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

[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.