GHA issue

katlongo · 06/15/2016, 08:38 AM

I'm just getting back into a "real tank" setup from my pretend 10 gallon setup. LOL I had a 180 setup until Sandy destroyed everything. I was moving anyway so I broke it down, bought a 65 gallon rimless and moved my two remaining clowns and mushrooms to a 10 gallon tank in a new apt. Two years later I'm ready to set up the 65 =! YAY!!!!

Here's my question -- the water quality in the 10 gallon is horrible - lots of reasons why - and I've never been able to stay ahead of the GHA. The fish and mushrooms are thriving. However, I do not want to move the GHA to the new tank - and would like to totally obliterate it.

I'm curious as to what effect moving the rock into the cycling tank would have - would it kill off the GHA?

Any chance the mushrooms would survive?

I was thinking of perhaps doing a rock cooking and hoping that the mushrooms survived the darkness as a last resort.

Now that I have a good water source, I'm sure that given enough time i could husbandry the GHA away, but I don't really want to put that much effort into a tank that won't be set up more than a few more weeks.

BrettDS · 06/15/2016, 09:33 AM

First, I will say that getting rid of the hair algae before you move the rock is probably a really good idea. I recently upgraded from a 75 to a 220 and I had been having a hair algae problem in the 75. I made a half hearted effort to pull off some of the algae as I transferred the rock to the new tank, but I'm not sure it made much of a difference and I've now been dealing with a hair algae problem in the new tank for the two months or so that it's been set up. The good news is that the algae never really took over the tank and it's been slowly declining, but removing it through good husbandry definitely seems to be a pretty slow process.

As far as actually removing it, darkness might not be a bad plan... I've done a few three day blackouts on my tank and it definitely makes an impact on the hair algae, but it's never totally killed it off. I was afraid my corals wouldn't like it if I went longer than three days, but if you do 5 or 7 days you might be able to kill off the algae entirely. Most of the time for the blackout periods I just left the tank lights off, but one time I taped black garbage bags over the sides of the tank to block out all light and I will say that the total darkness definitely killed off more algae than just leaving the lights off.

The other thing you might consider is API's Marine AlgaeFix. A number of people have reported good results with it and normally I wouldn't recommend dumping chemicals into the water, but if you take the fish out first and just dose the rocks with the algae then it might not be a bad option.

Taking the rocks out and dipping them in hydrogen peroxide (which would kill the mushrooms) or selectively applying hydrogen peroxide to the algae while avoiding the mushrooms might be another good (although more labor intensive) method.

Finally, you might want to consider running GFO or another phosphate remover as you fight the algae... Both to get rid of any phosphate in the water now as well as removing any phosphate the the dying algae releases back into the system.

katlongo · 06/15/2016, 01:26 PM

Brett - Thanks for the input. I really hate to lose these mushrooms -- one of the large rocks is covered in beautiful blue mushrooms. Maybe I'll pick the algae off of that one, selectively scrub it and put it into the new tank and dose the rest.

Tisbe · 06/15/2016, 02:57 PM

+1 for Brett's advice. I will add that if the rocks have been in a high nutrient environment for an extended period of time, they probably have build up nutrients in them. I had a similar problem and purged the rocks using gfo and carbon dosing while in the DT. I hope this is not your problem. If you do a black out period or use algae fix just realize you may be in for a few cycles of algae regrowing until the nutrients are out of the rock. It took my tank 6 months just to give you an idea of a timeframe.

FYI, true rock cooking takes weeks and I am not sure the shrooms would survive that. A three day blackout period will be fine.

katlongo · 06/16/2016, 08:22 AM

Yea, I don't think they'd survive cooking either. The water quality has been horrible for the past year or so -- I wasn't terribly worried as I thought it was a short term tank, but that turned into a long term solution. As soon as my new tank cycles I'll move my fish over and then I can do whatever I want with the rocks in the ten gallon. I'm NOT moving them until they're either very dead or very free of algae.

Tisbe · 06/16/2016, 11:41 AM

With only the rocks in the ten gallon you should be able to remove tons more nutrients then go in. Your plan sounds like a sold one to me, as long as you are willing to give the rock the time in the ten gallon to release anything that has built up.

06/15/2016, 08:38 AM	#1
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	GHA issue I'm just getting back into a "real tank" setup from my pretend 10 gallon setup. LOL I had a 180 setup until Sandy destroyed everything. I was moving anyway so I broke it down, bought a 65 gallon rimless and moved my two remaining clowns and mushrooms to a 10 gallon tank in a new apt. Two years later I'm ready to set up the 65 =! YAY!!!! Here's my question -- the water quality in the 10 gallon is horrible - lots of reasons why - and I've never been able to stay ahead of the GHA. The fish and mushrooms are thriving. However, I do not want to move the GHA to the new tank - and would like to totally obliterate it. I'm curious as to what effect moving the rock into the cycling tank would have - would it kill off the GHA? Any chance the mushrooms would survive? I was thinking of perhaps doing a rock cooking and hoping that the mushrooms survived the darkness as a last resort. Now that I have a good water source, I'm sure that given enough time i could husbandry the GHA away, but I don't really want to put that much effort into a tank that won't be set up more than a few more weeks. __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

06/15/2016, 01:26 PM	#3
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	Brett - Thanks for the input. I really hate to lose these mushrooms -- one of the large rocks is covered in beautiful blue mushrooms. Maybe I'll pick the algae off of that one, selectively scrub it and put it into the new tank and dose the rest. __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

06/16/2016, 08:22 AM	#5
katlongo Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Ossining, NY Posts: 656	Yea, I don't think they'd survive cooking either. The water quality has been horrible for the past year or so -- I wasn't terribly worried as I thought it was a short term tank, but that turned into a long term solution. As soon as my new tank cycles I'll move my fish over and then I can do whatever I want with the rocks in the ten gallon. I'm NOT moving them until they're either very dead or very free of algae. __________________ Kathy Longo Current Tank Info: 65 gallon rimless, Tunze 1073.05 return, ReefOctopus 110NW and MaxSpect LED lights

06/15/2016, 09:33 AM	#2
BrettDS Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Orlando Posts: 1,109	First, I will say that getting rid of the hair algae before you move the rock is probably a really good idea. I recently upgraded from a 75 to a 220 and I had been having a hair algae problem in the 75. I made a half hearted effort to pull off some of the algae as I transferred the rock to the new tank, but I'm not sure it made much of a difference and I've now been dealing with a hair algae problem in the new tank for the two months or so that it's been set up. The good news is that the algae never really took over the tank and it's been slowly declining, but removing it through good husbandry definitely seems to be a pretty slow process. As far as actually removing it, darkness might not be a bad plan... I've done a few three day blackouts on my tank and it definitely makes an impact on the hair algae, but it's never totally killed it off. I was afraid my corals wouldn't like it if I went longer than three days, but if you do 5 or 7 days you might be able to kill off the algae entirely. Most of the time for the blackout periods I just left the tank lights off, but one time I taped black garbage bags over the sides of the tank to block out all light and I will say that the total darkness definitely killed off more algae than just leaving the lights off. The other thing you might consider is API's Marine AlgaeFix. A number of people have reported good results with it and normally I wouldn't recommend dumping chemicals into the water, but if you take the fish out first and just dose the rocks with the algae then it might not be a bad option. Taking the rocks out and dipping them in hydrogen peroxide (which would kill the mushrooms) or selectively applying hydrogen peroxide to the algae while avoiding the mushrooms might be another good (although more labor intensive) method. Finally, you might want to consider running GFO or another phosphate remover as you fight the algae... Both to get rid of any phosphate in the water now as well as removing any phosphate the the dying algae releases back into the system.

06/15/2016, 02:57 PM	#4
Tisbe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Coeur D Alene, Idaho Posts: 170	+1 for Brett's advice. I will add that if the rocks have been in a high nutrient environment for an extended period of time, they probably have build up nutrients in them. I had a similar problem and purged the rocks using gfo and carbon dosing while in the DT. I hope this is not your problem. If you do a black out period or use algae fix just realize you may be in for a few cycles of algae regrowing until the nutrients are out of the rock. It took my tank 6 months just to give you an idea of a timeframe. FYI, true rock cooking takes weeks and I am not sure the shrooms would survive that. A three day blackout period will be fine.

06/16/2016, 11:41 AM	#6
Tisbe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: Coeur D Alene, Idaho Posts: 170	With only the rocks in the ten gallon you should be able to remove tons more nutrients then go in. Your plan sounds like a sold one to me, as long as you are willing to give the rock the time in the ten gallon to release anything that has built up.