What is this algae? Will dropping nitrates and phosphates to 0 clear it?

[leonardomanzano]

I have done a 100% water change over the span of 2 days.

I will moving all my fish(2) into a second non coral based tank so I can accurately control and dose my nitrates in this tank.
After a few days I noticed that this algae that grew on my return PVC was turning white.
I’m not sure if it is due to being expose to air for hours or if it’s the drop in nutrients.

I plan on running a GFO and carbon reactor to take in the chemicals of the dying corals and the phosphate of the algae matter that is currently dying.


Does this plan sound good? Are there any other things I can do to prevent more coral deaths?

I’m currently using my feeding Baster to manually remove what I can.

 

[Propane]

I wouldn’t bottom out your nitrate and phosphate levels as it would just give you more problems. How old is the tank?

 

[Ben549]

looks like pretty standard green algae. zeroing parameters quickly is generally not a good idea.

it's photosynthetic so it needs light in addition to nutrients.

manual removal is best combined with introducing natural predators would be an ideal approach

 

[Outlaw Corals]

It’s hair algae, did you replace any bacteria you should never do a 100% water change, never mind the GFO and carbon nonsense get a algae scrubber and you will never have to worry about algae again

 

[Propane]

Do you have a CUC?

 

[Outlaw Corals]

Do you have a CUC?

Just a few pencil urchins in my sump and cleaner shrimp and some hermit crabs

 

[Ben549]

Just a few pencil urchins in my sump and cleaner shrimp and some hermit crabs

lol, he didnt mean you....

 

[leonardomanzano]

I wouldn’t bottom out your nitrate and phosphate levels as it would just give you more problems. How old is the tank?

Unfortunately, the tank is fairly new, I recently had my large 55-gallon tank bust so I had to quickly move everything to this 20 gallon tank.

It’s hair algae, did you replace any bacteria you should never do a 100% water change, never mind the GFO and carbon nonsense get a algae scrubber and you will never have to worry about algae again

I do have an algae scrubber on hand!! Thank you for reminding me about it!
I had completely forgotten about it because my fleece roller was taking up so much space so I couldn't put it into my sump area.
I will set it up tomorrow now that the fleece roller is out of my set up.

I removed the roller due to it taking up nearly all of my space and I wanted to put in a new skimmer in the setup so my other tank could use this old one I have

Do you have a CUC?

I do have a small CUC, a pencil urchin and a tuxedo urchin as my heavy hitters, apart from that I don't have much aside from the few snails and hermit that made their way into my tank after the tank transfer.
I have a phytoplankton culture brewing up so I can farm pods and introduce them in the tank as my main CUC

as apart from the algae I do have some gunk that resembles mud building up in the sump that I'm sure the pods will eat away at over time.

lol, he didnt mean you....

if Outlaw Corals is on the same boat as me I'm sure they could use some help too lol

 

[Outlaw Corals]

lol, he didnt mean you....

My bad I’m still new here i thought he was asking me

 

[leonardomanzano]

it's all good no worries! if you are in the same boat feel free to ask questions and take in some knowledge that other users drop here!

 

[DonTavo27]

My bad I’m still new here i thought he was asking me

You should start a build thread, introduce your self to the community.

To OP. I’ve been battling GHA now for a few months, and just now started getting a hand on it. Weekly 10% water changes and manual removal help. I also got a Sea Hare, and some hermits.

 

[Ben549]

My bad I’m still new here i thought he was asking me

no worries at all.

 

[Ben549]

Unfortunately, the tank is fairly new, I recently had my large 55-gallon tank bust so I had to quickly move everything to this 20 gallon tank.


I do have an algae scrubber on hand!! Thank you for reminding me about it!
I had completely forgotten about it because my fleece roller was taking up so much space so I couldn't put it into my sump area.
I will set it up tomorrow now that the fleece roller is out of my set up.

I removed the roller due to it taking up nearly all of my space and I wanted to put in a new skimmer in the setup so my other tank could use this old one I have


I do have a small CUC, a pencil urchin and a tuxedo urchin as my heavy hitters, apart from that I don't have much aside from the few snails and hermit that made their way into my tank after the tank transfer.
I have a phytoplankton culture brewing up so I can farm pods and introduce them in the tank as my main CUC

as apart from the algae I do have some gunk that resembles mud building up in the sump that I'm sure the pods will eat away at over time.




if Outlaw Corals is on the same boat as me I'm sure they could use some help too lol

pods wont fix what you have going on, they might help maintain once it's gone though. You could also consider a emerald crab and/or a blenny


FWIW I have a 20g AIO that's a little over a month old. I have snails, emerald crab, and a starry blenny that all eat algae. I have to supplement with nori because I don't have enough algae to feed the blenny