Green Hair Algae

[Matt Jackson]

Hi Guys,

I have a lot of GHA in my tank and I’m trying to get rid of it.

the tank is not quite a year old yet and I started it with dry Marco rock and cycled it. I have 2x XR15 gen 4 pros and had them both set at 90% when I first set them up, I think this was the prime cause. I also did not have a very good rodi unit, it was a starter reef buddy one.

about 2 months ago I changed things up, I reduced both lights gradually down to 45% and reduced the white colours as well, I also got a reef crest rodi unit with a tds meter and that works really well.

I do water changes every 2 weeks, approximately 40L and use instant ocean salt. I have also tried dosing it with Vibrant and this did not really achieve anything so I don’t use it anymore. It’s a fish only with the exception of a a small piece of GSP that is doing ok.

I dose trace elements and add stability
with water changes.
I feed a mixture of frozen and flake food everyday, half a cube mysis and half a cube brine shrimp. I do question if this too much or not enough.

The tank is reefer 250 and in the tank I have the following.
2x clowns
2x blue damsels
1x goby
1x tiger striped pistol shrimp
1x small hippo tang
20x blue leg hermit crabs
2x cleaner shrimp



I do have 5 small trochus snails but these are not doing so well, I have kept an eye on the levels and they seem good to me. I have a lot of pods that come out to play when the lights are off as well.

levels as of today and these have been pretty consistent.
Nitrite 0
Phosphate 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
High range ph between 8-8.2
Salinity 35 ppt

I use the API test kits.

to keep the GHA somewhat under control I use a large pip-pet and blow it off and then scoop it up with the net so it doesn’t block the grates on the return or sit in the socks.

Thanks for your time!

 

[cyclone21]

A sea hare will mow it down quickly. But when he's done you will need to still keep him fed or take him back to the fish store.

 

[GoVols]

Not a fan of API regarding phosphates or nitrates.

But those two parameters are most likely bound up inside your GHA.

At this point, @cyclone21 has nailed it.

If your phosphates rise, look into tumbling GFO at about 1/4 of the full recommended dose.

 

[Ta2oodfreak]

All that algae is driving the nutrients down would've my guess.
I had a major outbreak in my FOWLR 180G. I turned Radions down to 40%, cut my lights down to 6 hrs (1 hr ramp up, 4 hrs, 1 hr ramp down), fed every other day, dosed algaefix and plucked out all I could into the siphon while changing the water. Let the cleanup crew catch up and do their thing. 2 weeks later it was looking great.

 

[Matt Jackson]

Thanks for the quick responses!

I am definitely going to look in to a sea hare, Hanna Checkers are next on my list of equipment to buy also.
I will shorten the light cycle as well as they are on for approximately 11 hours including starting off slow with blue’s and slowly ramping to white and then fading in the evening back to blues and then off.

 

[vetteguy53081]

API kits known for false test readings. I highly suggest to take a good water sample to a trusted LFS and have them test for you to see what resiults they get and for comparison.
Focus on: nitrates-phosphates-salinity-ph and TDS if possible.
A couple of questions below may solve what I suspect:
- Are you using RODI water or tap water from the faucet ?
- Is this tank at or near a window?

- reduce white light intensity, Pull as much GHA as you can by hand and add the following cleaners. . . . . .

4 turbo snail
4 astrea snail
3 trochus snail
4 nerite snail
3 nassarius snail
6-8 blue leg hermit crabs

As LFS to give you a package cleaner crew deal on these guys. Most will do this for you.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Also- I do agree that Dollabella sea hare will mow this stuff, but 2 risks:
- They will soon starve once their satisfied with what they ate
- Some get lazy and may not eat it at all

 

[Matt Jackson]

Any ideas on why the trochus snails appear to be dying of?

 

[Pistondog]

The gha is using ammonia before it is converted to nitrate.
If you are not running another macro, ie chaeto, consider vibrant which is an algae eating bacteria. Takes 4 to 6 weeks

 

[HB AL]

If the rocks are removable and any corals on them can be removed then I would pull a rock out and brush it with a toothbrush made of metal then shoot it with your garden hose. This works 100% of the time at removing the algae. Simple but effective at algae removal. Been doing this for decades with excellent results and no detrimental effects.

 

[Haoayu]

You can also give fluconazole a try; if manual cleaning methods, or the snails and seahares are not working out. From past experience, it works wonders on GHA and bryopsis without any harm to livestocks and corals - just make sure to follow the instructions. Good luck.

 

[aggrofish]

just pull as much of it as you can and add a couple turbo snails. Just make sure everything is glued down because they will mow everything down but your GHA will be GONE

 

[smithcamt]

If the rocks are removable and any corals on them can be removed then I would pull a rock out and brush it with a toothbrush made of metal then shoot it with your garden hose. This works 100% of the time at removing the algae. Simple but effective at algae removal. Been doing this for decades with excellent results and no detrimental effects.

Curious on this -- once you spray the rocks down with the hose, did you just place them back in tank or need to treat them in any way before?

Been dealing w/ GHA for quite a few months, and your option seems like an effective way at keeping them GHA at bay. And would it matter if it is live rock?