GHA from H-E-double hockey sticks!

[LCDRDATA]

I've been waging a battle for a couple of months now with some seemingly indestructable GHA/bryopsis , and at best it's a draw. I have tried water changes, upgrading my fuge/chaeto, raising my mag to 1600+, changing out half my lights (which were due), running carbon and phosguard, pulling it out by hand, etc. I've also added at least four species of snails, a sea hare, emerald crabs, and scarlet hermits - nobody will eat this stuff. My Kole tang picks at it occasionally but that's about it. I have seen foxface rabbitfish recommended, but I don't have the room in the tank for one and at the point I question whether it would just turn up its nose like everything else has.

 

Over the weekend I have gotten my new biopellet reactor running properly, but I know that takes some time. The only other thing I can think of is turning off the lights to try and slow the growth until the biopellets kick in. My real question is, how long is that safe (given that all the corals are photosynthetic as well)? Any other ideas? I'm completely open to suggestion -- this stuff is taking over my tank, and I really don't want to admit being outsmarted by a plant .

[Jan]

Tuxedo urchins eat bryopsis. Squirting the magnesium on the bryopsis helps to kill it in sections. these are the only two things that got rid of bryopsis in my tank. Are you sure you have bryopsis?

[Marc Weaver]

I have hair algae and 2 foxfaces and neither will touch it.

[LCDRDATA]

Tuxedo urchins eat bryopsis. Squirting the magnesium on the bryopsis helps to kill it in sections. these are the only two things that got rid of bryopsis in my tank. Are you sure you have bryopsis?

 

I'm not certain that it's bryopsis, but around half the patches get the nice fern-like branching look when they grow out. I didn't mention it previously, but I also have a tuxedo urchin (and a pincushion urchin) and they don't eat this stuff either. I have had them for some time and didn't add them in an attempt to control this stuff, which is why I didn't mention them in the first place.

 

You recommend squirting the bryopsis with magnesium; how concentrated a solution were you using, and how do you avoid damaging the coral it's growing in/on? For example, a lot of this stuff is coming up between the polyps on several of my zoas, xenia, etc. or growing on my GSP, torch, acro, and so on. I'm using the Brightwell Magnesion-P, so I can mix the powder to whatever concentration I want so long as it will disolve. Thanks!

[zygote2k]

Skip using high dollar magnesium- go staright to home depot and buy a 50# bag of mag chloride, then go to CVS and buy a 12# bag of mag sulfate. make the correct mix and dose it till the bryopsis dies. It took 2100ppm in one tank but also killed all of the snails and starfish.

[Max Ivers]

Try the Hydrat-Mg from brightwell, I used it to knock out some bryopsis I had. Pretty cheap and worked like a charm. It's hydrated magnesium salts (like Kent Tech-M the "miracle" cure to killing GHA/Bryopsis) and therefore you can raise the concentration much easier.

[Origami]

All magnesium salts that you're likely to encounter are hydrated. They absorb water from the air. Thus, most magnesium chloride is actually magnesium chloride hexahydrate (MgCl2*6H20). Kent's Tech-M likely has something else in it that affects bryopsis. If going for the high magnesium approach, try Zygote's approach, heeding his warning about how it affects some inverts. If you want to try a different chemical fix, try AlgaeFix Marine. I know that Highland Reefer had success with it (he's got a thread about it on RC) and, upon his recommendation (which I respect), tried it successfully on a nano once.

 

I saw some AlgaeFix Marine on the shelf at F&F yesterday.

[LCDRDATA]

Well, two days of darkness doesn't seem to have made any difference, except perhaps for confused fish. I got my bottle of Algaefix Marine today and put the first dose in tonight. I'll post what happens - my fingers are crossed.

Edited March 1, 2012 by LCDRDATA

[Origami]

BTW, here's Cliff's (HighlandReefer's) AlgaeFix Marine thread:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1595003

[spankna]

I have a tank I removed the light from more than a week ago and the GHA has still gotten worst. IMO, there is something providing nutrients for the GHA to grow with what little light that comes through the glass. What I was suggested is to siphon out a five gallon bucket and run it through a filter sock right back into the tank. No new water. This helps remove the algae but doesn't introduce any new trace elements like a water change may do. The mindset is that either you will knock the GHA back by removal so the chaeto wins or the GHA will finish consuming whatever is fertilizing it and die.

 

Secondly, when I was putting up a fight in that tank, I started running my refuigm light over chaeto 2 hours before and after the tank light came on. This allowed the chaeto to start absorbing nutrients in the water prior to the DT algae. In my mind I felt like this made the GHA play catch-up to my chaeto. I personally was able to stop new growth. This is just my 2 cents.

 

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk

[Coral Hind]

Have you tried a sea hare yet? That should take care of your problems.

 

 

[xyrophobic]

Random question for the experts, could a home with high CO2 cause GHA to thrive?

[hypertech]

I've been fighting it for a long time too. I thought CO2 (low pH) might be contributing because of my CaRx (pH is generally around 7.9-8.1 when its running), so I shut it off for a while to let the tank pH got up - didn't seem to make a difference for me.

[xyrophobic]

the reason I posed the question was I have seen my tank which was running around 7.8 PH (no CA reactor) rise dramatically when I opened the windows. I have had the GHA issue for 6+ months and for a few weeks in the middle it seemed to be all dying off and not returning. This time frame lined up with fall and when my windows where open consistently. Since Winter started and the windows were mostly closed I have noticed the GHA start to be more prolific and my normal PH rise to 8.3 consistently. I have tried 2 sea hares a month apart and both starved within a week while sitting on a GHA patch, for some reason they did not eat my GHA. When they first entered the tank they ate a small patch and then stopped. Both sea hares were confirmed to be GHA eaters before I bought them.

 

I am trying to get an airline to the outside connected to my skimmer but the distance the air needs to be sucked is making the skimmer not produce much foam. My goal is to add an inline fan and positive air flow to the air intake.

[Origami]

Random question for the experts, could a home with high CO2 cause GHA to thrive?

You need more than high CO2 for any algae to survive. Other nutrients are needed, too. Elementally, a lot of plant life breaks down to a combination of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus. These are the big-5 as I recall (from school many years ago). So, assuming that hydrogen is pretty much "free," you still need a nitrogen and a phosphorus source. To get the nitrogen, you normally need an organic form of nitrogen (ammonium, nitite, or nitrate, typical) and phosphorus (phosphate, for example). So, it's not enough just to have high CO2.

[xyrophobic]

I am reading 0 ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. My phosphates are around .01 as read by a hanna checker. The tank is only 10 months old and has very few inhabitants (2 clowns, 1 tang, 1 small wrasse, assorted CUC). The sand is new but the rock I got from someone else, the only thing I can think of at this point is maybe it needs to be cooked to release anything pent up in the rock.

[Origami]

I am reading 0 ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. My phosphates are around .01 as read by a hanna checker. The tank is only 10 months old and has very few inhabitants (2 clowns, 1 tang, 1 small wrasse, assorted CUC). The sand is new but the rock I got from someone else, the only thing I can think of at this point is maybe it needs to be cooked to release anything pent up in the rock.

Remember, your phosphates are probably low because you're GHA is taking it all up out of the water column. It's vacuuming up all that it can find. In a very real sense, it's actually keeping your water clean.

[LCDRDATA]

Have you tried a sea hare yet? That should take care of your problems.

 

Adding a sea hare was the second "new" herbivore I tried. The first was a lawnmower blenny. He did fine in QT, but for whatever reason my Kole tang took an instant and intense dislike to it and chased it mercilessly whenever it ventured out of one small corner of the tank. I thought about trying to remove it and put it back in QT until I could find it a new home, but it disappeared by the next time I got home from work. My best guess it that the tang chased it out of the tank (difficult, but not impossible) and one of our cats disposed of the evidence. After that, I got the sea hare, and it doesn't touch the stuff either.

Edited March 2, 2012 by LCDRDATA

[OldReefer]

I nearly lost my tank to bryopsis. I ran 1800 mag with Kent, and started using ridiculous amounts of GFO. The GFO made the biggest contribution. Nothing eats it that I could find. Higher pH and less CO2 will also help.

 

I happen to have a CO2 scrubber I don't need anymore if you are getting desperate.

[firecrackerbob]

I post this because you mentioned that you were completely open to suggestions... are you running a substrate tank or bare bottom? I struggled with GHA, RHA, out of controll culerpa... all of that crap... until I went bare bottom. within 4mo all of the nuisance algaes were dying off. then I started dosing vinegar and within 2 more months my rockwork was clean. I also stopped feeding the tank almost completely. Oh, and running a fuge heavy with cheto helps alot too!

Edited March 2, 2012 by firecrackerbob

[Packman@90]

I was also having GHA issues until I used a Algae scrubber. Some people don't like them but the new guidelines and builds are really good and I was able to get my tank GHA free within a few weeks (have a little growing on the back wall know, but that is because of my lack of maintenance).

[xyrophobic]

I don't want to hijack this thread so say something DATA and I will start a new one.

 

I am running GFO currently and the sand is only a few months old and I really don't like the look of no sand, though that would be better than the look of an underwater jungle. I was going to make a scrubber but have not been able to visualize one that will work for my setup. I have seen the ones that sit above the sump and run down the mesh, this looks like it would work the best but it is a lot of materials wasted if it does not work. With the mixed reviews I have seen on scrubbers I have been slow to try that idea. I do need to get a ton of cheato for my fuge, the last bit I had died off but I have some feather culp that is running strong. I will try to find some cheato near me and pluck as much GHA this weekend as I can and see if that will start to stem the tide. Thanks all and DATA for starting this thread with the perfect title.

[LCDRDATA]

OK, I'm a little behind the power curve here, so let me try to respond to the several posts in sequence.

 

OldReefer - I need to test my Mag again, but as much as I've been adding I have to believe it's somewhere north of 1700 by now, not that it's yet made a noticeable difference. I may try GFO if things don't start improving soon, I just don't have a very good mechanism to employ it and my fish budget is about maxed out. My pH has always been stable at ~ 8.3, so at least it shouldn't be an issue. The CO2 scrubber sounds interesting, and I may have some questions on that for you offline if I get a chance to (figuratively) catch my breath.

 

firecrackerbob - Thanks for the suggestion, but we all like the various little critters than live in/on/under the substrate, so I don't think going bare bottom or FOWLR is a viable option. If the situation were a bit different it would certainly be worth thinking about. As to the chaeto, it's growing well, but for whatever reason it seems to be in a stalemate with the GHA (as opposed to out-competing it). Hopefully that will be more effective in the future since I recently doubled the size of my fuge (although it still isn't exactly a huge fuge - forgive the unintended rhyme ).

 

Packman@90 - I've thought about an algae scrubber, even looked up a DIY design that someone's taken commercial. I may have to find that link again, but the recommended size for my setup (per the designer) would require another 4x54W T-5s to be replaced (if memory serves) quarterly. I know there are less expensive DIY solutions out there, but while I could probably handle them (and if not, I'm sure my wife could), I simply can't spare the necessary time [heavy sigh] in the near term. Hopefully my fuge will take up the slack once I knock this stuff back. But if you have any recommended URLs, I'd be glad to file them away for future reference.

 

Xyrophobic - You're not hijacking, you're just sharing . If you haven't found your chaeto yet, I can probably spare some, as I need to prune some back to make room for better flow / new growth.

 

I also added my second dose of AlgaeFix this morning, my biopellets are tumbling nicely, and my skimmer is producing a generous amount of foam (although not much skimmate). So with any luck, in another week or so I'll be seeing some changes. Nothing much yet, but that's hardly surprising. I think that about covers it for now, and it's past my bedtime [yawn]. Thanks again for all the good advice.

[LCDRDATA]

Well, as I'm just about to add the last dose of the Algaefix Marine I thought I should go back and find this thread to update.

 

Sadly, there's no real change, except perhaps for the worse. My mag is at ~1800 and has been for a couple of months; the biopellets are tumbling nicely and slowly disappearing but not visibly doing much else. I tested my param.s Sunday after the power came back on: nitrates & phosphate both show 0, but this stuff won't die.

 

The chaeto in my 'fuge is likewise losing the battle (i.e. being outcompeted by the GHA) and I need more; I may take the 'fuge light off the timer and run it 24/7. I turned the lights off for four days and the only difference I could see was major receding on my blue/green acan colony. It made no noticeable difference to the algae. I acclimated a pair of lyretail mollies to salt water with an eye to putting them in my DT - they're reported to eat algae and are pretty, besides -- but although they've eaten some of the film algae in my QT, when I put a piece with the stuff I'm fighting in with them as far as I can tell neither of then will touch it, either.

[Ryan S]

I had a sea hare for 2 weeks that ate all of my GHA. I then used Kent Marine Tech-M Magnesium to rid my tank of bryopsis. No signs of either in my tank now. I believe you need the Tech-M specifically to kill the bryopsis. Just any Magnesium won't work, at least that's what I read online.