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MidMichiganReef
03/24/2013, 06:15 PM
I'm not new to the hobby but this is a newbie question. I've never started a tank with dry rock before this. I put dry sand and rock in with 1 piece of cured LR to cycle the tank. I am about 3 weeks post cycle and have had a outbreak of gha. I read that it is "normal" to get hair algae after cycling with dry rock and wanted to confirm if that is true. I change 10-15% each week and have GFO in a mesh bag. Anything else I should be doing?

88rxna
03/24/2013, 06:41 PM
if you can yank the algae out, go ahead and pull it...its gonna have phosphates in it. what are your phosohate readings?
it is perfectly normal for this to happen.

MidMichiganReef
03/24/2013, 06:55 PM
It's still really short probably too short to pull, I'll be honest and admit that I don't have a phosphate test kit or Hanna.

eacosta
03/24/2013, 09:55 PM
If small hermit crabs are in your plans they can help. I had some fine gha and I added 5 small red leg hermits (I have a 29g) and they had it all gone in a few days. Those little buggers really go to town on it. Some people really hate hermits because they can kill snails (usually the case with larger crabs). Usually having some extra shells around helps to alleviate snail killers. Something to consider...

The fact you have some gha means you probably have some phosphate. It is normal. The rock and sand is probably the culprit. Are you using rodi water? If not, then the water can be another source. I don't bother with phosphate test kits since they often read zero unless you have pretty high readings. Have you considered setting up a refugium with some macro algae?

silleb
03/25/2013, 04:13 AM
A clean up crew is a must for any tank. Snails, crabs for some. I'm a fan of emerald crabs as I've seen them eat hair algae as well as bubble algae.

amutti
03/25/2013, 04:53 AM
Sounds normal. Sounds like phosphates. If its getting sunlight from a window that may be contributing.

How big is the tank? If its less than 40 I'd pick up chemi-pure elite and run that for a bit. Kind of a one stop shop product. If its bigger Than 55 gallons (I can't imagine with one piece of live rock), pick up a cheap reactor and run GFO (running it in a mesh bag in a larger tank is a waste IMO).

nynick
03/25/2013, 06:25 AM
GFO is not effective in a mesh bag, it tends to lump up and solidify. Either you can use the white phosphate removers (probably a good idea to start with anyway...they are much quicker at absorbing but does not last as long.) or get a reactor. Reactors are cheap as dirt now, I have seen for 40 or 50 bucks with pump.

Sk8r
03/25/2013, 08:57 AM
Ultimately you'll want a GFO reactor, about 50.00, and intermittently useful throughout your career.

Reeferz412
03/25/2013, 10:32 AM
Is the water you are putting back into your system at 0 TDS? You may want to check that. it could be the dry rock you put into the tank. It could be retaining phosphates, thus causing a hair algae bloom.

MidMichiganReef
03/25/2013, 03:47 PM
I make my on rodi that is TDS 0. My tank is a modified Biocube that is around 35g of actual water volume. I've thought about adding a reactor but my space is very limited. I do have a CUC that does what it can. I am not familiar with chemi-pure elite, what is that for?

Jstdv8
03/25/2013, 04:41 PM
You could look into a turf scrubber instead of a GFO reactor.
You can make one yourself for about 50 bucks plus a pump, or jsut use your overflow for the sump.

nynick
03/25/2013, 05:18 PM
Chemipure elite is just another phosphate remover, a gfo if I remember right but not sure. Water changes are not effective at removing phosphates btw as most of it is bound up in algae the moment it becomes avaliable. What you need is something that continously mops it up before the algae does, a phosphate remover. RC must have 10000 threads that can be summed up with "Why do I have algae when my phosphates are 0?" :)

You can use the white aluminum based ones in a bag even if it is not as effective as a reactor. Tieing the bag over an outflow/out spout of some sort works well, almost as well as a reactor. If you are going to use the brown ones you need a reactor, they simply do not work any other way. The brown iron based ones (gfo) need to tumble or they turn into a solid mass.

MidMichiganReef
03/29/2013, 04:59 PM
It has decreased by about half in the last 5 days in all spots except right in front of my mp10 where it has increased and gotten thicker. Not sure why this is and if I should hold course or try to move the mp10 for a while.

Sk8r
03/29/2013, 05:35 PM
http://reefcentral.com/forums/blog.php?b=505 "The Users Guide to Green Hair Algae."

kenny4128
03/30/2013, 01:40 AM
I had the same issue w/ GHA in my tank using a mixture of dry and live rock. After my cycle was complete my dry rocks looked like a Chia Pet. I asked my LFS about this and they failed to mention to me that the dry rocks (marco rock) were originally harvested from the ocean and then dried in a quarry and should have been given an acid bath. During this harvest/quarry process the rocks hold in phosphate, calcium, magnesium, and old salt. This threw my new system through a loop and had to use buffers, add API algae fix, a solid CUC, and use 2x the dose of GFO to "balance" these rocks out. It took about a week before i started to see things turn for the better.

dirkomatic
03/30/2013, 07:22 AM
I experienced the same thing, and my tank is now starting to look A LOT better. I just left the DT light off, but left the light working in my fuge for my chaeto and added to my CUC.

MidMichiganReef
04/02/2013, 08:25 PM
It's getting a lot better and is dying off. Even what is still there comes off with a light toothbrush rub for the most part. Hopefully it will be gone over the next 2 weeks.

dirkomatic
04/02/2013, 09:25 PM
Mine is all but gone... Have patience

stoelton
04/03/2013, 01:05 PM
Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank!

MidMichiganReef
06/21/2013, 07:01 AM
I need did give a resolution to this. I eventually put a sea hare in the tank and it wiped all the gha out in 5 days. It has never grown back.