I need help fighting GHA!!! Please!

[Jcascioli]

I’m going to do my beat to be as thorough as possible bc I need some serious help with my tank. **First a little history: I’m coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my first reef tank. It’s a 32 g biocube that I upgraded just about everything that could be upgraded. In the first 3 or 4 months I had a few battles with cyano that I beat thankfully! After that all was well for a couple months. Now for the last 2 months I’ve been battling GHA constantly! I am very thorough with husbandry and maintenance. RODI, bi-weekly WC’s, testing parameters twice a week... etc. I just can’t seem to get a handle on the GHA. I had a sea hare in the tank for a few weeks two months ago that destroyed the GHA. After his work was done I gave him back and moved on.. then it came back even worse.. I’ve been dosing 3ml Vibrant twice a week for the last three months with no success either..
maby it’s just NTS? Or maby nutrients are too low?? I am at a loss for what to do next...
I need some help from some experienced reefers please!
here’s a breakdown of equipment:
32 gal biocube:
Steve’s LED retro fit light
Skimz SH-1 Nano skimmer
AI Nero 5 powerhead
In tank media filter and Fuge baskets
Kessil H80 fuge light
Blue lab PH combo meter
Jabeo 4 head dosing pump
BRS C02 scrubber

Currently dosing all Red Sea line:
Alk, Cal, Mag, NO3PO4 (on dosing pump)
Manually dosing: reef energy & trace elements as needed
As I said before I’m dosing Vibrant 3ml twice a week

I will post pics of my parameters and setup below.

 

[Jcascioli]

Just realized I posted my parameters from a while ago.. this is the most up to date photo
Note: P04 @ .03
N03 @ 0

 

[waleedreef]

buy sea hare. It will remove all GHA naturally.

 

[Crustaceon]

The only route i’d go is the manual removal one. Snails and sea hares aren’t going to solve this problem. They’re more or less part of a preventative strategy. IMO, your best bet is to stop dosing nopox and whatever else for nutrient control, grab a pair or forceps and a siphon hose and physically remove the algae from the tank. After that, get your nitrates up a little and then go back to nopox. Never let your nitrates get below 2ppm, especially in a tank with no visible nuisance algae. The only reason you’re seeing zero is because hair algae is skewing that number.

 

[Jcascioli]

The only route i’d go is the manual removal one. Snails and sea hares aren’t going to solve this problem. They’re more or less part of a preventative strategy. IMO, your best bet is to stop dosing nopox and whatever else for nutrient control, grab a pair or forceps and a siphon hose and physically remove the algae from the tank. After that, get your nitrates up a little and then go back to nopox. Never let your nitrates get below 2ppm, especially in a tank with no visible nuisance algae. The only reason you’re seeing zero is because hair algae is skewing that number.

Anything you recommend for increasing nitrates? Or do you think it will happen naturally after manual removal?
Thanks!

 

[Crustaceon]

Anything you recommend for increasing nitrates? Or do you think it will happen naturally after manual removal?
Thanks!

I think nitrates will rise on their own after removing the algae. Give it time and don’t feed too much. This may take a few weeks. If things improve, you may not even want to dose nopox anymore.

 

[waleedreef]

i am dosing NeoNitro "Brightwell" for nitrate

 

[Crustaceon]

There are a bunch of products out there for nitrate and they all seem to work fine. I use seachem flourish nitrogen. Just remember to go easy with it, dose a little a test a few hours later.

 

[Kan9]

Dolabella auricularia-just be sure you can return it when its done. It knocked out 75% of the GHA on this rock in 1 day. They are like cows and GHA is their grass.