Green Algae Wars!

drumlife05

Member
Hello all- Long time since I've posted... my 60gal CAD lights cube that I chronicled early on is doing pretty well, however I've recently started a war on a reefkeeper's favorite foe: GHA

Let me summarize my situation:

Nitrates: 0 (carbon reactor running)
Phos: 0 (GFO reactor running)
CUC going strong
Skimming well
Good flow

I've kept up with water changes. I've manually picked the stuff out. It keeps coming back full force!
My latest attempt to get rid of the hair algae is by dosing my tank with Kent Marine M Tech Magnesium. I've exhausted pretty much all other options and I've read about people having great success with elevating mag in their aquarium. For the next couple weeks I'll be keeping you all updated with the process and results. Wish me luck! :dance:
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3509 2.JPG
    IMG_3509 2.JPG
    1.8 MB · Views: 17
  • IMG_3511 2.JPG
    IMG_3511 2.JPG
    1.6 MB · Views: 14

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
What kind of a clean up crew do you have? GHA seems to come and go sometimes for no good reason. I always like to try and find some natural predators to help me wait it out along with reduced feedings and some of the other things you've mentioned. I like mexican turbos.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
The first thing I'd look at here is the amount of livestock, and how much I was feeding verses the filtration system and clean up crew to deal with it. Many people tend to way over feed.

Another area to test is your new water that your using for water changes. You may be getting nitrates and/or phosphates from that.

Also, I recently posted about algae control, rather that repeat it all, here is a link to it - http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/red-slime.97167/#post-1325115
 

drumlife05

Member
What kind of a clean up crew do you have? GHA seems to come and go sometimes for no good reason. I always like to try and find some natural predators to help me wait it out along with reduced feedings and some of the other things you've mentioned. I like mexican turbos.

I have a green emerald crab, about 4-5 hermits, 5 astreas, a couple nassarius snails, and turbo...I haven't had much luck with anyone touching the algae except for the hermits and occasionally the emerald crab. It just grows too quickly. I feed brine shrimp once every 2 days... I haven't changed the product I use (San Francisco Bay) so I suppose I could try that! I'm going to keep up with the mag plan regardless. My mag is currently at about 1330...I'm going to try and get it up to about 1550 over the course of a few weeks.
P.S.- As far as filtration goes, I have a nice bed of sand, probably close to 120 lb of live rock (including some rubble in the sump) and I'm running a reef octopus classic 150INT
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
... I feed brine shrimp once every 2 days... I haven't changed the product I use (San Francisco Bay) ... (including some rubble in the sump) ...

If you feed brine shrimp, or other frozen food, make sure you thaw it out and rinse it off before you use it, otherwise you introduce all that "frozen juice" which is a massive source of nitrates and phosphates.

While we are on the subject of brine shrimp, it's really a lousy long term food. Your much better off feeding other frozen foods.

Get the live rock out of the sump and don't replace it with other similar media. That almost always turns into a massive dirt trap and nitrate factory. If the tank has been set up any length of time, you will be amazed at how much dirt it's collected.
 

drumlife05

Member
If you feed brine shrimp, or other frozen food, make sure you thaw it out and rinse it off before you use it, otherwise you introduce all that "frozen juice" which is a massive source of nitrates and phosphates.

While we are on the subject of brine shrimp, it's really a lousy long term food. Your much better off feeding other frozen foods.

Get the live rock out of the sump and don't replace it with other similar media. That almost always turns into a massive dirt trap and nitrate factory. If the tank has been set up any length of time, you will be amazed at how much dirt it's collected.

Good tips! The rubble does collect a ton of detritus that is a total pain to siphon out.
 

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Thats a pretty small CUC for a 60g. take a look at reefcleaners.org to see what he suggests for a 60 CUC....you'll be shocked!
 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
I do... you can start with 1/2 this many, free shipping, just choose a 30 gallon tank, love snails for cuc

John the owner is a great guy !
 

drumlife05

Member

Thanks for the advice! I actually ordered a quick crew yesterday. John e-mailed me after my order to thank me. Great customer service! Having the new critters should definitely help. On a related note, the GHA in my tank is starting to look a little thinner...Hopefully a sign of things to come! I'll take some pics tomorrow for comparison. My mag is currently at about 1420 ppm (up from 1330).
 

drumlife05

Member
Checked my mag yesterday...I'm up to about 1620 ppm now. I have noticed the GHA lightly thinning out as well as stifled growth. I've also noticed that my scooter dragonette is very lethargic. Not sure if this is related (doubtful). Everything else in the tank looks great. My calcium has dropped 40 ppm in the 3 weeks I've been dosing the mag. One big benefit to this mag is that the GHA is MUCH EASIER to pull off the rock now.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
... I've also noticed that my scooter dragonette is very lethargic. ...

Here are a few things to check.

This fish is similar to Mandarins in that they depend upon pod production in the tank for food. Sometimes you can get them to eat other foods. If your LFS sells like brine shrimp or live black worms, you can try those. Feed black works very carefully because they do not live long in sw. Another food you can try is frozen blood works.

Newly hatched brine shrimp can work too, but it is a bit of work to hatch and feed. @Paul B made a great brine shrimp feeder that seems to work really well. He should know. He keeps a lot of very difficult to feed fish and they thrive.

Also look for fish in your tank that might compete with your scooter dragonette for pods. Wrasses are well know for wiping out the pos population.
 

drumlife05

Member
Whelp...got my mag up to about 1700ppm...Really not much change in the GHA aside from stifled growth. I'm gonna' keep keepin' on with the time tested strategy of CUC + manual removal + water changes! Oh well. Fun experiment though.
 
Top