Jump to content

Epic final battle


finaddict

Recommended Posts

The time has come to mount a major offensive against the GHA problem I have been fighting for 4 months. 

 

My tank:

 

36 Gallon bow front- No Sump

Ehoppes 75 skimmer

2 hydor power heads for circulation

1 HOB 50 with GFO in a bag and carbon in a bag

Marine Orbit LED light

established in July 2016

I feed about 10 pellets OR a small pinch of flakes each night and I intentionally skip a night about twice a week.

 

Livestock-

2 clowns

1 obnoxious 4 stripe damsel

1 purple dart

CUC- Turbos, conch, hermits, other snails

 

Corals

4 head of hammers- Used to be very open everyday and now closed up (see pic)

Duncan 

Monticap growing like crazy except for a dulling of the maroon and green colors (hybrid monti)

Birdsnest growing like crazy

favia growing well

Trumpets that have looked like crap for 2 months

Zoas that have all been closed up and mad at me

Great open brain coral that has not been happy for about 2 weeks

brand new RBTA- been in the tank for less than a week

 

Lost a nice Pink Linkia star fish last week after having him for about 4 months

 

Today test numbers-

 

Temp- 77.4 (always steady)

pH- 8.0

dKH- 7.0

Salinity - 1.025 (two weeks ago had a bad swing up to 1.030 when I did a water change and didnt dilute the RODI salt water with fresh RODI... Didnt figure it out for about 4 days  and then made a quick water change and quickly brought the tank back down to 1.025.

Phosphate- Reads 0 but must be higher given all the GHA

Nitrate- 0-5ppm

Calcium- 440PPM

 

Up to now, I have scrubbed with a toothbrush each week along with 5 gallon water change every week. I have had relentless GHA since about June. If I win this battle then I will be a happy reefer and continue on and maybe build a 90 gallon tank, and if I lose I think I will be shutting down this tank and taking a break.

 

The offensive will consist of:

 

1) running my lights for 7 hours a day instead of 10

2)removing my HOB filter that I was using GFO in a bag and Carbon in a bag

3) installed a two fishes Phosban reactor with Phosban only- Installed it today but the Cobalt Maxijet 600 has too much flow and is too loud when I turn the ball valve down- will run it at night only until I get a smaller pump

4)soaked my trumpets and one rock with blue zoas in 3% Hydrogen Peroxide mixed 1:8 with tank water for 6 minutes

5)scrubbed my rocks with a toothbrush for about a half hour today ( I have scrubbed each week with a 5 gallon water change every week)

6) I vacuumed the sandbed to get rid of the little GHA on the bed itself. Most GHA is on my rocks

 

Here are the pictures before my maintenance today:

 

IMG 1948

 

IMG 1946

 

IMG 1945

 

Please let me know if there is anything else you can think of that I should be doing to get this problem under control. I poke fun at it but I am really at my wits end. If this is not resolved in 45 days then I am thinking I will breakdown my tank and either start over or take a break from the hobby.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Read about how to dose hydrogen peroxide (daily) on the whole tank. Some are cautious, but it does work if you're patient.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The reactor should be more effective than just a media bag. Have you tested the TDS of your RODI water?

I buy my water at LFS so I am hopeful that the TDS is zero...I am anxious to see if the reactor does a better job because of all the things I am trying I am hoping that changing the light schedule to 7 hours and running the reactor will get me the most benefit.  It is frustrating because I just dont feel like I am dumping that many nutrients into the system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't sound like you're overfeeding. Nutrients are coming in somewhere. Either leaching, e.g. rocks etc, or coming in via your water source. Might ask them to test their water source. The GHA will thrive as long as it has nutrients to feed on. If you fix the issue it will die off. Adding a macro algae is another option to compete with the GHA.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't sound like you're overfeeding. Nutrients are coming in somewhere. Either leaching, e.g. rocks etc, or coming in via your water source. Might ask them to test their water source. The GHA will thrive as long as it has nutrients to feed on. If you fix the issue it will die off. Adding a macro algae is another option to compete with the GHA.

Hmmm.. Great idea..I haven't thought of this but is there a way to have Macro without a sump?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm.. Great idea..I haven't thought of this but is there a way to have Macro without a sump?

Simply to put it in the display. I have had dragons breath macro which is pretty and currently have calurpa(by accident) but it is prolific. 6df1b7e426df3fde667c27e58432c3da.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it were me, I'd do the following:

1) Remove all sand/gravel from bottom of tank.

2) scrub all algae from corals

3) remove all rock not attached to corals

4) stop buying water at LFS- buy deer park in 5g containers from grocery store

5) do weekly or bi-weekly water changes and siphon all detritus from bottom of tank.

6) maintain regular light cycle and feeding schedule

7) buy a protein skimmer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with what Zygote recommends. You probably need a bigger skimmer. 

 

You also don't have any herbivores that will eat algae off the rocks. Once you get it under control an algae eating fish will help keep it under control. 

 

I used fluconazole to help get rid of bryopsis and it also got rid of my GHA. I also added a large rabbit fish to assist. 

 

Good luck. 

Edited by Sharkey18
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4) stop buying water at LFS- buy deer park in 5g containers from grocery store

 

Rob, interesting recommendation. I thought the only commercially distributed water that should be used in reef tanks is distilled, and that bottled water can have all kinds of stuff in it? (though, you obviously trust deer park more than the lfs water. :D :D )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob, interesting recommendation. I thought the only commercially distributed water that should be used in reef tanks is distilled, and that bottled water can have all kinds of stuff in it? (though, you obviously trust deer park more than the lfs water. :D :D )

In many of the office tanks that I maintain, r/o is out of the question, but bottled water service is acceptable. Deer Park sells r/o purified water and I've been using it for nearly 25 years without issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I buy my water at LFS so I am hopeful that the TDS is zero...I am anxious to see if the reactor does a better job because of all the things I am trying I am hoping that changing the light schedule to 7 hours and running the reactor will get me the most benefit.  It is frustrating because I just dont feel like I am dumping that many nutrients into the system.

I wouldnt trust the LFS unless you have tested first hand. Ive bought water from stores before I got an RODI and it had high TDS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've solved more than one algae problem by ensuring variety in my CUC. Battled one kind of algae for a year until I added a more diverse CUC and it was gone in less than a week. Hermits eat GHA.

 

Also, I had a lot of luck doing successive 3 day black outs followed by 50% water changes. I measured 'trates before, during and after post-blackout water change and clearly I removed half the 'trates that sustained the algae. I made sure the tank was completely dark. For a 50% change you probably want to match temp and salinity more precisely.

 

And this whole discussion assumes you have eliminated the source of your trates.

Edited by sen5241b
Link to comment
Share on other sites

IME removing nutrientd and improving water quality takes a long time. The advice above is good, but I think it's only part of the solution.

 

You also need to remove the existing gha. Manual removal is best. My favorite technique is to siphon it out while pinching a clump inside your siphon tube with you thumb. Then pull your hand away, tearing off a bunch of gha and sucking it down the siphon tube.

 

Flucanazole and a foxface rabbit fish will knock the remaining gha way back and buy you time to get the nutrients out of your tank through the methods mentioned above.

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Flucanazole and a foxface rabbit fish will knock the remaining gha way back and buy you time to get the nutrients out of your tank through the methods mentioned above.

Flucanazole. I'd forgotten about this but it absolutely works (remarkably well) to knock back an existing infestation. But then you have to make sure that you implement controls to keep it from recurring. 

 

It's odd that I forgot, though. In the months after my heart surgery, I had an outbreak of GHA that was disheartening and, after weeks of peroxide therapy, turned to flucanazole. I hit the tank with one dose of the recommended size and a few weeks later, the tank was clear of GHA. Afterwards, I performed a big water change and skimmed wet to pull the nutrients out of the water. That reset resolved the problem in a really remarkable way.  There's a threat at R2R that was very helpful for severe cases or where other methods aren't feasible (such as when you're physically unable to do the work required).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Flucanazole. I'd forgotten about this but it absolutely works (remarkably well) to knock back an existing infestation. But then you have to make sure that you implement controls to keep it from recurring. 

 

 

Where do I buy the Flucanazole at?

 

Right now I am scrubbing my rocks once a week with a toothbrush which knocks probably 70% of the GHA off the rocks and then I use a small diameter tube to slowly siphon off water and I chase the clumps of GHA around the tank until I suck them all up the best that I can.  My skimmer turns green in about an hour and I have to clean it.  I did a water change 3 days ago and I have a good mat of GHA again already.  I am wondering if the water I am bringing in is full of Phosphates.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I purchased it here. Read the thread I referred to before spending your money and trying this. Shortcuts always carry risk, so do your research.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

I am wondering if the water I am bringing in is full of Phosphates.

Probably not, but you can mix up some fresh saltwater and test it to make sure. Even a little bit of food has way more phosphate than you're likely to get through an RODI. And once nuisance algae is established, it takes very little to keep it growing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...