How do you explain my GHA issue

jsb

jsb

Member
I've been fighting a GHA issue, and I think I'm on the right track, but I just don't understand how it came about. Maybe some one can explain something I'm not seeing.
My test kits never showed signs of high nitrates. I don't have a Phosphate kit, so I was thinking that my issue may be there. I did some reading on how to get rid of the stuff, and followed the procedure and finished up this weekend. I also took my water to a LFS and had it tested. They said my RO/DI water looked great. Nitrate levels, and Phosphates looked good. Hmm. Then what caused the problem. My thoughts were that I haven't cleaned my Power heads/filter/skimmer in ages. Maybe they were harboring nitrates...but wouldn't that show up in my water test? I would think...anyway I cleaned those, and hopefully the Algea will go away. I pulled all the rock, and housed it in a tub of frsh RO/DI water. I plucked or cut back, and scrubbed all the GHA rocks, gave it a fresh RO/Di dip and put it all back into the tank. We'll see how it goes.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
oh, that makes sense... never seen GHA though...how did you "follow the proceedure to get rid of" phosphates?
 
sly

sly

Active Member
I think they were referring to a procedure of dipping the rocks in fresh water to kill of the algae spores.
Anyway, I had a problem with (GHA) a long time ago. At that point I got my first cleanup crew and a yellow tang (Mr. Yellow Fish, may he R.I.P.) Mr. Yellow Fish ate all the algae and then died. I haven't had algae ever since and that was about 3-4 years ago. (I miss Mr. Yellow Fish, he swam happy...
)
I guess the point is, I never could find out why I suddenly had hair algae but once the spores were killed, they never came back. It may be that you had some dormant algae spores in some of your LR and now that they have a healthy environment, they are growing. It may have nothing to do with poor water quality. Simply put, now they have light, stable temp and an environment that has at least some nutrients in it for them to grow. I don't know that algae is necessarily a sign of something wrong all the time. It is simply just an organism that will grow if it can and even though it is more likely to spring up in a tank with high nitrates, it can still grow in a clean tank as well. (Put a tomato seed in plain water and it will still germinate)
I now have a UV sterilizer and still have no problem with algae (except the hazy stuff that gets on the glass). Maybe that could be a consideration for you.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
hair algae is a product of nitrates and/or phosphates. If you do have phosphates in your system, i suggest running a phosphate sponge. I had hair algae problems a little while ago, and after running the sponge, i haven't had a problem since. Basically algae feeds off of phosphates and nitrates, so 0 of those = 0 algae.
 
sly

sly

Active Member
According to the OP, he had no nitrates or phosphates when he tested the water at the LFS. Algae can still grow in a low nutrient environment if it has no natural preditors. That is probably the case here. Algae does not necessarily = nitrates+phosphates. That's just what it takes for the algae to be all that it can be...
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
saying "nitrate levels and phosphates look good" doesn't tell us anything. at a LFS, 40 ppm nitrates "look good", and 0.5 phosphates may look good, but that'll cause algae to grow pretty quickly.
and algae feeds off of nitrates and phosphates... that's why macro algae effectively removes nitrates and phosphates from your system. Therefore if you take away the food source, the algae will grow either really slowly, or just stop in general.
 
jsb

jsb

Member
Sorry, I was in a meeting.
GHA= Green Hair Algae. Again, sorry, I saw this some where and started using it just recently. Possily in the reading I was doing.
The LFS said they looked fine. When I said what is fine they said. It definitely below 10 ppm. That's the best these test kits show. POS test kit if you ask me. I need a number.
The phosphate kit was the same type. So all I know is they weren't crazy high or anything. So the potential is possibly there. That's why I went back and cleaned anything with a tube or something that might be able to store nitrates. Then I plucked most of the GHA, but out of the take in a separate tank. I cut back what I couldn't pluck...Thumbs are very tender today. Then scrubbed it with a tooth brush, and dipped it in some fresh RO/DI. Then it all went back in. I even replaced lights that were 9 months old (PCs), bought some extra hermits, and a few more snails. I even picked up a tuxedo urchin for good measure. Knowing he may start on the coraline. Desperate times call for desperate measures
So basically my thinking is I had enough nitrates and phosphate to create the growth, and I think I've done everything I can to eliminate it. Oh I even ran Phosorb for a month. I didn't run a nitrate sponge though. The LFS said they've never seen a sponge help, and that it's a rip off. If anyone has proven otherwise I'll give it a shot. So I think that's it, unless anyone could think of something else to try. Like I said I did all of this this last weekend, so I'm hoping next weekend I'll see some good results. :happyfish
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
my phosphate sponge worked wonders, and i haven't had an algae outbreak since i ran it.
did you initially use tap water to fill the tank? That could be causing a problem if you did...
 
jsb

jsb

Member
Being a newbie at the time yes, but that was over two years ago. I've been using RO or RO/DI for quite a while now.
 
O

oreo12

Guest
I got that when I SWICHED TO THE PC LIGHTING i BOUGHT SOME NITRALE? SNAIL THEY WHERE ABOUT THE SIZE OF A GRAPE WITH A SILVER BACK. They eat it all up and it has never came back. Maybe that is what you need.
 
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