green hair algae

[newby30gallon]

its starting..... 30 gal. ro/di just purchased new filters, 4 t-5s on a 10-12 light schedule. new t-5 bulbs as of 2 months ago

have to think its phosphates.... going to do a 1/3 water change biweekly once the new filters come in

any other advice?

[Cymonous]

Scrub rocks with old toothbrush in bucket of new or removed saltwater after water change.

[nuxx]

Water changes alone won't get rid of all your phosphates.

More than likely overfeeding, rocks, etc... leading to higher phosphates.

Look into running GFO and Carbon Dosing to help with phosphates. Also manual removal really helps.

Our phosphates we up to .4 and we've been lowering them down to .19 (lower now) with huge water changes. About to start up GFO and also continue Vodka dosing.

Even dropping from .4 to .19 has already nuked most of the GHA.

After manual removal, without lowering our phosphates, it just returned worse...

[JammyBirch]

Run GFO, my opinion is that GHA is really just crappy to look at, what i have done in the past is remove the rocks that have it. None of my dry rock, now live rock, has ever had GHA on it only the LR seed pieces.

I just took them out, removed the algae and put back in the tank. I think this nuissance algae just needs to be part of the maintainence schedule. For example prior to a water change go in and scrub it or lift it off of the rock then do the water change.

If you do this everytime you water change you'll be managing it.

[scooter31707]

Agree with everything said ^^. I do recommend when starting out with GFO to use half of the recommend dosage and gradually work your way up to the full recommended dosage.

[saltyskier]

How long has the tank been setup? New tanks often go through an algea cycle. Focus on water changes and phosphate remover.

[taricha]

Before i began carbon dosing or added GFO, I've had success with both algaefix marine and with 3 day lights out. The lights out isn't absolute removal, but it shifts the balance away from the algae and toward other things that act against algae.
Worth noting that both of those methods I used actually increase the amount of nutrients in the water.

[GMay]

Why do you suspect PO4? Have you tested for it and NO3? All the advice is good but you really need to first figure out the source of the problem, if there is one.

[newby30gallon]

thank you all very much for the responses and well noted..... the tanks been running for over 3 years..... i think it all started when i introduced a reverse superman from a buddy. i told him i was starting to have a problem and he gave me an o s..... then decided to tell me he is having issues with GHA!!!!! SMH........... anyway, i have thought about running GFO and have yet to purchase. My biggest concern is that the GHA is among my star polyps and no where else.... they grow fairly quick but im sure if i scrub and remove, i should just consider them a causuality.... any advice on how to remove from the coral without hazard.... thanks.

[ericarenee]

thank you all very much for the responses and well noted..... the tanks been running for over 3 years..... i think it all started when i introduced a reverse superman from a buddy. i told him i was starting to have a problem and he gave me an o s..... then decided to tell me he is having issues with GHA!!!!! SMH........... anyway, i have thought about running GFO and have yet to purchase. My biggest concern is that the GHA is among my star polyps and no where else.... they grow fairly quick but im sure if i scrub and remove, i should just consider them a causuality.... any advice on how to remove from the coral without hazard.... thanks.

If it is so bad that you need to scrub the rocks. Do it out of the tank. Never pick the algae off inside the tank.That only helps it spread.

Get a bucket with tank water and a Bucket with fresh clean ro water..
scrub the rocks in the first bucket and rinse them in the second. This helps to put less algae spores back into the tank.
But of course scrubbing the rocks will only slow it down if you have water chemisty / nutrient / lighting issues.