The GHA palace - taking care of a work tank

[Bolicks]

Hi everyone,

I recently inherited the caretaker position of a legacy reef tank in the UC Berkeley biology department. It's been running for ~15 years, and has accumulated a ton of GHA over that time. I'm currently removing as much as possible during weekly water changes, but this is doing little difference. I've also added 3 pincushion urchins, which are very entertaining, but are doing little for the algae. Any recommendations on CuC/other solutions for this much algae?

See below:

Thanks!

 

[IOnceWasLegend]

Turbo snails are good. Also, sea hare. I've got a sea hare you're welcome to have if you want to pick it up in SJ (also a frag or two of something if you want to add some additional stuff to the tank).

 

[popper]

Add hydrogen peroxide directly into the tank.

The animal method takes a long time to clear them.

 

[JVU]

Mexican turbo snails (the big golf ball sized ones) clear out green hair algae much faster than any other snail I’m aware of. MUCH faster. They are a different species than the “regular” turbo snails, which are not nearly as good for this use. They are inexpensive and usually pretty easy to find, though sometimes more difficult in the Summer. As a plus they are less likely to starve once they’ve cleared out the GHA than some others like a sea hare, which is also awesome at clearing GHA.

Sometimes I’ll get a bunch of GHA growing on one of my gyres for whatever reason. I just grab a single Mexican turbo, plop him down on the pump, and within 24 hours it’s clean down to plastic/coralline. Much easier and more effective than manual removal.

 

[Coral reefer]

Remove rocks into a bin and scrub?

 

[BAYMAC]

was this one of Roy's tanks?

 

[Klatzy]

I third Mexican turbo snails, pretty cheap and not as likely to starve as a hare after things get under control. But I wonder with that much GHA it might take a while unless you do some manual removal first and then add snails.

 

[H2OPlayar]

Looks too small for an adult rabbitfish, maybe a small school of lawnmower blennies. Those both mow down algae.

 

[Bolicks]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Definitely a little small for tangs/rabbitfish (I think it's a 4-foot tank). Will definitely get some large turbos, while doing as much as I can manually. Lawnmower blennies would be fun too! Anyone captive breed those yet?

@IOnceWasLegend Thanks for the offer! I unfortunately never make it to SJ...

Any thoughts on more urchins too? Do these tend to eat full grown GHA, or only small, newly growing tufts?

 

[Arvin R]

Looks too small for an adult rabbitfish, maybe a small school of lawnmower blennies. Those both mow down algae.

My lawnmower must be defective. He stopped eating my gha awhile back but still has a big fat belly....lol

 

[kinetic]

Along with CUC, you can try:

1. GFO reactor
2. Algae Scrubber (maybe a drop-in like icecap pro)
3. Dosing NoPox for awhile

 

[Thales]

It can rare to find something that will eat algae that mature - it needs to be cropped down. I would get a hang on tank filter, or a canister filter, then scub the rocks in place with a tooth brush, and catch as much as you can with a net for removal, and let the filter filter much of the rest of it out of the water. Then your herbivores can get to work. If you can remove the rocks for cleaning you have lots of other options.


Lowering nutrients is not an effective way to fight algae #fightme

 

[Coral reefer]

Would lights out for several days or a week even be an option?

 

[JVU]

Thanks for the advice everyone! Definitely a little small for tangs/rabbitfish (I think it's a 4-foot tank). Will definitely get some large turbos, while doing as much as I can manually. Lawnmower blennies would be fun too! Anyone captive breed those yet?

@IOnceWasLegend Thanks for the offer! I unfortunately never make it to SJ...

Any thoughts on more urchins too? Do these tend to eat full grown GHA, or only small, newly growing tufts?

In my experience urchins don’t really eat much GHA. I still like them. Mexican turbos will slurp it up like spaghetti and make short work of that tank’s GHA problem I predict.

 

[Thales]

In my experience urchins don’t really eat much GHA. I still like them. Mexican turbos will slurp it up like spaghetti and make short work of that tank’s GHA problem I predict.

Can you post a pic of the sail you are talking about so we are all on the same page? Thanks!

 

[Thales]

I ask because mexican trubos eating GHA doesn't always work. There was discussion years ago about there being different snails being called mexican trubo and only the right on would eat GHA. My gut says that it is likely individual snail preference rather than a species or local difference.

 

[JVU]

I ask because mexican trubos eating GHA doesn't always work. There was discussion years ago about there being different snails being called mexican trubo and only the right on would eat GHA. My gut says that it is likely individual snail preference rather than a species or local difference.

I think you are right about different species of snails with different predilections being called Mexican turbos and causing confusion. I’ll post a pic of the champions I have when I get the chance.

 

[Srt4eric]

Lowering nutrients is not an effective way to fight algae #fightme

Love the octothorpe

 

[Arvin R]

For GHA this overgrown would reef flux be a good option? Any downsides to using something like that?

 

[JVU]

Can you post a pic of the sail you are talking about so we are all on the same page? Thanks!

I ask because mexican trubos eating GHA doesn't always work. There was discussion years ago about there being different snails being called mexican trubo and only the right on would eat GHA. My gut says that it is likely individual snail preference rather than a species or local difference.

My champions are this type: