I'm loosing the war with GHA, help?!

[andresont]

As i am too, a happy BB tank owner i second Kadaytar's comments re:sand, skimmer and flow.

I would get rid of the CrapTrap i.e. sand for sure. even though you do have sand sifters, detritus is still there and lots of it. It will not go away unless syphoned out.
I was not in favor of BB tank myself before, but OMG how much crap is trapped in that sand ! I only have 1 tiny Tang, one clown and few tiny gobyes in my 60gal, but still a LOT of detritus needs to be syphoned every week. And that is with enormous ammount of flow and decent skimmer.

JM2CW

[bv_reefer]

-that hot water in water bottle technique sounds reasonable and i would try it but the patches of algae are 2'' above my condy anemone, so i'm a little apprehensive @ the moment-

[fishface]

i second the boiling water as well. i got rid of a bryopsis problem with that method.

[Chin_Lee]

Originally Posted by bv_reefer

-that hot water in water bottle technique sounds reasonable and i would try it but the patches of algae are 2'' above my condy anemone, so i'm a little apprehensive @ the moment-

2" is plenty of room for this. if you are still cautious, cover the anenome with saran wrap before applying.

[michika]

Thanks Chin_Lee I'll take a look around for a bottle like that, and maybe I'll try it this week.

There is however some good news. I think its pretty safe to say that there is no more nutrients feeding the GHA. I say this because any of the places that the urchin has cleaned have remained cleaned for 2 weeks now. The algae does not regrow after Lurchin' Urch has cleaned an area.

[Chin_Lee]

Originally Posted by michika

Thanks Chin_Lee I'll take a look around for a bottle like that, and maybe I'll try it this week.

There is however some good news. I think its pretty safe to say that there is no more nutrients feeding the GHA. I say this because any of the places that the urchin has cleaned have remained cleaned for 2 weeks now. The algae does not regrow after Lurchin' Urch has cleaned an area.

i think thats the problem with GHA in that once you have it, its not going to just disappear on its own. Like all other organisms in the tank, each and everyone is competing for something. In the case of GHA, its nutrients and as long as you have something or anything that is producing waste (fish/pods/inverts/bacteria on liverock) it will be able to sustain itself. It may not thrive and spread when the nutrient levels are low but there is always something in the tank that will provide just enough nutrients for it to stay.................... or until you decide to poach them.

[danny zubot]

I went through somthing similar to what you are experiencing but to lesser degree it seems. I tried the sea hare route and similar results as many others; the power heads got them. I will vouch for Drew's sea hare though, it did a wonderful job after I rescued it from a power head.

Its encouraging to hear that the areas your urchin has cleaned are staying cleaned. So far, my tank is staying GHA free after I eventually over hauled it. My problem was an extreme bio load, which I've since cut in half. How many fish do you have in your tank?

[michika]

I do currently have a high number of fish in the tank, but originally I just had 3. I hope to return to the 3-4 mark in the next week or so. The current fish are:
tiny orange shoulder tang 1" (going)
tiny kole tang 1" (going)
ocellaris clown (going)
yellow damsel (going)
sixline wrasse
green clown goby
psychadelic mandarin
4x blue chromis ~0.25-0.5" (probably going)

The tangs came to me quite small, needing to be plumped up and accustomed to higher flow. They were originally supposed to go to a 150g, which was supposed to replace the 90g before the crash. They are two of my fish that I want in my big tank (1000+g) which I hope to start in December, or possibly January of the new year. Most of the extra fish are from the 90g crash, and I'm pretty picky about finding them good homes.

[scsi]

add a couple of Sea Hare's.....
See my tank Journal post.
They're mowing down GHA like crazy.....