping trips. Tank is still pretty algea filled.

Getting a bit better on the rocks, but the back wall has exploded with gha.

I've been keeping up with vodka dosing and weekly waste away dosing. Also been doing weekly water changes although that has slipped with the camping.

How can I get a head on this? I find if I do multi water changes in a week. My all, call and mag get pretty high.

Flux rx

say bye bye

Llorgon · Jul 25, 2020

I was really hoping to not have to resort to using chemicals, but it's looking more and more like I will have to.

Looks like it's also pretty hard to get in Canada.

Algaewarrior · Jul 26, 2020

I had some success with continuum aquatics bacter clean m. Its basically a faster acting vibrant that uses bacteria to consume the gha. Flux rx is fluconazole which is used for humans as an antifungal as well as yeast infection medication. Thus, harder to come by in Canada. I just got done treating my tank with flux rx and it did a pretty good job. I rubberbanded my algae scraper to the end of my siphon hose to get my back wall clean. Another thing to keep in mind when dealing with algae is lighting. Too much will just fuel the fire.

Llorgon · Jul 26, 2020

Algaewarrior said:
I had some success with continuum aquatics bacter clean m. Its basically a faster acting vibrant that uses bacteria to consume the gha. Flux rx is fluconazole which is used for humans as an antifungal as well as yeast infection medication. Thus, harder to come by in Canada. I just got done treating my tank with flux rx and it did a pretty good job. I rubberbanded my algae scraper to the end of my siphon hose to get my back wall clean. Another thing to keep in mind when dealing with algae is lighting. Too much will just fuel the fire.

I will give it a try. Maybe bacter clean m, waste away and vodka dosing is the trick. I will see if I can get my hands on some flux rx. If I can I will give it a try.

haha I actually did the same thing today with my scrapper. Worked great with the wall of algae on the back. My one clownfish isn't happy with it since that's where he slept...

I have a radion xr 30 for lighting. It's on the LPS setting, 25% intensity. Gets some sunlight from the window, but the blinds are closed 95% of the time. Unless I want to take pictures of the tank.