Sea hare for GHA - last resort

[LMSquire]

Hey all,

So as a few of you know, I am struggling with green hair algae in my 90 gal reefer. I have a chaeto reactor - not helping. I got 4 tuxedo urchins - not doing much. I’m so tired of manual removal and especially trying to get that short stuff that isn’t long enough to grab!

So my next move is to order a sea hare, but I’m worried about these stories I am reading where they die and nuke the whole tank. My wave makers are on random wave, and I have a grate over my drain. I read they are lawnmowers for gha.

Any reason why I shouldn’t do this? I have to get rid of this algae before it destroys all my corals.

 

[Knotyet]

I bought one for the same reason and it did absolutely nothing to my hair algae.

 

[Bosreef]

I bought one absolutely decimated my gha then one day I didn't notice it in the tank anymore must have died and the cuc got it.
Didn't have any negative effect on my tank.

This is only my experience.

 

[littlefoxx]

Mine have been great with it! They really only live a year though. Just keep an eye on it so if/when it does pass you can catch it. Only thing Ive had nuke my tank was a dang cucumber!

 

[LMSquire]

I bought one absolutely decimated my gha then one day I didn't notice it in the tank anymore must have died and the cuc got it.
Didn't have any negative effect on my tank.

This is only my experience.

Great to know. This gha ends now

 

[LMSquire]

I bought one for the same reason and it did absolutely nothing to my hair algae.

Was it a californica?

 

[Darstar301]

I bought 3 and it did nothing for the GHA, it just loved sitting in the GHA. Lucky when they passed of hunger it did not nuke the tank. Chaeto reactor also did nothing. Adding tons of cleanup crew and manual scrubbing did nothing. The only thing that works was a cheap algae scrubber that grew the GHA somewhere else Took about 3 month for the GHA to die off the rocks, battled this for over 1 year.

 

[LMSquire]

I bought 3 and it did nothing for the GHA, it just loved sitting in the GHA. Lucky when they passed of hunger it did not nuke the tank. Chaeto reactor also did nothing. Adding tons of cleanup crew and manual scrubbing did nothing. The only thing that works was a cheap algae scrubber that grew the GHA somewhere else Took about 3 month for the GHA to die off the rocks, battled this for over 1 year.

This is so discouraging. Hopefully I don’t go through this because I’m so annoyed. What’s worse is that I’m getting ready to set up a water box 380 gal in our new house and it makes me feel like I’m unprepared for that if I can’t even keep gha away

 

[MoshJosh]

This is so discouraging. Hopefully I don’t go through this because I’m so annoyed. What’s worse is that I’m getting ready to set up a water box 380 gal in our new house and it makes me feel like I’m unprepared for that if I can’t even keep gha away

A bit off topic, but may be worth looking into reef flux (flucanazole)

A local reefer and I were both having algae problems at the same time (I also had bryopsis), she used a sea hare and I used reef flux. . . both worked well

In the future I might try a sea hare (I have GHA in a new tank now haha) cause I do prefer to use "natural" methods. . .

 

[slingfox]

What kind of rock did you use for your aquascape?

Have you gotten your elevated nitrates under control?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Agree with above, tackle the food source that is feeding the algae, something you are doing is feeding the algae. Can we see pics of the tank?

 

[Bosreef]

Also cut lights. Gotta eliminate whatever is feeding it and got husbandry and you'll get it under control don't be discouraged!

 

[Dburr1014]

Hey all,

So as a few of you know, I am struggling with green hair algae in my 90 gal reefer. I have a chaeto reactor - not helping. I got 4 tuxedo urchins - not doing much. I’m so tired of manual removal and especially trying to get that short stuff that isn’t long enough to grab!

So my next move is to order a sea hare, but I’m worried about these stories I am reading where they die and nuke the whole tank. My wave makers are on random wave, and I have a grate over my drain. I read they are lawnmowers for gha.

Any reason why I shouldn’t do this? I have to get rid of this algae before it destroys all my corals.

I traded coral for a seahare, it died in the tank, was completly consumed by my cuc. 100g system, all was fine.

After a year of pulling the gha, I dosed reef rx, less than prescribed, and it went away.

 

[vabben]

I say pass on the sea hare, I’ve had zero luck with them. I finally beat back my GHA with heavy phyto dosing and a team of pincushion urchins.

 

[KrisReef]

Sea apples nuke tanks when they die.
Sea hares just slowly rot away until you notice they are not moving.

 

[vancouverredsea350]

I have used a sea hare on 3 occasions and all three times it worked flawlessly. When the gha was gone I just returned them to my lfs for store credit.

 

[Joe.D]

My LFS actually will “rent” a sea hare. Once the GHA is gone, they’ll take it back and refund a chunk of the purchase price. That said, I got a Tuxedo urchin. No more GHA after a week or 2 - not much coralline left either. Been a few months and all is well. The urchin is kind of fun - I pick off some debris that he collects every few weeks. He did take out a chalice and cut a stripe on another encrusting coral. But, no GHA. It’s a trade off I’ll gladly take as I too was trying to manually remove for a while.

 

[ShadowMan]

I think it's a mixed result in terms of algae control, and mine did take to the GHA very well although it wasn't a fan of bryopsis. IMHO it's quite fascinating to watch the sea hare move around and navigate the aquascape. I had no negative effects but unfortunately they seem to have a short lifespan in captivity... mine lasted a year, although I fear my copperband aggravated it, which may have lead to it's shorter lifespan

 

[Devaji]

I am struggling with algae in one of my tanks too. did a long slow lights off cycle with dry rock around 3 months .
I added a bunch of macro algae as it was going to be a sea horse tank and a month running with no fish as i was debating what I wanted to do with this tank. the macos melted...
1st came the brown algae, got that under control then came the stringy GHA only in the middle of the tank, but with trying to remove it in the tank it has spread of one side of the tank in the last week.

I agree with you gotta try to figure out where the N&P are coming from.
in my case I believe it has been over feeding when I am away.
that said the nutrients are in the tank so now we have to get them out.

I have tried GFO, micobactor 7 & an API algae fix. the later did seem to help with the brown slime algae...

I am about to shut the tank down and restart it as a FW planted if I cant get this under control this tank has been a struggle and not really enjoyable. so I hear and feel your struggle ...

my plan:
I cut lighting by 50% in the DT
the ATS on mt large FOWLR is doing great. always been a huge fan of them.
I am going to add one to this tank. prob. will take a few months to see GHA in the DT start to leave.

only have to decide if I want a huge ATS and ditch the over sized skimmer that is IMHO not going a great job or keep it and get a smaller unit.

TLDR:
same boat adding a ATS to out compete the GHA in the DT.

 

[Singspot]

Use Flux RX and it will definitely fix it.

Flux Rx (Fluconazole) Aquarium Treatment

Flux Rx is an extremely safe and effective aquarium treatment and can even be used in reef aquariums with corals present. It should be noted that if you have bryopsis or green hair algae present in your aquarium, fluconazole can cause rapid death of these algae species as a side effect. Hair...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I used it 2-3 years back (and added Zebrasoma to keep algae proactively in check) .... 0 GHA since.