Green hair algae! Bad!

Fishtankssuck · Jan 20, 2020

Hi, I’ve had green hair algae pop up go away and pop up 2x now in my tank. The first time I did a massive water change, scrubbed everything that touches water in my tank, and got all new filter media. It’s now back and has been for about 2 months. I brush parts of my rock off and have been doing 25% water changes weekly. It won’t stop growing and I know for a fact that I haven’t been over feeding. My light schedule for the last 2 months has been at max 6-7 hours a day. It has started to bother my zoas and I need to stop it. How concerned should I be for my corals? Willing to spend a good chunk of money to make this go away, any equipment suggestions?

My setup (very simple)

37 g cube

Fluval 206 canister filter

Pp4 jebau propeller pump

Philzon 165w led light

Heater?

water parameters (api test kit) and ice cap pocket tester

Temp - 78

Salinity - 1.024

Ph - around 8.35

Nitrite - 0 ppm

Nitrate - O ppm

Phosphate - no way to test
I turned the white light up to show green hair algae in pic

Mr bigolsworth · Jan 20, 2020

I’d check your water source. Maybe old/bad filters.

Fishtankssuck · Jan 21, 2020

Mr bigolsworth said:
I’d check your water source. Maybe old/bad filters.

I rinse out with hot water my filter pads every 2 weeks and put new pads in every month. I get water from my lfs and it has worked for the last year and a half.

Mr bigolsworth · Jan 21, 2020

I’d try testing their water.

Fishtankssuck · Jan 21, 2020

Mr bigolsworth said:
I’d try testing their water.

Will do, thanks

#1Fellowreefer · Jan 21, 2020

I would recommend testing their water and two use Vibrant from BRS as I had the same GHA and it cleaned up but also did scrub away manually but just FYI after use of Vibrant you will see cyano pop but don’t stop Vibrant as it will start to go away with ONLY once per week dosing and once cleaned up use it once every two weeks.

Quietman · Jan 21, 2020

Stop the huge water changes...10% is fine. Manually remove all you can every few days for a few weeks. Get more CUC snails and crabs. Test your water and correct if issues. Everything should be manageable in a month and will look better almost right away.

Fishtankssuck · Jan 21, 2020

#1Fellowreefer said:
I would recommend testing their water and two use Vibrant from BRS as I had the same GHA and it cleaned up but also did scrub away manually but just FYI after use of Vibrant you will see cyano pop but don’t stop Vibrant as it will start to go away with ONLY once per week dosing and once cleaned up use it once every two weeks.

Great, thanks! Will order off of the web right now!

Fishtankssuck · Jan 21, 2020

Quietman said:
Stop the huge water changes...10% is fine. Manually remove all you can every few days for a few weeks. Get more CUC snails and crabs. Test your water and correct if issues. Everything should be manageable in a month and will look better almost right away.

Will do! Thank you.

BigNick24 · Jan 21, 2020

Go get 10-20 emerald crabs and let them go to town, should be gone in a week or two.

#1Fellowreefer · Jan 21, 2020

Fishtankssuck said:
Great, thanks! Will order off of the web right now!

Here is. Good picture of my GHA and then cyano and I haven’t taken a picture yet to show you how it looks today but hopefully will take one tomorrow and let you see the progress of GHA to cyano and now getting all cleared up. My parameters are below.
0 Amonia
0 Nitrite
2 to 5 PPM Nitrate
0 Phosphate
1.026 salinity
Temp between 75 and 77
PH always at 8.4 to 8.47

Sorry I thought I had the GHA picture but don’t but you will see the cyano after use of Vibrant and manually removing as well.

Chefwheredyougo · Jan 21, 2020

I didn't see it mentioned above, but try a good cleaning of your canister filter as well

Dom · Jan 21, 2020

Fishtankssuck said:
I get water from my lfs and it has worked for the last year and a half.

Has it?

homer1475 · Jan 21, 2020

Tested the LFS water for nitrate and phosphates?

Been using it for a year and it works. But is it actually working if your having a GHA outbreak, twice now?

Dom · Jan 21, 2020

In my opinion, bottled solutions only mask the underlying cause of the problem and should only be used as a last resort.

I purchased Chemiclean almost a year ago for a Cyano issue and still haven't used it because I'm trying to figure out the cause and not counter it.

Based on the picture you've posted, your tank looks new. Notice the GHA is only growing on surfaces of the rock that face the light. Everything else is white. How old is the tank? New tanks typically go through an ugly stage. If this is your case, it will work itself out over time.

While going through this phase, you can manually remove the GHA with a toothbrush prior to water changes so that you can siphon any free floating algae out of the tank.

Also, based on the pictures, you appear to have used dry rock. If this is the case, did you cycle the rock prior ti use?

Dom

Quietman · Jan 21, 2020

Also...algae isn't a bad thing. It's running that balance to be beneficial as food source and as nutrient sink (and I'm NOT talking refugium here) to out compete organisms who are much harder to control (dino for example) and keeping it from taking over that's the key. Additives to target algae in my opinion shouldn't be used unless you've lost control and have a green waving mess and need to reset- and you're far from it.