Is this GHA and how worried should I be?

Fishbird · May 24, 2020

Hi everybody,

I’ve been pulling the algae out manually but by the next day it’s been replaced and grown even more.

current CUC: blue tuxedo urchin, 3 cerith snails, 2 star astrea snails. I also have chaeto lit with the jbj nanoglo light in a back chamber.

I’ve had the rock for 4.5 weeks. It was aquacultured in the Gulf of Mexico (so this algae is something that grows there).

Tank is the fluval 13.5.

Test readings
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0

I know that often people recommend pulling the rocks out and cleaning them with hydrogen peroxide but I’m hesitating because this rock is also covered in macros I want to keep, sponges, tunicates, various coralline algae, and two stony coral hitchhikers. I don’t want to hurt any of those things.

What should I do?

TriggerFinger · May 24, 2020

scrubbing the algae with a toothbrush won’t take coraline off. You have to get the algae “short” for the cuc to take care of it, they won’t eat long strands. If you can scrub the majority of it off then your CUC will help take care of the small bits. Cerith and turbo snails are my favorite for algae. You could get a couple turbos and return to a LFS when their job is done. They eat quite a bit and would starve in a smaller tank.

Dan_P · May 24, 2020

Fishbird said:
Hi everybody,

I’ve been pulling the algae out manually but by the next day it’s been replaced and grown even more.

current CUC: blue tuxedo urchin, 3 cerith snails, 2 star astrea snails. I also have chaeto lit with the jbj nanoglo light in a back chamber.

I’ve had the rock for 4.5 weeks. It was aquacultured in the Gulf of Mexico (so this algae is something that grows there).

Tank is the fluval 13.5.

Test readings
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0

I know that often people recommend pulling the rocks out and cleaning them with hydrogen peroxide but I’m hesitating because this rock is also covered in macros I want to keep, sponges, tunicates, various coralline algae, and two stony coral hitchhikers. I don’t want to hurt any of those things.

What should I do?

By something that will eat GHA