Still battling GHA

[djbetterly]

I've been battling GHA for quite some time now. I've done countless doses of peroxide, which temporarily helps, but never fully gets rid of it. My nitrates are undetectable with the Red Sea kit, and my PO4 is .04. I've cut feeding back to once every three days with hopes of it helping but its not seeming to help.

I feel like at this point I should just get one of those slugs....any other suggestions?

 

[TheEngineer]

Have you considered an algae turf scrubber? Sounds like you need to fight fire with fire.

 

[twilliard]

have you been treating the rocks outside of the water with peroxide??
This is key

 

[djbetterly]

I have actually....I've been considering one fo the santa-monica scrubbers.

 

[djbetterly]

at @twilliard I've been treating the ones I can outside the tank, and the other areas inside the tank with a concentrator I built. About half of the GHA is on the sand bed, the other is spread throughout the rocks.

 

[Among The Reef]

I have heard that bumping up magnesium can help. It's not something that I have personally tried, however I have heard about others having success in doing so. It may be worth looking into...

-Jordan

 

[djbetterly]

@Among The Reef I thought that was only for briopsis?

 

[TheEngineer]

GHA is a royal pain. I find chemical approaches only slow it down but don't provide a long term solution. I have not tried a turf scrubber personally but the things I read about them has made me a believer. It makes sense to fight algae in your DT by growing it under ideal conditions only where you want it.

 

[twilliard]

GHA is a royal pain. I find chemical approaches only slow it down but don't provide a long term solution. I have not tried a turf scrubber personally but the things I read about them has made me a believer. It makes sense to fight algae in your DT by growing it under ideal conditions only where you want it.

Isnt this the same method of a diverse refugium but running at all times to maintain no3 and po4?
Po4 is harder to beat down no matter the process without going to reactors.

 

[twilliard]

Now if we have leaching rocks the po4 is even harder to control.
Po4 is a pain worse than any algae.
If a person has po4 then that person has the ability to grow algae.

Lets talk further Dustin on what you have been trying to reduce the po4
Any algae, and I mean any will not survive when soaked with peroxide for a minimum of 5 minutes.
Now you have algae on your sand.. this is a big red flag

 

[djbetterly]

The sand was my thought as well...I have an addiction to jaw fish, and that's the only reason I have the sand bed. However, if removing the sand bed is the key, then I'll do it. I really don't want to go bare bottom though.

 

[hybridazn]

ive been dealing with a gha problem lately as well. I am leaning towards building my own scrubber and see how this works along with a cryptic fuge

 

[twilliard]

The sand was my thought as well...I have an addiction to jaw fish, and that's the only reason I have the sand bed. However, if removing the sand bed is the key, then I'll do it. I really don't want to go bare bottom though.

How much sand depth do you have??

 

[djbetterly]

At the deepest, probably 1.5in.

 

[twilliard]

Are you vacuuming the sand diligently?
What we are looking for is where the po4 is bound.

 

[twilliard]

My theory..
Po4 grows
No3 makes greener

 

[TheEngineer]

Isnt this the same method of a diverse refugium but running at all times to maintain no3 and po4?
Po4 is harder to beat down no matter the process without going to reactors.

That's probably a fair comparison. I think where an ATS differs is the rate at which it produces algae and the rate at which you can export the nutrients (AKA turf growth). I haven't experienced a fuge being able to export nutrients quickly enough to beat GHA.

 

[djbetterly]

I only vacuum the very top layer, but I've always been told its not a good idea to vacuum or stirrup the sand bed as the hydrogen sulfide gasses could be released.

 

[twilliard]

I only vacuum the very top layer, but I've always been told its not a good idea to vacuum or stirrup the sand bed as the hydrogen sulfide gasses could be released.

Its not deep enough if it averages an inch and kept vacuumed

 

[djbetterly]

Ok, good to know. I'll go deep then, and give it a shot.