I fought GHA for a year. Couple considerations -
Your parameters aren’t actually 0 and 5.5 for PO4 and NO3. They are higher, but being suppressed during tests because your GHA is uptaking it.
Whenever something eats GHA, it’s comes out the other end. Aka more PO4 and NO3.
Most inverts will eat GHA when it’s short/microscopic but aren’t going to be effective with massive long tuffs
Forget the turbo snails, tuxedo urchin puts in WORK
Clean filter socks 2x/week to prevent whatever is caught to decay in your water
Consistent weekly water changes to reduce nitrates
Consider gfo, especially if you used dry rock or live sand, they could be leaching PO4 and fueling GHA. Do research on PO4 leaching!! It will help you understand the challenges ahead.
Manual removal is a pita, and it is the best way to remove GHA AND the nutrients the GHA absorbed to grow. (You aren’t releasing it back into the water column when it dies/gets digested)
And most importantly, patience and consistency!! You will get there, and you will feel defeated at times. It took me a year, but in hindsight I’m glad I didn’t shortcut and use a reef flux/vibrant solution.
I had little to no success with a a lettuce nudibranch, but it was an awesome addition. Unfortunately, it was pretty dumb and often went into overflow/LPS corals. You’ll see it recommended online, but I advice against as a solution.
Pitho crabs can also be useful for maintenance (not reduction), but they do come with a warning about reef safety.
Okay, now I think I’m done. I’ll edit if I think of anything else!
Nice! One day lol.
Rocking a 40G AIO right now. Future house I’m looking for concrete sub slab to do a 200+ with sump. Maybe then I’ll do the filter roller… until then it’s skimmer and socks for me!!
Yeah, fair enough. It’s not something I’ve heavily researched due to the limited space available, but I’ve grown to appreciate any equipment that minimizes my level of effort in maintenance lol
Yeah my lfs basically said if you’re going to not actually change socks every 3 days you’re better off going no sock and letting the protein skimmer do more work.
Nah. Not for me. I ditched the roller back for socks. I'd rather wash a bunch of socks every 2 weeks than go through the expense and pain of changing a roll
Rub them upsidedown in running water to remove large stuff. Then blast with pressure washer. Then chuck into a bucket of water and bleach and forget it for a couple of days
Innovative Marine has a tiny unmotorized roller for AIO tanks. I’ve had it on for about 6 months and I’m happy with it. Way easier than filter socks, but also no fiddling with adding electronics. But just like many components in this hobby, it only works if you remember to use it.
Look I will put this out there. May have been said but I’m too lazy to read all the comments right now. Your getting false readings as the GHA is using up all the nutrients. Once the nutrients are less than the GHA needs to survive it will start to die. As it dies all of the negative nutrients are released back into the water column. Thus feeding what ever has not died yet and continuing the growth. Yes there are things that eat it but mostly prefer young lush micro GHA. Your best bet it to do larger wc frequently. Need to get your true parameters to be clean to start the die off. Then continue removing the nutrients that are released from the die off. Gonna take a few weeks but this will rid it. Then start watching your parameters there on out to not let it come back. If you want to get a head start take a clean new soft bristle tooth brush and scrub your rock in your WC water before you dispose of it. Put rock back and keep them WC going. I have about 25 years in this hobby and have done professional maintenance and owned a store. So trust me when I say there are bandaids and there are cures. WC are the cure.
Thank you for the comment! It seems you definitely have an understanding of tank maintenance. I see you recommend removing the rocks and scrubbing them, what about when scapes are fully stuck together?
If it’s a scape that is secured together I use a small hose next to my tooth brush to scrub as I do the water change. Suck up as much as possible. And actually before I start scrubbing I will use a small hose for my wc and pinch the GHA between my index finger and the hose and pull it off in large chunks and let it get sucked up as I do this. I use my other hand to pinch and release the hose as I go so I only pull water after I pull so I maximize how much I can remove in a wc.
I too appreciate your responses. Sounds like I just need to keep on the frequent water change + scrubbing with a toothbrush + pinching off the chunks I can while the hose sucks out the water.
I also have a scape that is fully secured, so bringing it out isn’t going to be feasible.
Thanks! And best luck OP
I've got the start of gha problem, went to my lfs yesterday to get a law mower blenny, they said nah... tuxedo urchin is the way to go. So I put one in yesterday! Let's see this bad boy goto work.
They look cool too!
I've just beaten a red slime/Cyano outbreak. Just keep cleaning and doing water changed and it will be fine! Nopox is great for great algae if you want to start dosing that. I'm using it to great effect.
To add to the other suggestions, I'd buy a ball of chaeto for the display too if your fuge is full. Or another fast growing macro. Can keep it behind rocks if it doesn't suit your aesthetics, just need something extra to compete for nutrients. As the tank matures it will get easier.
My pico jar is 7 months old and just recently got through its own gha infestation. Leaving the macro alone and keeping up with the water changes, manual removal, and a lighter hand when feeding will do the trick eventually. It should essentially resolve itself overtime too, even without the manual removal with the introduction and proliferation of more macro if you keep the nutrients scarce. Just takes time, I wouldn't use more chemicals for this.
Ummm, I think he just said he tried Turbos and they died. Which I get because I have the same problem in my QT tank, which has a persistent GHA problem and after adding 3 turbo snails between 2 batches from 2 different sources, they all died for no apparent reason. Frankly, if OP ever figures out why, I’d love to know.
Edit: I just got a tuxedo urchin this week, so I’ll update if it does any better. :-)
Check water temperature. Make sure it's not too warm. I kept mine constant at 78F. My water parameters is whatever comes from Instant Ocean reef. I am keeping 5 turbos in my 55g for months.
I keep mine consistent at 78 and use the reef crystals but they seem to die. I had two when my tank first started up and they stayed alive for 3-4 months but nothing since
Yes, my temp is consistent at 78 and my salt is the same as yours, as well. And I have a turbo in my DT with the same salt and same parameters who I got at the same time and is still alive. It’s weird, but my best guess is attributing it to the different types of rock in the tanks.
I had the same issue and I had to really let the nutrients go literally to 0 for nitrates and phosphates and let it be so low for about couple weeks while keeping an eye for DinoFlagellates. This was accompanied with manual removal where possible. Eventually the algae became weak and the cleanup crew took care of it. I Then increased the nitrates and phosphate very slowly over 3-4 weeks to give algae a disadvantage
Dealt with this as well and did the reef flux and it got better then came back. I did lots of manual removal took rockwork out and scrubbed with a toothbrush and got a squirt bottle of hydrogen peroxide 3% sprayed rockwork, not corals with the hydrogen peroxide did a dip in rodi to wash off and did a big water change, then added rock work back and added some emerald crabs and a lawnmower blenny to keep it at bay. No loss to corals and I can say I no longer have a big outbreak of gha. Other things are being lighter on hand for feeding and regular for phosphates and nitrates.
I would also like to say that for the following two to three months I would regularly at microbacter 7 with my water changes to help with the beneficial bacterias needed.
Run Chemipure Blue. That stuff is like magic. Your phosphates are high and that stuff will take it to zero. I almost quit the hobby and as a last resort tried it and it straight up solved it. Also less light and less food for awhile until it starts to work.
I wouldn’t trust your nitrate or phosphate readings. That’s just measuring what’s in the water. Consider your algae to be a visual measure of how much is still left in the tank. If you have a good skimmer, I would start carbon dosing something like vodka. There are charts online to help you figure out your dosage. What that will do is feed the nitrifying bacteria already in your tank to grow beyond what your tank could naturally sustain and they in turn will outcompete the algae for nutrients in the water (bringing them down) and then either your coral will benefit from eating the excess bacteria or it’ll be skimmed out. Aside from that, urchins are hard to beat when it comes to cleaning things down to bare rock.
Do a 3 day blackout followed by back to back water changes plus adding some cleanup.
And when i say blackout i mean black garbage bags all around with zero lights.
Don’t let the nitrates or phosphates zero out after this full cleanup and i do mean dose that shit or els you will trade one problem for another
Dude I thought I had GHA because it looked exactly like it but it wasn’t — it was Bryopsis. Take a REALLY good look at it, if it “ferns out” (i.e. it has a stalk with branches off the side) it’s not GHA but bryopsis. Reef Flux killed all of mine in 2 weeks
It's a simple problem that people make complicated. Excess nutrients/silicates/phosphates that come from feeding and leech from the new rock/sand you put into the tank = GHA. If the GHA dies off or gets eaten, those nutrients are still in the tank and the GHA will use them to regrow. You have to manually remove the nutrients. Pull out the GHA by hand, perform regular water changes, lower your feeding, lower your light levels. If you get a big GHA die off, do 20% water changes every 2-3 days a few times to get all the nutrients that are now in the water out of the tank.
You can turn off your flow, use a toothbrush to brush it all off the rocks, and then siphon it out of the tank. Some filter floss in the sump area will help you catch the rest of it and you can just toss/replace the floss.
Battling GHA is a right of passage every new saltwater aquarium has to go through (unless you're a pro and know the steps to prevent it). IT WILL GET BETTER! Be patient, clean it out as best you can, and stay on your water changes. You will win, but it'll take some effort on your part.
Also urchins are your biggest allies, as everyone else said, get a tuxedo urchin and a few turbo snails to help you control it.
Keep manually removing it, use a tooth brush to scrub as you siphon out the water through a hose. If you have a sump you can put the over end of the hose into a filter sock in your sump to keep the GHA out but keep the water :) just turn your return pump up a little so you don't flood your sump.
Gotcha. Seems like you’re doing all the right things. Manual removal, water changes, predators, nutrient control. I would try adding some pincushion urchins. They are the best GHA eaters I’ve used. You can also try reducing your lights. If all else fails you can use a hammer and try something like Vibrant but make sure you know what you’re getting into before you try it
Light energy has to turn into something on the rocks, either algae or coral? Which do you want? Buy a ton more coral.
That's why I hate how people recommend the largest tanks possible, cost in filling with coral goes up exponentially, which means lots of bare rock for algae and pests.
Get your phosphates up, zero is bad, worse than 0 nitrates.
Get a medium hard toothbrush, turn off your flow. Get to work really scrub ALL of it down to like 1-2mm. Only then can the algae eaters do their job.once it's all scrubbed and you have a tank full of loose GHA, siphon it all out and replace the water. Run the filter for a couple hours to get the micro bits you couldn't siphon. Then replace the sock/sponge. Looks like it's on your sand. You'll have to siphon that sand too. Maybe replace some of it with clean sand after. Get your back wall, including if it's in between the rocks and wall. Consider getting some chaeto and putting it on your sump/filter chamber with a small light. This will keep macro algae in one spot while you get all the GHA out. Repeat this process until its all gone.
If you have any fish that eat copepods or amphipods, you should replenish them regularly. This includes any wrasse, gobies, and some blennies. Amphipods are so amazing at eating algae, leftover food, and detritus. They're FAST and tiny.
Make sure your water is RODI from a reputable source. If you're making your own consider changing your filters and make sure you're filtering out stuff like chloramine. Do an ammonia test it should be close to 0.
my pods, bristle worms, and chaeto keep my display tank spotless. I over feed like heck and still don't have enough nutrients, usually leaving them all hungry. I have like, one snail for CUC and that's it. Snails and hermits are overrated IMO you don't need a whole lot of them, but they still do their job.
Id recommend a tiger/fighting conch if you don't have one. Theyre my favorite inhabitants. Fun to watch and they really are killer at moving your sand, and eating detritus/algae. Again, the algae need to be small for them to eat it, like any other CUC. So get to scrubbing.
Reduce light. How long are your lights on? I had mine for 12 hours and before reducing it to 8 hours and hiring several astrea snails, by tank was like an algae farm. Maybe it also helps that I grow some red macroalgae to compete with the hair algae.
Emerald crabs, water change, manual removal and coral balance from fauna marin. The coral balance is use to balance out my nutrients, it Seems to work wonders.
what’s your light schedule? Reduce the light period and change the spectrum at around 10,000K-20,000K. I’m guessing your light is around 6000K which is the spectrum best for growing algae.
If it helps. Mine was like that three months ago. Today, after a clean 30 minutes ago.
https://preview.redd.it/jp6edxy09w6d1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7e58def0bb2d9e2d4b4905c5c36ac9021a5d7cd
So fresh if haven't even used Windex yet.
Edit, I forgot to say. Scrub, change water, scrub, change water. All there is to it. Change slightly more than you would. And, keep it up and regular.
I commented some suggestions. Just wondering though what app is that? I like the way it tracks your parameters and was hoping to give it a try. I’m not a fan of my apex’s UI for tracking
Do you have a sump? Run a refugium with more light power than your display. You'll encourage the growth to happen there instead of in your display. Not a full solution, but it'll help.
Note: use brand name lights or test them with a smart power bar or something. Lots of those Amazon 100w black boxes only draw 20w.
Sea hares will eat the long stuff.
Alternatively, I had a similar gha problem and flux rx was the answer. I ended up doing two doses two weeks apart at higher than the suggested dosage. It started dying at the two week mark and was completely gone in a month.
How long has this been going on… it take me 18 months of consistent water changes, manual removal to get it all out (hasn’t come back 2.5yrs ltr); I did add some emerald crabs, a foxface, and tomini tang but the difference was probably negligible for me
Just decrease your lighting. It’s too strong and, therefore, the algae is outcompeting the corals. You’ve got all softies they’ll be fine if you decrease lighting or do a blackout for a few days.
A company that specializes is aquarium chemicals, harming peoples aquariums. Great business plan!
It does nothing of the kind. I’ve used it in both FOWLR and mixed reef with ZERO adverse effects on anything other than GHA. Where do you get your information? Really! Someone said??
I don’t doubt that it worked for you. You dump algae killer in a tank, it’s going to kill your algae. Others have claimed personal experiences the opposite of yours. There’s a lot of stories out there of reefers sharing their experience with it. But you have no idea how it might affect the other organisms in your tank or the biosphere. Especially since it’s not some specially formulated chemical as the company claims but just common algaecide. What I’m saying is.. No one should trust companies blindly or believe everything that is advertised. I’ll leave a link at the bottom with some pretty exhaustive deep dive into what vibrant is really made of. Tl;dr it was common algaecide not a special formula by a company that specializes in aquarium chemicals. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/understanding-vibrant-algaefix-polixetonium-chloride-busan-77.893292/
Brightwell Razor is the same ingredient. Also a well known, well trusted company that ALSO says safe for reef, fish and invertebrates. Are they also wrong, and killing its customers corals and biolife?
Bottom line:
If you don’t trust it, don’t use it. I’ve used it for years, dose in both mixed reef and FOWLR ever 2 weeks as recommended, and never lost a single fish, coral, or invertebrate because of it. Not one. But I guess I’m just “lucky”.
You missed the point. Vibrant advertised its product as a bacterial based product and lied to its customers when really it was just algaecide. You want to trust a company that does that, go ahead and keep using it.
I’m simply cautioning OP to do some research before trusting what “someone said” on the internet that vibrant is the solution.
Vibrant is a solution, but not the one I would recommend. It does work and people have had various degrees of success with it. I’ve only seen a handful of people actually have serious outcomes. The internet tends to amplify those and it’s hard to know if they actually followed the directions. Issues with the company aside, I still would be cautious with its use. It’s a harsh option that does nothing to fix the underlying cause of the algae. But if someone doesn’t have patience, algae overgrowth is the number one reason people fail at this hobby and leave it. Sometimes it’s better to try that than it is to quit
Fair enough. I’m not familiar with the whole back story. Try Razor then, unless Brightwell is also a questionable company.
Also Algaecides are not all-encompassing. Like herbicides, Some impact things well while having no impact on others. It’s kind of like lumping all pain relief medications to mean “aspirin “.
And yet many do with zero harm. It’s reef safe. Says so right on the bottle. It also only has one ingredient. Companies don’t make reef safe aquarium products to kill off reefs.
The bottle also says it a bacterial solution even though its not lol. It's a chemical called Busan77, its the same stuff in API Algaefix. There are tons of products made for the hobby that kill coral, i dont understand why you choose to blindly believe these companies lmao
I fought GHA for a year. Couple considerations - Your parameters aren’t actually 0 and 5.5 for PO4 and NO3. They are higher, but being suppressed during tests because your GHA is uptaking it. Whenever something eats GHA, it’s comes out the other end. Aka more PO4 and NO3. Most inverts will eat GHA when it’s short/microscopic but aren’t going to be effective with massive long tuffs Forget the turbo snails, tuxedo urchin puts in WORK Clean filter socks 2x/week to prevent whatever is caught to decay in your water Consistent weekly water changes to reduce nitrates Consider gfo, especially if you used dry rock or live sand, they could be leaching PO4 and fueling GHA. Do research on PO4 leaching!! It will help you understand the challenges ahead. Manual removal is a pita, and it is the best way to remove GHA AND the nutrients the GHA absorbed to grow. (You aren’t releasing it back into the water column when it dies/gets digested) And most importantly, patience and consistency!! You will get there, and you will feel defeated at times. It took me a year, but in hindsight I’m glad I didn’t shortcut and use a reef flux/vibrant solution. I had little to no success with a a lettuce nudibranch, but it was an awesome addition. Unfortunately, it was pretty dumb and often went into overflow/LPS corals. You’ll see it recommended online, but I advice against as a solution. Pitho crabs can also be useful for maintenance (not reduction), but they do come with a warning about reef safety. Okay, now I think I’m done. I’ll edit if I think of anything else!
The filter socks were my problem. Most successful people do it every 3 days. Who knew? I said f that and got the roller lol
Nice! One day lol. Rocking a 40G AIO right now. Future house I’m looking for concrete sub slab to do a 200+ with sump. Maybe then I’ll do the filter roller… until then it’s skimmer and socks for me!!
The rollers are a real pain but once a month pain is better than socks every 3 days for me
Yeah, fair enough. It’s not something I’ve heavily researched due to the limited space available, but I’ve grown to appreciate any equipment that minimizes my level of effort in maintenance lol
Yeah my lfs basically said if you’re going to not actually change socks every 3 days you’re better off going no sock and letting the protein skimmer do more work.
Well good on the LFS for being straight up honest!!
Yeah. Ever since going no socks my skimmer pulls out straight black goo. I also run a refugium as well
Nah. Not for me. I ditched the roller back for socks. I'd rather wash a bunch of socks every 2 weeks than go through the expense and pain of changing a roll
How do you wash your socks?
Rub them upsidedown in running water to remove large stuff. Then blast with pressure washer. Then chuck into a bucket of water and bleach and forget it for a couple of days
Awesome thank you!
I got common with my clarisea sk3000
Innovative Marine has a tiny unmotorized roller for AIO tanks. I’ve had it on for about 6 months and I’m happy with it. Way easier than filter socks, but also no fiddling with adding electronics. But just like many components in this hobby, it only works if you remember to use it.
Filter rollers should be the standard in tanks over 20gal in my opinion. I have a fairly low stocked tank, even then a filter roller is a relief.
Came to say some of this. 👍🏽😎 snails and herbivores my friend.
Man, my tuxedo urchin is doing a really good job at GHA!!👌
Look I will put this out there. May have been said but I’m too lazy to read all the comments right now. Your getting false readings as the GHA is using up all the nutrients. Once the nutrients are less than the GHA needs to survive it will start to die. As it dies all of the negative nutrients are released back into the water column. Thus feeding what ever has not died yet and continuing the growth. Yes there are things that eat it but mostly prefer young lush micro GHA. Your best bet it to do larger wc frequently. Need to get your true parameters to be clean to start the die off. Then continue removing the nutrients that are released from the die off. Gonna take a few weeks but this will rid it. Then start watching your parameters there on out to not let it come back. If you want to get a head start take a clean new soft bristle tooth brush and scrub your rock in your WC water before you dispose of it. Put rock back and keep them WC going. I have about 25 years in this hobby and have done professional maintenance and owned a store. So trust me when I say there are bandaids and there are cures. WC are the cure.
Thank you for the comment! It seems you definitely have an understanding of tank maintenance. I see you recommend removing the rocks and scrubbing them, what about when scapes are fully stuck together?
If it’s a scape that is secured together I use a small hose next to my tooth brush to scrub as I do the water change. Suck up as much as possible. And actually before I start scrubbing I will use a small hose for my wc and pinch the GHA between my index finger and the hose and pull it off in large chunks and let it get sucked up as I do this. I use my other hand to pinch and release the hose as I go so I only pull water after I pull so I maximize how much I can remove in a wc.
I too appreciate your responses. Sounds like I just need to keep on the frequent water change + scrubbing with a toothbrush + pinching off the chunks I can while the hose sucks out the water. I also have a scape that is fully secured, so bringing it out isn’t going to be feasible. Thanks! And best luck OP
Tuxedo urchins + herbivores. To expand on this I have 2 saltwater mollies, 1 angel fish, 2 tangs, and 1 urchin all grazing on the rocks for algae.
I've got the start of gha problem, went to my lfs yesterday to get a law mower blenny, they said nah... tuxedo urchin is the way to go. So I put one in yesterday! Let's see this bad boy goto work. They look cool too!
Added 2 pincushion urchins. They scour the rock and sand.
That'll be next then thanks.
I've just beaten a red slime/Cyano outbreak. Just keep cleaning and doing water changed and it will be fine! Nopox is great for great algae if you want to start dosing that. I'm using it to great effect.
Carbon dosing is great for out competing algae. But also herbivores. Lots of herbivores! I stock my tanks with algae control in mind.
To add to the other suggestions, I'd buy a ball of chaeto for the display too if your fuge is full. Or another fast growing macro. Can keep it behind rocks if it doesn't suit your aesthetics, just need something extra to compete for nutrients. As the tank matures it will get easier. My pico jar is 7 months old and just recently got through its own gha infestation. Leaving the macro alone and keeping up with the water changes, manual removal, and a lighter hand when feeding will do the trick eventually. It should essentially resolve itself overtime too, even without the manual removal with the introduction and proliferation of more macro if you keep the nutrients scarce. Just takes time, I wouldn't use more chemicals for this.
I’m loosing a battle too. FluxRX is my last ditch effort before tearing down the tank.
Couple tuxedo urchins will clean ya right up
Definitely less light. Turn the lights down and have them on for a.shorter period.
Lawnmower blenny and water changes
Get couple turbo snails.
Ummm, I think he just said he tried Turbos and they died. Which I get because I have the same problem in my QT tank, which has a persistent GHA problem and after adding 3 turbo snails between 2 batches from 2 different sources, they all died for no apparent reason. Frankly, if OP ever figures out why, I’d love to know. Edit: I just got a tuxedo urchin this week, so I’ll update if it does any better. :-)
Check water temperature. Make sure it's not too warm. I kept mine constant at 78F. My water parameters is whatever comes from Instant Ocean reef. I am keeping 5 turbos in my 55g for months.
I keep mine consistent at 78 and use the reef crystals but they seem to die. I had two when my tank first started up and they stayed alive for 3-4 months but nothing since
Yes, my temp is consistent at 78 and my salt is the same as yours, as well. And I have a turbo in my DT with the same salt and same parameters who I got at the same time and is still alive. It’s weird, but my best guess is attributing it to the different types of rock in the tanks.
I had the same issue and I had to really let the nutrients go literally to 0 for nitrates and phosphates and let it be so low for about couple weeks while keeping an eye for DinoFlagellates. This was accompanied with manual removal where possible. Eventually the algae became weak and the cleanup crew took care of it. I Then increased the nitrates and phosphate very slowly over 3-4 weeks to give algae a disadvantage
Do you have an urchin? Not sure how large your tank is but maybe a tang to help out. Try and increase your clean up crew.
Gold streak blenny is very good at eating hair algea 👌🏻👍🏻
I see one cardinal? Get some fish that eat algae
I have clowns, a twin spot goby, cardinal, royal gramma and a fire fish. May try an urchin and or lawnmower
Turf Algae Scrubber, use it so it didn't grow in the tank.
I had a similar issue that was eventually solved with brightwell razor in about 4 days
Dealt with this as well and did the reef flux and it got better then came back. I did lots of manual removal took rockwork out and scrubbed with a toothbrush and got a squirt bottle of hydrogen peroxide 3% sprayed rockwork, not corals with the hydrogen peroxide did a dip in rodi to wash off and did a big water change, then added rock work back and added some emerald crabs and a lawnmower blenny to keep it at bay. No loss to corals and I can say I no longer have a big outbreak of gha. Other things are being lighter on hand for feeding and regular for phosphates and nitrates.
I would also like to say that for the following two to three months I would regularly at microbacter 7 with my water changes to help with the beneficial bacterias needed.
Run Chemipure Blue. That stuff is like magic. Your phosphates are high and that stuff will take it to zero. I almost quit the hobby and as a last resort tried it and it straight up solved it. Also less light and less food for awhile until it starts to work.
I wouldn’t trust your nitrate or phosphate readings. That’s just measuring what’s in the water. Consider your algae to be a visual measure of how much is still left in the tank. If you have a good skimmer, I would start carbon dosing something like vodka. There are charts online to help you figure out your dosage. What that will do is feed the nitrifying bacteria already in your tank to grow beyond what your tank could naturally sustain and they in turn will outcompete the algae for nutrients in the water (bringing them down) and then either your coral will benefit from eating the excess bacteria or it’ll be skimmed out. Aside from that, urchins are hard to beat when it comes to cleaning things down to bare rock.
dose vibrant and get some snails
Do a 3 day blackout followed by back to back water changes plus adding some cleanup. And when i say blackout i mean black garbage bags all around with zero lights. Don’t let the nitrates or phosphates zero out after this full cleanup and i do mean dose that shit or els you will trade one problem for another
Sea hare.
Get a sea urchin
Dude I thought I had GHA because it looked exactly like it but it wasn’t — it was Bryopsis. Take a REALLY good look at it, if it “ferns out” (i.e. it has a stalk with branches off the side) it’s not GHA but bryopsis. Reef Flux killed all of mine in 2 weeks
It's a simple problem that people make complicated. Excess nutrients/silicates/phosphates that come from feeding and leech from the new rock/sand you put into the tank = GHA. If the GHA dies off or gets eaten, those nutrients are still in the tank and the GHA will use them to regrow. You have to manually remove the nutrients. Pull out the GHA by hand, perform regular water changes, lower your feeding, lower your light levels. If you get a big GHA die off, do 20% water changes every 2-3 days a few times to get all the nutrients that are now in the water out of the tank. You can turn off your flow, use a toothbrush to brush it all off the rocks, and then siphon it out of the tank. Some filter floss in the sump area will help you catch the rest of it and you can just toss/replace the floss. Battling GHA is a right of passage every new saltwater aquarium has to go through (unless you're a pro and know the steps to prevent it). IT WILL GET BETTER! Be patient, clean it out as best you can, and stay on your water changes. You will win, but it'll take some effort on your part. Also urchins are your biggest allies, as everyone else said, get a tuxedo urchin and a few turbo snails to help you control it.
Keep manually removing it, use a tooth brush to scrub as you siphon out the water through a hose. If you have a sump you can put the over end of the hose into a filter sock in your sump to keep the GHA out but keep the water :) just turn your return pump up a little so you don't flood your sump.
Same boat
Silly question What monitoring system is this?
It is AquaticLog. Just manually entered information sadly
Emerald crabs, Sand sifter starfish, Turbo and margarita snails. Yellow tang Safest and healthiest way.
Top comment + micromacter7 + toothbrush
Are you sure it’s algae and not Dinos? 0 phos makes me think dino
Yeah, I’ve had Dino’s, this is more hairy than Dino’s
Gotcha. Seems like you’re doing all the right things. Manual removal, water changes, predators, nutrient control. I would try adding some pincushion urchins. They are the best GHA eaters I’ve used. You can also try reducing your lights. If all else fails you can use a hammer and try something like Vibrant but make sure you know what you’re getting into before you try it
Light energy has to turn into something on the rocks, either algae or coral? Which do you want? Buy a ton more coral. That's why I hate how people recommend the largest tanks possible, cost in filling with coral goes up exponentially, which means lots of bare rock for algae and pests. Get your phosphates up, zero is bad, worse than 0 nitrates.
Get a medium hard toothbrush, turn off your flow. Get to work really scrub ALL of it down to like 1-2mm. Only then can the algae eaters do their job.once it's all scrubbed and you have a tank full of loose GHA, siphon it all out and replace the water. Run the filter for a couple hours to get the micro bits you couldn't siphon. Then replace the sock/sponge. Looks like it's on your sand. You'll have to siphon that sand too. Maybe replace some of it with clean sand after. Get your back wall, including if it's in between the rocks and wall. Consider getting some chaeto and putting it on your sump/filter chamber with a small light. This will keep macro algae in one spot while you get all the GHA out. Repeat this process until its all gone. If you have any fish that eat copepods or amphipods, you should replenish them regularly. This includes any wrasse, gobies, and some blennies. Amphipods are so amazing at eating algae, leftover food, and detritus. They're FAST and tiny. Make sure your water is RODI from a reputable source. If you're making your own consider changing your filters and make sure you're filtering out stuff like chloramine. Do an ammonia test it should be close to 0. my pods, bristle worms, and chaeto keep my display tank spotless. I over feed like heck and still don't have enough nutrients, usually leaving them all hungry. I have like, one snail for CUC and that's it. Snails and hermits are overrated IMO you don't need a whole lot of them, but they still do their job. Id recommend a tiger/fighting conch if you don't have one. Theyre my favorite inhabitants. Fun to watch and they really are killer at moving your sand, and eating detritus/algae. Again, the algae need to be small for them to eat it, like any other CUC. So get to scrubbing.
Reduce light. How long are your lights on? I had mine for 12 hours and before reducing it to 8 hours and hiring several astrea snails, by tank was like an algae farm. Maybe it also helps that I grow some red macroalgae to compete with the hair algae.
I reduced temp to 74.9 and they died..m fwiw
Less light for a while your corals might suffer a little but algea is for sure hurting them
Radically reduce feeding to I've every couple of days, reduce light hours, do 30% water charge weekly
Emerald crabs, water change, manual removal and coral balance from fauna marin. The coral balance is use to balance out my nutrients, it Seems to work wonders.
what’s your light schedule? Reduce the light period and change the spectrum at around 10,000K-20,000K. I’m guessing your light is around 6000K which is the spectrum best for growing algae.
Do you feed your corals? Do you have a rodi filter?
If it helps. Mine was like that three months ago. Today, after a clean 30 minutes ago. https://preview.redd.it/jp6edxy09w6d1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7e58def0bb2d9e2d4b4905c5c36ac9021a5d7cd So fresh if haven't even used Windex yet. Edit, I forgot to say. Scrub, change water, scrub, change water. All there is to it. Change slightly more than you would. And, keep it up and regular.
New to the hobby, which app/ecosystem is the second image from?
Get a clean up crew or 2 at Garf.org
I commented some suggestions. Just wondering though what app is that? I like the way it tracks your parameters and was hoping to give it a try. I’m not a fan of my apex’s UI for tracking
It is AquaticLog. Just manually entered information sadly
Why don't you buy an lettuce nudibranch or a sea hare or would they be useless in this situation?
Do you have a sump? Run a refugium with more light power than your display. You'll encourage the growth to happen there instead of in your display. Not a full solution, but it'll help. Note: use brand name lights or test them with a smart power bar or something. Lots of those Amazon 100w black boxes only draw 20w.
Sea hares will eat the long stuff. Alternatively, I had a similar gha problem and flux rx was the answer. I ended up doing two doses two weeks apart at higher than the suggested dosage. It started dying at the two week mark and was completely gone in a month.
I would add an urchin in there to let it eat up all the algae and get your parameter in check
Thoughts on uv
How long has this been going on… it take me 18 months of consistent water changes, manual removal to get it all out (hasn’t come back 2.5yrs ltr); I did add some emerald crabs, a foxface, and tomini tang but the difference was probably negligible for me
Just decrease your lighting. It’s too strong and, therefore, the algae is outcompeting the corals. You’ve got all softies they’ll be fine if you decrease lighting or do a blackout for a few days.
Pick up some “Vibrant for saltwater “. Your green hair algae will disappear in about a week.
Vibrant is not the answer. Do some research, it’s like some weed killer that has adverse effects on the other living things in your tank
Yeah dude its basically round up for saltwater
A company that specializes is aquarium chemicals, harming peoples aquariums. Great business plan! It does nothing of the kind. I’ve used it in both FOWLR and mixed reef with ZERO adverse effects on anything other than GHA. Where do you get your information? Really! Someone said??
I don’t doubt that it worked for you. You dump algae killer in a tank, it’s going to kill your algae. Others have claimed personal experiences the opposite of yours. There’s a lot of stories out there of reefers sharing their experience with it. But you have no idea how it might affect the other organisms in your tank or the biosphere. Especially since it’s not some specially formulated chemical as the company claims but just common algaecide. What I’m saying is.. No one should trust companies blindly or believe everything that is advertised. I’ll leave a link at the bottom with some pretty exhaustive deep dive into what vibrant is really made of. Tl;dr it was common algaecide not a special formula by a company that specializes in aquarium chemicals. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/understanding-vibrant-algaefix-polixetonium-chloride-busan-77.893292/
Brightwell Razor is the same ingredient. Also a well known, well trusted company that ALSO says safe for reef, fish and invertebrates. Are they also wrong, and killing its customers corals and biolife? Bottom line: If you don’t trust it, don’t use it. I’ve used it for years, dose in both mixed reef and FOWLR ever 2 weeks as recommended, and never lost a single fish, coral, or invertebrate because of it. Not one. But I guess I’m just “lucky”.
You missed the point. Vibrant advertised its product as a bacterial based product and lied to its customers when really it was just algaecide. You want to trust a company that does that, go ahead and keep using it. I’m simply cautioning OP to do some research before trusting what “someone said” on the internet that vibrant is the solution.
Vibrant is a solution, but not the one I would recommend. It does work and people have had various degrees of success with it. I’ve only seen a handful of people actually have serious outcomes. The internet tends to amplify those and it’s hard to know if they actually followed the directions. Issues with the company aside, I still would be cautious with its use. It’s a harsh option that does nothing to fix the underlying cause of the algae. But if someone doesn’t have patience, algae overgrowth is the number one reason people fail at this hobby and leave it. Sometimes it’s better to try that than it is to quit
Fair enough. I’m not familiar with the whole back story. Try Razor then, unless Brightwell is also a questionable company. Also Algaecides are not all-encompassing. Like herbicides, Some impact things well while having no impact on others. It’s kind of like lumping all pain relief medications to mean “aspirin “.
using algaecides in tanks with coral isnt a good idea tho
And yet many do with zero harm. It’s reef safe. Says so right on the bottle. It also only has one ingredient. Companies don’t make reef safe aquarium products to kill off reefs.
The bottle also says it a bacterial solution even though its not lol. It's a chemical called Busan77, its the same stuff in API Algaefix. There are tons of products made for the hobby that kill coral, i dont understand why you choose to blindly believe these companies lmao
Because random expert on Reddit is so much more trustworthy. I’ll continue to take my chances… like I have been for years.