I have been cursed by GHA!

Discussion in 'Algae' started by Travis45, Mar 30, 2010.

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  1. Kevin3884

    Kevin3884 Tassled File Fish

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    Go natural, get a Sally Lightfoot crab...they are the greatest GHA eaters in the entire world...they will clean ur tank of the stuff in less than a week..and they will keep it from coming back too
     
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  3. Travis45

    Travis45 Scooter Blennie

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    I'd love to do an algae turf scrubber but having a sump and a separate fuge has really taken all my room up. Hmm I might invest in a sally light foot crab, I dont have much hair algae so he should be able to knock it out pretty quick.
     
  4. gabbagabbawill

    gabbagabbawill Pajama Cardinal

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    Are SLF crabs reef safe? They're huge!
     
  5. Travis45

    Travis45 Scooter Blennie

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    As far as I know I believe they are.
     
  6. Travis45

    Travis45 Scooter Blennie

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    Ok I think I found out what this algae bloom is and what caused it. It looks more like a diatom bloom in my tank. Its like a brown slime on my rocks and it kind of strings off with any movement near it. I added a new Powerhead to my tank about a week ago and I read around on 3reef and the web and found out new plastic can leech silicates into a system? So a little diatom bloom can result from this. :-/ Ahhh algae I hate you.
     
  7. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

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    I seriously doubt you have zero nitrates or zero PO4. You would have no algae. Your algae is consuming the nitrates which is why you read zero. Just about all PO4 kits are ver low resolution. Algae can grow with as little as .02. Our reefs need to be under .02 to limit algae growth. Zero is not zero except on high resolution kits. ELOS, and Merck make high resolution kits that measure down to .004.

    Running GFO will limit PO4 and algae growth. All the other measures need to be done to limit nitrates. Good flow through your rock, good flow across the sand, good flow!... correct feeding, proper maintenance, ditch mechanical filters, good skimmer, macro algae....
     
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  9. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

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    An ATS is just a screen to grow a different macro algae. Macro algae in the fuge or on a turf scrubber is pretty much the same thing.
     
  10. Travis45

    Travis45 Scooter Blennie

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    Ok thats good to know. Yeah I have never had an algae bloom in my tank since I cycled it 3 years ago. I have plenty of flow in my tank, I do the proper maintenance. I do not use mechanical filters, I have two nice skimmers running on the tank and I have an abundance of macro in my fuge. Yeah I checked out the turf scrubber and thought my fuge is probably just as effective as it.
     
  11. Powerman

    Powerman Giant Squid

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    Cool. Sounds like you have it covered. Just a minor imbalance. Something caused the little upset, but it should recover.
     
  12. patrick824

    patrick824 Montipora Digitata

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    yes, the new plastics released silicates and the diatoms are just eating them off. wait a few days and i bet it disappears