Is this gha?

[Jake_the_reefer]

My 10g is overwhelmed with an algae outbreak that I cant seem to control. I've tried black out, dimming lights, water changes and scrubbing surfaces but it wont go away. It's starting to completely cover my green star polyps and frag plugs. If this is the what's the best route of elimination I use peroxide on the frag plugs to keep it at bay.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

I can try an army of hermit crabs (I only have 2 atm as well as an emerald crab) i only have 2 astrea snails as well

 

[John08007]

Hard for me to see it by these pics, what color is it? Any idea what your phosphate lvl is at?

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Hard for me to see it by these pics, what color is it?

Heres more natural light I see brown. Might be green

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Hard for me to see it by these pics, what color is it? Any idea what your phosphate lvl is at?

Phos isnt 0 and it's not quite .05
Nitrate is close to 0 as well

 

[John08007]

Phos isnt 0 and it's not quite .05
Nitrate is close to 0 as well

It doesnt look like cyano, id think gha except you say it looks brown. You could try some turbo snails, id bet they would eat it. It possible your phosphates are low because this algae is consuming it.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

It doesnt look like cyano, id think gha except you say it looks brown. You could try some turbo snails, id bet they would eat it. It possible your phosphates are low because this algae is consuming it.

That's possible that they consume all the phosphates. I have a turbo snail the size of a small baseball I can throw in there but it may knock over some stuff lol. I could also borrow a sea hare if that is a good idea?
(Note this tank had cyano a month ago and it was beaten)
But would a seahare work out for a week or so? I know my lfs has a ton of them for 20$ after it's done in this 10g I can permanently house it in my 20g or return it

 

[Bryson.bobby]

I’ve seen someone post about this algae once before, not sure what it is though. I believe it had something to do with nutrients being too low (po4, no3).

#reefsquad, any of you guys have experience with this stuff?

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

I’ve seen someone post about this algae once before, not sure what it is though. I believe it had something to do with nutrients being too low (po4, no3).

#reefsquad, any of you guys have experience with this stuff?

It did start when after my ordeal with cyano. My nitrates were 10 and phos .06 and after the treatment phos is really really low and nitrates are undetectable

 

[dwest]

It did start when after my ordeal with cyano. My nitrates were 10 and phos .06 and after the treatment phos is really really low and nitrates are undetectable

It’s hard to tell for sure. But, I think it’s gha. It sometimes looks brown to us because of heavy blue lighting or it gets covered with diatoms or detritus. I would be careful going low on nutrients though. That caused a dino bloom for me. You don’t want to go there. If your cuc stays alive, I would certainly get more to control it.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I'm not sure what kind of algae that is, but I'm fairly sure it isn't GHA. That said, you might consider getting some chaeto or some other macr algae and put it in the tank to out compete the algae bloom you have going on in there now. I have a small clump of a red macro algae I collected at the beach (along the Gulf of Mexico). It's in my 16g holding tank and it's been like having a refugium in the tank. If you get a fast grower like chaeto, I'd make a small clear container with lots of holes for water flow thru it and keep the algae in it. Harvest it regularly so it has room to grow inside the container.

Good luck.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Just borrowed 2 big turbo snails.. hopefully they can make a dent

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Update the 2 turbos have taken care if probably 20% of the algae and knocked over 100% of my coral

 

[saltyhog]

Turbo snails are just not practical for me. Even small ones grow pretty fast. I really like Banded Trochus snails as they don't get overly large and can even reproduce in your tank. If conditions are good you won't have to buy any more for a long time. Agree with @dwest, don't let your PO4 and NO3 get to zero. Also realize that anything much below 0.04 PO4 could be zero due to the accuracy of our testing methods.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Turbo snails are just not practical for me. Even small ones grow pretty fast. I really like Banded Trochus snails as they don't get overly large and can even reproduce in your tank. If conditions are good you won't have to buy any more for a long time. Agree with @dwest, don't let your PO4 and NO3 get to zero. Also realize that anything much below 0.04 PO4 could be zero due to the accuracy of our testing methods.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of them because they are such brutes. They were hitch hikers on my rocks so I let them stay. They do a crazy job at cleanup but knock everything over

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

I just thought about it. The chance of this being gha seems low.. is this Calothrix cyano? Of so I have chemiclean I can dose into the tank to eliminate it.. I did just fight off cyano a month ago as well.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

I just thought about it. The chance of this being gha seems low.. is this Calothrix cyano? Of so I have chemiclean I can dose into the tank to eliminate it.. I did just fight off cyano a month ago as well.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Turbo snails are just not practical for me. Even small ones grow pretty fast. I really like Banded Trochus snails as they don't get overly large and can even reproduce in your tank. If conditions are good you won't have to buy any more for a long time. Agree with @dwest, don't let your PO4 and NO3 get to zero. Also realize that anything much below 0.04 PO4 could be zero due to the accuracy of our testing methods.

The snails seem to working, why not stick with them?

Test kits also only detect inorganic sources.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

The snails seem to working, why not stick with them?

Test kits also only detect inorganic sources.

Aight. I'll let them work for a week or so and see what happens. The super big one is a trouble maker lol