GHA: Try to remedy or let it run its course?

[JDMixon]

Hello all, I've been undergoing a serious GHA problem in my 45 cube AIO. The algae is covering nearly all of the rocks and irritating a few corals.

I recently ran a ReefFlux treatment that did nothing. Running carbon, Phosguard for phosphate control (recently moved and water is cleaner in my new city, so this problem should go away soon), Reef Octo BH1000 skimmer and filter pads. CUC is a little light but will be added to in the coming weeks.

All that to ask this: How have you best dealt with GHA outbreaks? Should I let it run its course and eventually starve itself of PO4? I've tried a bunch of things, and not wanting to put Vibrant in my tank after the recent findings.

Current levels:
Nitrate 10-15
Phos .03-.05
Ca 420
Alk 9.6

Stocking:
2 clowns
Banggai cardinal
Royal gramma
CB Angel
Hammer coral, GSP, a few shrooms and clove polyps

 

[Rickdareefa]

Screw all the additives. I've had some intense battles with gha. There is no "letting it run its course" you need to pull as much off the rocks as you can with your hand every chance you get. Blow off the rocks every day with a turkey baster or power head atleast until it recedes but continue doing it atleast once a week. Feed once a day. Siphon your sand at water changes if you have it. If you can pull out some of the infested rock work set aside a bucket of the old water, then pull those rocks out momentarily and use a spray bottle of standard peroxide to soak the infested areas( DO NOT PUT PEROXIDE ON ANY STONY CORALS! softies will usually be fine) the rinse the rock off in the bucket of old saltwater.
This is general advice that will work for most gha problems, if you have alot of gha your po4 and no3 test result will be completely unreliable until you eliminate the gha.

 

[Rickdareefa]

Also forgot

Screw all the additives. I've had some intense battles with gha. There is no "letting it run its course" you need to pull as much off the rocks as you can with your hand every chance you get. Blow off the rocks every day with a turkey baster or power head atleast until it recedes but continue doing it atleast once a week. Feed once a day. Siphon your sand at water changes if you have it. If you can pull out some of the infested rock work set aside a bucket of the old water, then pull those rocks out momentarily and use a spray bottle of standard peroxide to soak the infested areas( DO NOT PUT PEROXIDE ON ANY STONY CORALS! softies will usually be fine) the rinse the rock off in the bucket of old saltwater.
This is general advice that will work for most gha problems, if you have alot of gha your po4 and no3 test result will be completely unreliable until you eliminate the gha.

Also forgot to say let peroxide set on the affected area for 3 to 5 minutes before rinsing. Don't worry your coral will be fine

 

[Rickdareefa]

Also add any kind of tang, this would be my first priority. Screw anyone that say you can't keep a tang in a 45 gallon. Just find a small one

 

[90gDreams]

Tank age and are you running a refugium?

 

[AWarnick]

If they are adjustable you might turn the light intensity down a bit as well. I had some temporary luck with Hydrogen Peroxide on rocks I could remove but that wasn't an option for most of my rock scape. Good luck with whatever you do and keep up the good fight.

 

[JDMixon]

Tank age and are you running a refugium?

No refugium. Tank is around a year old and just went through a 2-hour move last week

 

[JDMixon]

If they are adjustable you might turn the light intensity down a bit as well. I had some temporary luck with Hydrogen Peroxide on rocks I could remove but that wasn't an option for most of my rock scape. Good luck with whatever you do and keep up the good fight.

Light is a reefbreeders photon 24-V2, running around 35% at peak. I’ve dialed the whites down to 3% at peak

 

[90gDreams]

No refugium. Tank is around a year old and just went through a 2-hour move last week

So my move with a fuge is load up on frag bulldozers, I mean turbo snails, and then crank my fuge lights up. Along with that Ill run GFO. It's always worked for me. Snail food>Snail poop>chaeto.

Never had a skimmer before so I'd say skim wet and do 15% water changes for a month +GFO, after adding a few turbos.

The trick with turbos is they are usually starving when you buy them. Buy more than you should for the tank and plan to give or sell half away after. They will mow it down like crazy.

Once it's mowed down you can rely on a bristletooth tang and some smaller snails to keep it in check.

I've done this to knock back GHA so many times after tank starts and moves that I really just don't care about seeing it start up at this point. Bubble algae though...

I'd recommend not messing with lights. Coral health should dictate your lighting parameters. It's a bad crutch to lean on for algae control. 10,000s of algae free sps reefs were grown with 10k Halides not that long ago. In no way am I saying 10k is ideal, just that light isn't the cause.

 

[Rickdareefa]

So my move with a fuge is load up on frag bulldozers, I mean turbo snails, and then crank my fuge lights up. Along with that Ill run GFO. It's always worked for me. Snail food>Snail poop>chaeto.

Never had a skimmer before so I'd say skim wet and do 15% water changes for a month +GFO, after adding a few turbos.

The trick with turbos is they are usually starving when you buy them. Buy more than you should for the tank and plan to give or sell half away after. They will mow it down like crazy.

Once it's mowed down you can rely on a bristletooth tang and some smaller snails to keep it in check.

I've done this to knock back GHA so many times after tank starts and moves that I really just don't care about seeing it start up at this point. Bubble algae though...

I'd recommend not messing with lights. Coral health should dictate your lighting parameters. It's a bad crutch to lean on for algae control. 10,000s of algae free sps reefs were grown with 10k Halides not that long ago. In no way am I saying 10k is ideal, just that light isn't the cause.

Totally agree with not messing with the lights they are most likely not the problem. Plus when you start messing with the lights the coral will probably suffer more

 

[york1]

napalm

 

[Cook]

Some have good luck with Reef Flux, I did not, even after dosing it for 8 weeks. As @Rickdareefa suggested, you can't be passive with GHA removal unless you want to be an algae farmer. Take @90gDreams advice also, I doubted him on the turbo suggestion and they really went at the GHA when I added them. I would also scrub the rocks outside of the tank with a brush in thirds, one third each week and spot treat with the peroxide as was suggested already. I have some GHA coming back in my display that I need to deal with myself and I didn't start to notice it until I began to have trouble with my chaeto in my refugium.