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

[andrewsk]

Catherine,

If you have never been there, go to Wetwebmedia.com and do some research on Deep Sand Beds vs Shallow Sand beds.

Everything I have read says that sandbeds between 1/2" and 3" are just nutrient sinks and require constant cleaning.

Once you go past 3" you get the low oxygen Bacteria that remove the Nitrates.

From everything you have posted, I would bet you a fair amount of $ that your problem is your sand bed.

Regardless. Good Luck and I hope you can win the battle.



This is from Anthony Calfo:

The killing blow to a flawed application with course substrates in weakly circulated aquarium is the unfortunately popular employment of intermediate depths of sand at 1"-3" (25-75mm). In this mid range, the sand is often too deep to be wholly aerobic and yet not deep enough for efficient denitrifying faculties. As such, the two dominant (and desired!) biological populations are restricted if not excluded at large and the sand bed may become a dead zone... a nutrient sink. However, intermediate sand depths can be maintained successfully (often, in fact!), but require due diligence with regular sifting naturally or mechanically (by the aquarist or by creatures in the aquarium), strong water flow in the tank, realistic bio-loads, etc.

One more from Wet Web

<Well, one thing that I feel pretty strongly about is that you need to go 1/2 inch or less, or 3 inches or more. My thinking is that 1 inch is too shallow to foster denitrification, but too deep to be fully aerobic, which is a potential recipe for long term problems. If you're inclined to go this route, better to use a sprinkling of sand in the display, and a 3 inch plus bed in the sump...Modified Plan "D">

Now I will leave you alone

[michika]

andrewsk,

I've looked at both WWM, and read what Anthony Calfo wrote before. They are just two opinions. I've read both descenting, and confirming opinions. I said I will consider the sandbed as a possible source, but I'm not yet prepared to remove it without first understanding why I should.

As to answer the natural light question. For the last month there has been 0 natural light getting to the tank. I now keep my blinds closed all day, every day.


Marie,

Thank you for the photos!

[marie]

Catherine, don't give up the battle as I said earlier it takes a lot of patience and perseverance. i still insist once it takes hold it needs very little in the way of nutrients to survive.
When I had the hair algae and it was really bad, you couldn't tell that I had any rocks they were so covered. (For some reason my camera always goes missing when my tank looks really bad ) I finally fought the battle over the long term by letting the algae grow really long (it is easier to manually remove when its long) siphon it all out and then place all the crabs, snails and urchins directly onto the short stubs that is left.

It took a long time for me but eventually I won... only to be taken over by dictyota but thats another story

[michika]

Originally Posted by marie

Catherine, don't give up the battle as I said earlier it takes a lot of patience and perseverance. i still insist once it takes hold it needs very little in the way of nutrients to survive.
When I had the hair algae and it was really bad, you couldn't tell that I had any rocks they were so covered. (For some reason my camera always goes missing when my tank looks really bad ) I finally fought the battle over the long term by letting the algae grow really long (it is easier to manually remove when its long) siphon it all out and then place all the crabs, snails and urchins directly onto the short stubs that is left.

It took a long time for me but eventually I won... only to be taken over by dictyota but thats another story

I think I've come to exactly that point. I've eliminted all of the sources that I think triggered the outbreak, old MH bulb, tap water, and possibly too much natural light. While I'm still considering all the other suggestions, the rock, the sand, etc. I kind of just want to leave it and see what happens. Mostly because I now if it becomes a constant drain on me, then I won't want to work with it. This is definitely one of those cases where less is more. Less work, means the more patience I have for the hobby.

I'll give it until September/October, see what happens, and then maybe revisit the idea of removing the sandbed, and swapping out rocks. I'll try the magnesium method, see how that treats me, then just kind of sit back and wait.

I really enjoyed the 10-15 minutes per week of maintence I used to enjoy.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Best of luck, Catherine! I hope it disappears for ya

[Chin_Lee]

Catharine i read this awhile ago from several reefers and I never tried it until last month and I can confirm that this undisputedly worked for me.
I had 5 patches of GHA that would not go away. My rabbitfish stopped eating it as soon as it learned that nori tasted much better. So I finally tried this method which is applying hot boiling water directly onto the GHA. Initiallly I tried doing it with a turkey baster several times before and didn't work well because the hot gases in the baster pushed out the hot water as soon as i sucked it up and lifted it out of the hot water container.
I finally got one of the flexible rubbermaid containers that looks like this:


I removed the white straw tab on the cap and you will see a hole on the cap that lets the liquid out into the white straw tab. This hole will fit a 1/4" flexible hose very snugly. Insert a hose that is long enough to manuever under and around rocks.
Turn off all tank water circulation devices.
Pour hot boiling scalding hot water into the bottle, cap it up,
Turn the bottle upside down into your tank, and squirt the hot water all over a good sized patch of GHA.
Squirt slowly so the hot water "lingers" on the GHA.

Depending on your tank size, I would consider target one rock at a time. Continue doing this until you've targeted all your rocks and then start again from the beginning. You will start seeting GHA shedding off the next day so make sure you clean the powerhead intakes or overflow intakes.
Keep your skimmer skimming WET! this will ensure the dying GHA doesn't fuel more nutrients into your tank.
If you have corals nearby, move them before doing this if you are concerned. My acros didn't seem to care or mind when I did it when them nearby.
Some people will argue that this will kill your liverock's bacteria. I will argue that it will kill your GHA and some bacteria on the surface under the GHA but your liverock's inside bacteria will be fine.
Similarly, this product could work too but harder to apply under rocks without the hose attachment.

Seriously, try this method first. If you are apprehensive, do it to one or two rocks first. My GHA patches disappeared after a week and I am currently GHA free.

[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