Green Hair Algae problem...

SuperSaltwater · 05/22/2017, 11:14 AM

got GHA issue. reading 0 nitrite 0 nitrate and 0 ammonia. i lowered light hours manually cleaned the entire tank took forever. is it ok to use PHOSGUARD and PURIGEN with 0 nitrite, nitrate and ammonia? dont want to kill my sps and other corals. what tips do you got to get rid of this stuff, its slowly killing all my zoas.....

scooter31707 · 05/22/2017, 11:28 AM

How old is the tank? It is very common for this to appear in new tanks. You can run some GFO to combat it right now.

SuperSaltwater · 05/22/2017, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scooter31707

How old is the tank? It is very common for this to appear in new tanks. You can run some GFO to combat it right now.

2 years old...i got busy with work and it got out of hand the past year. im refurbishing my reef now.

SuperSaltwater · 05/22/2017, 11:44 AM

i have phosguard atm.

Darth_Tater · 05/22/2017, 02:47 PM

I got rid of my GHA forest with an algae turf scrubber. Super simple to set up. It doesn't seem to even grow much algae, but I now have 0 hair algae in my display and the bubble algae is going away fast.

I too was reading 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, as well as 0 phosphates. Tried GFO, tried vinegar, tried biopellets, tried 20% weekly water changes. Pellets may have helped a little, but nothing really changed until I added the ATS.

Check out the first picture and the bottom of the second page.

Darth Tater's 40 Breeder

Ghost25 · 05/22/2017, 08:02 PM

If it's bad I'd recommend Fluconazole. Traditional advice is reduce feeding, remove algae manually, lower phosphates with GFO etc.

None of that worked for me, in 3 weeks Fluconazole removed 95% of my algae without harming my livestock.

wildman926 · 05/23/2017, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth_Tater

I got rid of my GHA forest with an algae turf scrubber. Super simple to set up. It doesn't seem to even grow much algae, but I now have 0 hair algae in my display and the bubble algae is going away fast.

I too was reading 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, as well as 0 phosphates. Tried GFO, tried vinegar, tried biopellets, tried 20% weekly water changes. Pellets may have helped a little, but nothing really changed until I added the ATS.

Check out the first picture and the bottom of the second page.

Darth Tater's 40 Breeder

Do this long term ^^^^^

Short term - Use API's Algaefix marine. It will kill of any algae with harming your corals.

SuperSaltwater · 05/25/2017, 06:04 AM

i manually removed all the GHA, added purigen and phosguard and it seems to be working. growth is slowed and i think its going to correct the issue. my phosphates were at around .5-1 it was to hard to guess the color on the test. i will test again tomorrow after 4 days on phosguard.

Heuristic · 05/25/2017, 10:13 AM

I was having a GHA problem, so I removed all of the algae and started running chemipro elite to remove the phosphates, after almost a month, this caused my phosphates to drop too much which sparked a Dino algae issue that I'm still fighting. It also killed off all of my Chaeto because the Dino algae was winning the nutrient battle..

TYC · 05/25/2017, 10:20 AM

get a yellow Tang if u can. As soon as I put one in tank s/he ate up all GHA (even some that were growing around zoas that I couldn't get rid of) & bubble algae clean.

Fuzms · 05/25/2017, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost25

If it's bad I'd recommend Fluconazole. Traditional advice is reduce feeding, remove algae manually, lower phosphates with GFO etc.

None of that worked for me, in 3 weeks Fluconazole removed 95% of my algae without harming my livestock.

same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildman926

Do this long term ^^^^^

Short term - Use API's Algaefix marine. It will kill of any algae with harming your corals.

Algaefix killed off some things for me but never touched my GHA.

Phos may read zero, but still have thriving GHA. This is because phosphates are bound up in the living GHA. As some naturally dies that Phosphate will go back into the water to be taken up by growing GHA and by your GFO. Meaning GFO could be a long wait.

I did algaefix, manual removal, tons of GFO for about a year and was making no noticeable impact. 1 dose of Fluconazole and a 3 week wait, followed by 2 large water changes and I haven't had an algae issue since. I think the large di-off plus large water changes after, gave my GFO the chance to get caught up. Now any phosphates going in are able to be handled by my GFO.

mcgyvr · 05/25/2017, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperSaltwater

my phosphates were at around .5-1 it was to hard to guess the color on the test. i will test again tomorrow after 4 days on phosguard.

And thats the reason for the algae.. Plain and simple..
Reduce that to low levels and the algae should go away in time..

I'd guess the cause for the phosphate issue was overfeeding.. (as thats usually what it is)

SuperSaltwater · 05/25/2017, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

And thats the reason for the algae.. Plain and simple..
Reduce that to low levels and the algae should go away in time..

I'd guess the cause for the phosphate issue was overfeeding.. (as thats usually what it is)

i do not overfeed, well i did a while back. but i don't do that anymore.

mcgyvr · 05/25/2017, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperSaltwater

i do not overfeed, well i did a while back. but i don't do that anymore.

Define a while back?...
But sounds like a former smoker saying they can't have lung cancer because they stopped a while back... The damage was already done..
Now you are simply recovering from it..

But its either that or your water or salt mix is the other phosphate source..

Food/water/salt mix there is no other way phosphate can enter the system.. (well.. or added phosphate laden rock)

BANANAHANDS · 05/25/2017, 03:23 PM

After you find and remedy the cause, get some turbo snails. My 50g cube was covered in hair algae (ro/di filters were overdue for changing), changed the filters and did several large water changes. Threw in 5 large turbo snails and it was gone in a couple of weeks.

wildman926 · 05/25/2017, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzms

Algaefix killed off some things for me but never touched my GHA.

That has not been my experience with the product. Are you sure you had true GHA?

HERE is a thread here on RC about its success.

wildman926 · 05/25/2017, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

Food/water/salt mix there is no other way phosphate can enter the system.. (well.. or added phosphate laden rock)

Once you control one or more of these sources, then you can over come your GHA issue. I truly believe in an ATS to help this for long term use. I have been on mine for over 3 years after my GHA issue, and have not seen a return of it, with no change in feeding, salt, ro, etc.

SuperSaltwater · 05/26/2017, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildman926

Once you control one or more of these sources, then you can over come your GHA issue. I truly believe in an ATS to help this for long term use. I have been on mine for over 3 years after my GHA issue, and have not seen a return of it, with no change in feeding, salt, ro, etc.

another thing my skimmer needed to be cleaned and wasnt skimming for months after fixing skimmer, adding another skimmer, removing gha and adding purigen and phosguard the problem is taken care of. gha is on its way out.

nicholasb · 05/27/2017, 06:02 AM

Maybe the hair algae was living off undetectable phosphates built up in the rocks. Once the hair algae has sucked all the phosphate out of the rocks, it will die. If you have little hair algae on the scrubber, you clearly have low phosphate levels, or maybe something else has changed like the levels of iron in your tank, preventing the algae growing .

nicholasb · 05/27/2017, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzms

same.

If you can get phosphate levels down to below 0.03 ppm, the growth rate of the algae will slow right down. Hair algae needs testable phosphates to survive.

Algaefix killed off some things for me but never touched my GHA.

Phos may read zero, but still have thriving GHA. This is because phosphates are bound up in the living GHA. As some naturally dies that Phosphate will go back into the water to be taken up by growing GHA and by your GFO. Meaning GFO could be a long wait.

I did algaefix, manual removal, tons of GFO for about a year and was making no noticeable impact. 1 dose of Fluconazole and a 3 week wait, followed by 2 large water changes and I haven't had an algae issue since. I think the large di-off plus large water changes after, gave my GFO the chance to get caught up. Now any phosphates going in are able to be handled by my GFO.

nicholasb · 05/27/2017, 06:13 AM

What test kit are you using. Salifert is difficult to read at low levels, but is a good test kit . You need to do a double test, and compare with a sample of tank water.

Lsufan · 05/27/2017, 09:00 PM

I know it has been a few days but be careful not to lower po4 to fast & strip the water column if u have sps. Over the year that u let the tank go the po4 continued to build up. They have probably been high for a while now & u don't want to shock the corals by stripping the po4 to fast

SuperSaltwater · 05/28/2017, 03:11 PM

it tested around 1.0 and after 4 days with a half a cup of rinsed phosguard its down to .25. will test again soon and add a smaller amount of phosguard if i have too. i don't plan on doing it fast. my sps are always my main concern.

SuperSaltwater · 05/28/2017, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lsufan

I know it has been a few days but be careful not to lower po4 to fast & strip the water column if u have sps. Over the year that u let the tank go the po4 continued to build up. They have probably been high for a while now & u don't want to shock the corals by stripping the po4 to fast

it tested around 1.0 and after 4 days with a half a cup of rinsed phosguard its down to .25. will test again soon and add a smaller amount of phosguard if i have too. i don't plan on doing it fast. my sps are always my main concern.

SuperSaltwater · 06/05/2017, 04:46 AM

staying at .25 so i bought phosphate rx and it dropped fast. thanks everyone.

05/22/2017, 11:14 AM	#1
SuperSaltwater Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 154	Green Hair Algae problem... got GHA issue. reading 0 nitrite 0 nitrate and 0 ammonia. i lowered light hours manually cleaned the entire tank took forever. is it ok to use PHOSGUARD and PURIGEN with 0 nitrite, nitrate and ammonia? dont want to kill my sps and other corals. what tips do you got to get rid of this stuff, its slowly killing all my zoas.....

05/22/2017, 02:47 PM	#5
Darth_Tater Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Northern Utah Posts: 535	I got rid of my GHA forest with an algae turf scrubber. Super simple to set up. It doesn't seem to even grow much algae, but I now have 0 hair algae in my display and the bubble algae is going away fast. I too was reading 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, as well as 0 phosphates. Tried GFO, tried vinegar, tried biopellets, tried 20% weekly water changes. Pellets may have helped a little, but nothing really changed until I added the ATS. Check out the first picture and the bottom of the second page. Darth Tater's 40 Breeder __________________ It's probably in your best interest to ignore most of my advice.

05/22/2017, 11:28 AM	#2
scooter31707 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Virginia Posts: 4,971	How old is the tank? It is very common for this to appear in new tanks. You can run some GFO to combat it right now.

05/22/2017, 11:44 AM	#4
SuperSaltwater Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 154	i have phosguard atm.

05/22/2017, 08:02 PM	#6
Ghost25 Registered Member Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 143	If it's bad I'd recommend Fluconazole. Traditional advice is reduce feeding, remove algae manually, lower phosphates with GFO etc. None of that worked for me, in 3 weeks Fluconazole removed 95% of my algae without harming my livestock.

05/25/2017, 06:04 AM	#8
SuperSaltwater Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 154	i manually removed all the GHA, added purigen and phosguard and it seems to be working. growth is slowed and i think its going to correct the issue. my phosphates were at around .5-1 it was to hard to guess the color on the test. i will test again tomorrow after 4 days on phosguard.

05/25/2017, 10:13 AM	#9
Heuristic Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Location: Sacramento Posts: 295	I was having a GHA problem, so I removed all of the algae and started running chemipro elite to remove the phosphates, after almost a month, this caused my phosphates to drop too much which sparked a Dino algae issue that I'm still fighting. It also killed off all of my Chaeto because the Dino algae was winning the nutrient battle..

05/25/2017, 10:20 AM	#10
TYC Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Central NJ Posts: 237	get a yellow Tang if u can. As soon as I put one in tank s/he ate up all GHA (even some that were growing around zoas that I couldn't get rid of) & bubble algae clean.

05/25/2017, 03:23 PM	#15
BANANAHANDS Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Gilbert, AZ Posts: 116	After you find and remedy the cause, get some turbo snails. My 50g cube was covered in hair algae (ro/di filters were overdue for changing), changed the filters and did several large water changes. Threw in 5 large turbo snails and it was gone in a couple of weeks.

05/27/2017, 06:02 AM	#19
nicholasb Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: south west england Posts: 292	Maybe the hair algae was living off undetectable phosphates built up in the rocks. Once the hair algae has sucked all the phosphate out of the rocks, it will die. If you have little hair algae on the scrubber, you clearly have low phosphate levels, or maybe something else has changed like the levels of iron in your tank, preventing the algae growing .

05/27/2017, 06:13 AM	#21
nicholasb Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: south west england Posts: 292	What test kit are you using. Salifert is difficult to read at low levels, but is a good test kit . You need to do a double test, and compare with a sample of tank water.

05/27/2017, 09:00 PM	#22
Lsufan Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: Baton Rouge Posts: 1,410	I know it has been a few days but be careful not to lower po4 to fast & strip the water column if u have sps. Over the year that u let the tank go the po4 continued to build up. They have probably been high for a while now & u don't want to shock the corals by stripping the po4 to fast

05/28/2017, 03:11 PM	#23
SuperSaltwater Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 154	it tested around 1.0 and after 4 days with a half a cup of rinsed phosguard its down to .25. will test again soon and add a smaller amount of phosguard if i have too. i don't plan on doing it fast. my sps are always my main concern.

06/05/2017, 04:46 AM	#25
SuperSaltwater Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 154	staying at .25 so i bought phosphate rx and it dropped fast. thanks everyone.