Still battling GHA

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 8, 2016

ReEf787 said:
What it boils down to is lights and nutrients. Minimize the light spectrum that algae loves, and minimized the nutrients in the water and the algae will slowly go away. I also recommend doing 25% weekly water changes for about a month or two, and not adding any supplements at all. Anything that adds nutrients to the water will give algae something to feed off of. Yes, a bit extreme, but this is how I was able to completely eliminate green hair algae in my tank.

But if you have high light requiring organisms, reducing the light may not be desirable.
There are many ways to reduce nutrients, and water changes are not, IMO, necessarily the best way. It is especially poor for phosphate, where even a 100% water change may not reduce phosphate adequately. Water changes can obviously be helpful, however.

ReEf787 · Jan 8, 2016

You are correct @Randy. Eliminating nutrients entirely is almost impossible. But we're not necessarily trying to eliminate all the nutrients, we just trying to starve the algae. And we do that in a combination of ways to include water changes, making sure that the skimmer is working optimally , changing out/cleaning filter socks, among other things etc. And you are also correct that some of our livestock may require higher intensity light, bright light that is. The type of light that nuisance hair algae needs to thrive. The key is balance. Eliminate as much of the non essential nutrients within the water that is humanly possible, and reduce the lighting as much possible without affecting livestock, and if done slowly and with patience I guarantee the algae will disappear. It's a continuous process. I still get a small tuft of hair algae now and then in my reef tank, but my tangs make quick work of it. Patience is the biggest ingredient necessary here.

Atlantis14 · Jan 8, 2016

Among The Reef said:
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

We've tried it and it worked great.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 8, 2016

Atlantis14 said:
We've tried it and it worked great.

For green hair algae, or bryopsis?

It does seem that using a particular brand or supplier of magnesium (Kent Tech M) can help reduce bryopsis, which is hard to deal with otherwise. In that case, it is, IMO, more likely to be an impurity than the magnesium itself.

As I understand it, this does not usually work as well on green hair algae.

djbetterly · Jan 10, 2016

Well I did cut back my whites and UV last week, and now I'm noticing that my monti's are starting to brown from the outside in. Although as I write this, I'm sure the browning could be due to lack of nutrients as well. I'm currently extremely low nutrients to help battle the GHA. So what might be the best route to go from here? Adjust light or adjust nutrients?

I still have spots of GHA, the majority is still on the sand bed. The two largest patches are in areas about 3-4inches square. I can siphon that out. I was hoping the hare would dig into that but it doesn't seem to go for the stuff on the sand, only the rock. I'm guessing that has something to do with vulnerability. On the rock they blend in very well. On the sand bed they stick out like a sore thumb.

melev · Jan 10, 2016

Can we get an updated picture?

Atlantis14 · Jan 11, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
For green hair algae, or bryopsis?

It does seem that using a particular brand or supplier of magnesium (Kent Tech M) can help reduce bryopsis, which is hard to deal with otherwise. In that case, it is, IMO, more likely to be an impurity than the magnesium itself.

As I understand it, this does not usually work as well on green hair algae.

Green hair algae.

twilliard · Jan 11, 2016

djbetterly said:
Well I did cut back my whites and UV last week, and now I'm noticing that my monti's are starting to brown from the outside in. Although as I write this, I'm sure the browning could be due to lack of nutrients as well. I'm currently extremely low nutrients to help battle the GHA. So what might be the best route to go from here? Adjust light or adjust nutrients?

I still have spots of GHA, the majority is still on the sand bed. The two largest patches are in areas about 3-4inches square. I can siphon that out. I was hoping the hare would dig into that but it doesn't seem to go for the stuff on the sand, only the rock. I'm guessing that has something to do with vulnerability. On the rock they blend in very well. On the sand bed they stick out like a sore thumb.

Good morning!
So lets start with questions you may have

twilliard · Jan 11, 2016

Atlantis14 said:
Green hair algae.

I personally have yet to see or read about elevated magnesium use against GHA.
Although IMO reaching such high levels to notice an effect on GHA would be detrimental to a lot of invertebrates.

djbetterly · Jan 11, 2016

My biggest question is, do you think the browning of the monti's is light or nutrient related.

twilliard · Jan 11, 2016

djbetterly said:
My biggest question is, do you think the browning of the monti's is light or nutrient related.

Yes and no
I think the browning is higher nutrients with low lighting (also in relation to alk)

djbetterly · Jan 11, 2016

Ok, that was kind of my thought. But before I started adjusting things I wanted some feedback. I have been raising my Alk slowly. I would like it a bit higher for more growth. Now once I get the GHA a bit more under control I can start to raise the nutrients back up.

twilliard · Jan 11, 2016

That sounds like a good plan just take it easy on the alk in relation to nutrients. We dont want any bleaching

djbetterly · Jan 11, 2016

I've been raising it week by week, I'm debating if I should go for 9 or 10 for better growth. Any thoughtsv

twilliard · Jan 11, 2016

Really need current no3 and po4 values to verify your not deficient

djbetterly · Jan 11, 2016

In pretty much at zero on both at the moment. I have been feeding about once everything 2nd or 3rd day, running macros light 24/7, and have two reactors running GFO. Those were for GHA measures by the way...

twilliard · Jan 11, 2016

IMO i would hold to 7.5-8 till you can raise a little

melev · Jan 11, 2016

djbetterly said:
In pretty much at zero on both at the moment. I have been feeding about once everything 2nd or 3rd day, running macros light 24/7, and have two reactors running GFO. Those were for GHA measures by the way...

If you are pretty much at zero (nitrate and phosphate) but you see GHA in your tank, the test results are invalid. I would recommend pulling it out manually and resume feeding your tank properly so the fish and corals get fed.