GHA eradication

i know GHA has probably been talked to death, but i think i've done most everything right. a couple of months ago i had an outbreak of the junk so i:

bought some macro
switched out my bulbs (made a HUGE difference)
stepped up water changes
upped my CUC with two very large turbos and ten more lefthand crabs
started running GFO and changed my carbon
changed my water changes from once a month to once every 10 days

nuisance algae growth has halted completely. the snails seemed to make a good sized dent in the remnants but must have had their fill and havent touched any of it in four weeks. what i can reach without pulling my tank apart i have just pulled off with my fingers and that patch never comes back. the stuff i can't reach isnt growing or speading, its just not dying. will my lights alone keep this stuff alive? do i have to physically pull apart my tank to get this stuff or will it eventually starve?

thanks
joseph

 

Have you tried one or two green nudibranchs aka lettuce sea slugs? They do a good job on HA when other snails fail.

Other than that you are doing what you should be, changing media, doing water changes, manually removing....

Good luck

 

zjpeter

+1 on Dr, Fragenstein and changing media is key for me
when you have little or no GHA running GFO can prevent it developing or getting out of control

once you have GHA and its taken over, running GFO coupled with manual removal can improve matters

but when its established , really established, its not easy to completely erradicate IME

GFO = great prevention
GFO = just a part of a removal package

swapping/ changing it out often is beneficial

Nitrates are the other source of nutrients that will feed what you have left
so being on top of nitrates, manual removal, CUC , and GFO combined - is the key to claiming your tank back from the GHA

Steve

 

i bought one once. i set the guy on the rock with the most algae on it and walked away. i come back 10 minutes later and hes on the glass. so i pluck him off and put him on another rock. repeat 5 or 6 times. curse the little bugger out and then watch him suck glass for a week and then go MIA.

maybe i'll have to try again if i cant get this stuff licked before my six month photo shoot.


ps- speaking of my 6 month-iversary on 3reef. i'm heading up to West Allis to drop a few hundred bucks on frags. is that anywhere near your neck of the woods, Doc?

 

i test often and very VERY rarely do i get any concerning readings, but i suppose if i have algae in the tank it mightbe using up the NO3. every once and again i will see my chaeto go through a growth spurt. does algae go through seasons of growth or would that be a sign of elevated nitrates?

btw, congrats on the moderator-ization, steve!

 

thank you zjpeter

cant answer specifics about chaeto,
can say that IME certain algaes have seemed to prosper at certain times of the year for me despite no obvious changes -natural seasonal activity replicated in the reef tank could account for this

but extra nutrients would definitely account for it, so I agree with you that you may have a artificial Nitrate reading due to the consumption of this nutrient by the algae

I would like to suggest you consider running Purigen in addition to the GFO as that has proven effective for many people, including myself at removing Nitrates (down from 10ppm on the 70 - 0ppm inside 1 week test at weekends so no idea exactly how quickly it achieved this)

the combination of both these chemical media stripping the water of the nutrients, I believe, coupled with the work you are already doing, starve this nuisance out of your system

Steve

 

thanks you two. i've heard of purigen. maybe sometime this week i'll have to get my arms wet and attack those bottom rock then do a media change. i bet once i do most of their work for them, those crabs might decide to pull their weight....

 

How about water quality? Do you use Ro/Di or tap?

 

RO/DI. i get it from the lab my boss works at

 

+1 about your maintenance... Your doing all you need to do properly... Just keep it up, from what I hear its a new tank, your bound to run into these problems early on... Best of luck