OP
OP
DustinDec
Active Member
Quick update - the LHA is finally just about completely under control! It took ~3 months of hard work, research and much of the community helping with suggests, but we're back on track! The sad news is that 3 snails died, and our Nemo (one of our clown fish) went missing two weeks ago. It was a favorite, so I've since replaced him. I personally think it was likely the female black/white clown fish. With the new clown fish, they're once again swimming the tank, before they had started to just sit in the back left of the tank. We also added four new coral, a of which I can only remember the names of two, leather and torch. I think I put too much glue on the leather though, so it'll likely go, but I got 4 for the cost of 3. We also picked up our first SPS that came recommended from your reef aquarium as being one of the easiest SPS (forgot name). I'll get pictures soon as I ordered a new filter to go on my phone.
To handle the LHA, we did a number of things. Firstly, the root cause was that we had gone to a bi-weekly water change of 15gallons. This had already started leading to nitrate to go a bit higher than I would have liked at ~15-16. Phos was fine, under ~.04 before we went on vacation for ~1 week, but I setup an auto feeder and it fed way too much every single day. By the time we got back, the LHA had already started taking over the tank.
Changes made and attempted:
My wife was a huge help here because I already have to do my weekly chores to keep the tank up. Every time I looked at the LHA I was pretty disappointed that I let the overfeeding happen and it was taking so long to fix the problem. I was losing motivation and thats when my wife stepped in. While I would do some of the tank cleaning, she would spend probably 30-40 minutes a week seriously scrubbing the rocks, and catching the loose algae with a net. She also helped with the weekly water change. This way I only had to focus on feeding, water parameter testing, cleaning the glass, cleaning algae off the overflow vents, ect. I still spend a fair amount of time on the tank, but just looking at all the LHA was really beating me down. Having someone that can and wants to help goes a really long way in my opinion.
I'll add more photos soon, but I'm attaching some of most recent photos I've taken without the new filter I'm waiting to arrive! It feel great to be able to start adding more coral!
Before:
Note the 2nd image is from when we first got back, and the first image directly below is about a month later. It actually got much worse, but I didn't always take photos (again I was starting to lose motivation). We did lose potentially two coral (zoas and toads though I'm hoping they can make a come back).
Current:
To handle the LHA, we did a number of things. Firstly, the root cause was that we had gone to a bi-weekly water change of 15gallons. This had already started leading to nitrate to go a bit higher than I would have liked at ~15-16. Phos was fine, under ~.04 before we went on vacation for ~1 week, but I setup an auto feeder and it fed way too much every single day. By the time we got back, the LHA had already started taking over the tank.
Changes made and attempted:
| Change Made: | Did it help? | Notes: |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate 30g water change | somewhat | Reduced nitrate and phos slightly, but was only a starting point. |
| Manually clean Algae off rocks and side as much as possible | Yes | Had to repeatedly do this as it would quickly grow back due to phos trapped in the rocks and nitrate being ~20, phos was at ~0.54 |
| Introduce 3 x Sea Urchin and another snail | Not really | While the Urchin (2 x pincushion, 1 x short spine) and snail help keep some areas clean for longer, they didn't actually help remove the LHA. Though the urchins are helpful now and are neat |
| GFO In media bag | Yes | This would bring phos down to ~.01 but I was going through a lot, requiring changes twice a week |
| GFO in reactor | yes | After adding a reactor for the GFO instead of media bag, I reduced changing it to once a week. This resulted in LHA returning more slowly. |
| Added Vibrant | Absolutely | Amazon product This had an immediate impact and I've been dosing it once a week for 3 weeks now. Very happy with the results as it helped reduce the algae significantly. |
| Blue Chemi Pure | Unsure | This is the only other media I run in my tank right now, I did not stop running it and despite the amount of LHA, the water overall did look pretty clear! |
| Dollar store tooth brush | Absolutely | We tried a few things, but ultimately a tooth brush from the dollar store helped clean off the rocks with way less effort compared to anything else. Though as mentioned, it would come back before addressing the water parameters as well. |
| Switched to bi-weekly 20g water changes | Yes | Nitrate has dropped to around 13, and phos is at .03 last I checked. |
My wife was a huge help here because I already have to do my weekly chores to keep the tank up. Every time I looked at the LHA I was pretty disappointed that I let the overfeeding happen and it was taking so long to fix the problem. I was losing motivation and thats when my wife stepped in. While I would do some of the tank cleaning, she would spend probably 30-40 minutes a week seriously scrubbing the rocks, and catching the loose algae with a net. She also helped with the weekly water change. This way I only had to focus on feeding, water parameter testing, cleaning the glass, cleaning algae off the overflow vents, ect. I still spend a fair amount of time on the tank, but just looking at all the LHA was really beating me down. Having someone that can and wants to help goes a really long way in my opinion.
I'll add more photos soon, but I'm attaching some of most recent photos I've taken without the new filter I'm waiting to arrive! It feel great to be able to start adding more coral!
Before:
Note the 2nd image is from when we first got back, and the first image directly below is about a month later. It actually got much worse, but I didn't always take photos (again I was starting to lose motivation). We did lose potentially two coral (zoas and toads though I'm hoping they can make a come back).
Current:
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