Grrr, Persistant Green Hair Algae

[Ingy]

Well, I've taken some drastic measures. I have removed over 1/2 my live rock and put it into a separate container to 'cure'. Just a heater and a small circ pump to keep the water moving in the garbage can. A tight lid should keep the light out and hopefully in a couple weeks the algae will be gone.
I checked the levels in my fresh water change water as I was suspecting the new salt (FluvalSea) might be part of my problem. dKH was fine at 9.8, and pH is still running at 8.3. BUT, magnesium in the new water is only 1200ppm. So that is why I have had a hard time raising it up. Calcium is at 450ppm, and those 2 things might be the root of my Alk problems. In my tank, even with Mag dosing, I've struggled to get over 1400 and have increased my doses. Low Mag and high calcium (I don't dose that at all) have probably caused excessive calcium carbonate precipitation, lowering Alk.
But, despite my low Alk, my pH is still at about 8.3, so I am not sure if that is the root of the algae. But I am still heavily dosing it and my corals are looking better.
Latest tank levels are Alk - 9.1 and pH 8.17. Mag is only 1320 (grr).

Love the feedback, keep it coming.

 

[Sniperhank]

I'm going down the same path with alk. I even accidentally knocked half of my dose, which I put in with my ato during evap, into the sump and got to watch the calcium precipitate. Was pretty neat to watch.


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[jeffaquarius]

IMO your latest readings "Alk - 9.1 and pH 8.17. Mag is only 1320" are perfect with cal at 400. Here is your problem before. Your mag was way too high while your alk was in the borderline and your cal was too high. The way I do the balancing act is set Magnesium first within 1300 and 1320 then adjust Alk to 9 dKH before dosing calcium to reach 400 ppm. I avoid dosing cal if alk is just 7 dKH or below. Keep in mind that whenever you dose one of them there is a tendency for the other 2 to go down. So you do it gradually and monitoring them closely.

Edit: Adding comment on the LR you removed for curing. BB needs oxygen so I would not put a tight lid on the container. I'm sure you put raw shrimp to feed them with ammonia or nutrients.

 

[dmolavi]

I have been battling GHA in my nano over the past week. 0 nitrates and phosphates (Salifert and Hanna, respectively). 8.4 pH, alk at 9.2something. Calcium around 410. (These numbers are from memory from my PWC last night), didn't do a mag test yesterday, but last I checked, it was acceptable.

I target feed each of my fish (2 clowns and a goby), and my cleaner shrimp, so that they each get a piece or so of mysis shrimp. I do this with purpose and intent so as to not flood the tank with excess nutrients.

That being said, I've been using the Prodibio Reef Kit Nano, and started using the Reef Booster portion recently. I realize that's a load of nutrients in the tank, but (supposedly), it's akin to carbon dosing and should help with the algae growth. I'm not so sure that's the case, but I'm going to tough it out until I've used all the vials and will see what's up at the end. I've read on other boards that using this can cause any of the deep "stuff" in the LR to leach out, causing a temporary outbreak. My skimmer is getting lots of gunk out of the water now, though.

Also, one thing I did notice, the tank is getting some late day direct sun, not much, and not for long, but that might be a contributing cause. Unfortunately, I don't have blinds in that room (but will by the end of this week).

I'm hoping that one of the above, or perhaps a combination, is the root cause and can be rectified in due time.

 

[Flaxon-Waxon]

I'm late here, but do you rinse your frozen food? I was getting creamed with GHA. Started rinsing the food, running GFO and phosgard, and it's subsiding...


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[dmolavi]

I use pe mysis. No gunk, just shrimp. I pick individual shrimp out for each fish, I don't just dump the cube in..

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[Ingy]

As for me, I have used frozen, but it's well rinsed first. And I haven't fed anything in quite some time.
Phosgaurd in the reactor


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[Ingy]

Still struggling. The lid on the garbage can isn't air tight at all. Collinista snails and brittle stars are doing fine. But I did add a second small pump pointed at the surface to keep it agitated. I'm thinking about adding an air pump to the curing garbage can just to ensure O2 is ok.
I had raised Mag so as to try and get rid of the algae. I have read in many places that is 1 technique to try. I just cant get it up with large PWC and very very low Mag in my salt. The PWC just keeps dragging mag levels down. I don't dose calc at all. IMO 450 calc in the water change water is too high.

So the next question is how much clean up crew up crew do people have? I've seen (on wholesalers websites, probably high) as much as 1 blue leg hermit per gallon, and 1 scarlet per 5 gallons. Well, I don't have anywhere near that many in my 110G. I have 1 scarlet, and 3-4 yellow or orange hermits (that look very similar to scarlets except the color), and less than a dozen blue legs. No red legs thank gawd, they're just snail eating monsters. at least 4 Turbo snails too.

I'm wondering if I should go all out and order a big bunch of clean up crew. Unfortunately the LFS are much higher priced than the Canadian supplier, but because I live on an island, I would have to pay for air mail. Over $200 I don't, so if I get it from them, I'm going to have to go big. But I'm not sure if I should go all out because I'm still having algae issues?
Thoughts!

 

[Gregcoyote]

CUC are optional IMO. They do little for organic loads as they recycle anything they consume. I guess they can be helpful in getting bits of food out of cracks, but I've run several reefs without them just fine. They can be entertaining.


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[Ingy]

That's sorta what I'm looking for. Something to convert GHA into poop. Then my skimmer and cheato can try and extract it.

 

[mr_X]

The alk must be raised, but as far as the article, I had a weird fungus-type stuff growing and I couldn't figure out what it was. It would overpower any algae I had, in the refugium, frag tank, and display. I finally checked out the alk and found it to be 5.5. After raising the alk the weird fungus disappeared and then the algae took off. Even in the refugium, where the fungus was not, the algae didn't grow. Not until I raised the alk. I keep it close to 8 now. I'm using the BRS bulk alk additive and have needed 25ml a day in order to keep it steady.

 

[Gregcoyote]

And your the guy who rarely doses. What was dragging the alk down?


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[jeffaquarius]

Some salt mix are the culprit of low alk and mag. It is a good practice whenever changing salt mix to get the parameter of both tank and new before your pwc so you know where you are at. Adjust or check the following day and dose if necessary.

 

[jeffaquarius]

So the next question is how much clean up crew up crew do people have? I've seen (on wholesalers websites, probably high) as much as 1 blue leg hermit per gallon, and 1 scarlet per 5 gallons. Well, I don't have anywhere near that many in my 110G. I have 1 scarlet, and 3-4 yellow or orange hermits (that look very similar to scarlets except the color), and less than a dozen blue legs. No red legs thank gawd, they're just snail eating monsters. at least 4 Turbo snails too.

When I had such similar problem on my 60 gal, I added 10 hermit crabs and 10 turbo snails and they all worked like a lawn mower. In just couple of days they clean up the unwanted algae. However, that is only to remove what is growing. You still need to correct what is causing their uncontrollable growth. Once algae is gone you need to feed those CUCs otherwise they start disappearing one by one.

 

[Ingy]

Well, I have noticed the gha does not seem to be spreading anymore. That's a good sign. But what is there certainly seems content to stay. So now I need to get rid of whats there. Is like to turn the whites back on one day. Oh, and I'd like to feed the fish one day too.


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[mr_X]

And your the guy who rarely doses. What was dragging the alk down?


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I'm thinking salt mixes are falling short these days. After a water change my alk was only coming up to 7. That would have been fine with me if it stayed there, but I have a decent amount of sps in the tank now, so it is being used up pretty quickly. For years and years I was keeping various systems full of sps with just large water changes without incident, but I'm not as comfortable doing this lately.
Especially since my favorite salt is Oceanic, which is notoriously low on alk.

 

[melosu58]

A good 10 step battle plan for nuisance algae

FantasyReef Databases-Viewing item "10 Step Plan for Nuisance Algae Control"

 

[crister13]

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this because I just got to this thread but maybe try an algae scrubber. Pretty easy to build and they're great filtration.


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[Gregcoyote]

They can take up some room but I have run one for over 20 years with great reliability. Growing algae and skimming are two of the most natural ways there are for cleaning saltwater.


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[Ingy]

Do you run a skimmer with the scrubber or just the scrubber?


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