Crazy Algae won’t die
- Thread starter FernFish
- Start date
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What do you have in the way of herbivores? It looks like gha to me but I could be wrong.
sushiboss
Active Member
I’ve found that gha is due to a lack of balance between phosphate and nitrate.
So I’d start here and test them with a reliable source IE Hanna ulr phosphate and nitrate (regular) test kits.
You want to keep them as close to a 10:1 nitrates to phosphate ratio as possible.
From there a good clean up crew will prevent it from getting worse.
If it’s isolated to one rock then I’d peroxide spot clean it in isolation.
gbroadbridge
2500 Club Member
What you have looks like GHA.I’ve had this in my 20 down sized scraped the rock work , but one piece of the rock in my 5 gal along with some dead rock , this algae came back
The solution to GHA is herbivores and elbow grease.
You need to get in there with a toothbrush and scrub it off each day, giving herbivores a chance to eat it.
It is not related to nutrient levels in the tank despite what you may have heard - algae will find nutrients even in the most P and N limited tanks.
sushiboss
Active Member
I’m not an expert but this contradicts what I have read from many here in this forum.
Also contradicts how I’ve beaten it in all 3 of my reef tanks from my personal experience.
But obviously every tank is different.
However my 150g reef tank just went through a crazy gha battle back in October.
It was so bad that it almost flooded my aquarium due to overflow baffles being clogged.
It went from bad to nightmare levels in a week (I was in Japan and wife was feeding) while I was gone.
When I got home my already low phosphate was bottomed out and nitrate was 24. I had “some problem rocks” but not horrible and I was just manually removing as I saw fit.
After correcting my phosphate to mirror the ratio I suggested and 5m of manual removal a week it went away on its own and I have been completely algae free for 3 months.
Worked for me in every other tank including my 15g reef system.
Thank you. Everyone keeps saying N and P is the cause. I've only had one tank that I've had a bad gha problem and it ran N and P at zero or barely detectable. I think some rock is more susceptible than others. I added a couple of pieces of old live rock and none grew on it while the other rocks stayed covered. It doesn't help if the tank is too small for herbivore fish also, at least IME that's been the case. I've had tanks with NO3 over 20 and PO4 as high as 0.5 with no nuisance algae. I also have a tank that mirrored my problem tank, N and P barley detectable and I dosed both when I see zero but no nuisance algae. Those tanks have tangs. I don't know what the root cause is but I think it's way more complicated than N and P levels .
gbroadbridge
2500 Club Member
Unfortunately there is a lot of nonsense promulgated on the net, mainly by folks posting pretty videos on YouTube. Most of that nonsense does not provide anything other than anecdotal 'evidence'. Some of that is repeated here as gospel truth.
If you can find some peer reviewed article in a reputable journal that shows any evidence of their being a 'perfect ratio' feel free to share it.
Although I think if such an article existed it would have already been discussed here.
sushiboss
Active Member
Well for starters how are you testing? Are they accurate?
Most phosphate tests aren’t great for detecting phosphates below .1.
Ulr Hanna phosphate is my go to. I’d start there.
If that’s what you’re using double check the parameters.
If it’s still 0 then
Is this cycled live rock or new?
Is the sand new?
Both of which will bind and absorb phosphates until they reach their absorption limit. It will then begin to slowly leak it back or not at all (This I’m less positive about) but they absolutely absorb phosphates.
Which is also why most new tanks go through ugly phases etc in my opinion.
If the tank is all cycled reef rock and the system is not brand new then I’d revert back to adjusting the ratio to a proper balance and investing in a big/diverse clean up crew. Not just turbos but a big variety, trochus, nassarius, hermits of various types, urchins of various types, conchs etc. even clean up crew that doesn’t focus on algae will help. Whether they eat detritus or sift the sand they are helping you.
Also patience is a virtue.
Sounds like you immediately threw corals into the tank after just setting it up.
What’s the rush?
sushiboss
Active Member
If your numbers are reliable I would not change anything that is routine.
If you change your water every Tuesday continue.
Don’t add anything new. Don’t change anything except fixing your nutrient levels and investing in a diverse clean up crew.
Your best friend in this game is patience.
I didn’t read your whole post with too much detail initially but this is a 5g? Or a 20g?
Either way slow things down and do things in steps.
Don’t jump to a full blown decked out system in a day. These things take time. And the slower you go the less chance of burn out and wallet fatigue haha
sushiboss
Active Member
I actually found discussion on this very topic by someone in this forum and it worked for me.
Obviously it could be anecdotal. My rocks by this point could have stopped absorbing nutrients etc.
I honestly don’t know but I’ve always tried maintaining the ratio after reading this in reef2reef by someone with much more experience than me. If I could remember the post I would link it but it’s been a while since I was researching how to best gha.
But I found the answer here in reef2reef as this is the only source of info I use.
Again I’m no expert. I’m more on the beginner side with a few years of experience.
Not saying I’m right someone’s wrong by any means.
It worked for me and my systems are happy. Nothing more nothing less.
Happy reefing
sushiboss
Active Member
Phew that’s a small tank haha.
Have you par tested the system yet?
Man that’s a very small system.
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