Final Update:
So I thought I would put in a last update with the progress for what appears to be a war that I am finally winning. Since introducing the Turbos a few months ago the RHA has steadily been declining. Unfortunately, this has opened some space for GHA and bubble algae to pop up, but even those appear to be on the decline. Most of what seems to be fixing the problem is common sense to us who have been in the hobby a while, but I thought I would run down all the variables one more time. Here’s what I changed over the last 18 months that has driven it all back:
Variable 1) Stopped all feeding. No fish to feed so I haven’t fed the tank for almost 18mo. This may not be practical for everyone obviously.
Variable 2) re started skimming. I have had a skimmer for years, but running softies and LPS, the corals actually look better with “dirty†water.
Variable 3) started dosing vinegar into the Kalk water top off that I add to the tank.
Variable 4) started running polyfilter again as well as GFO
Variable5) added Cheato and feather culerpa to the sump
Variable6) increased pumping turn over from the sump to tank. This and snails are probably the big two that have driven the improvements
Variable7) THE KEY TO ALL MY PROBLEMS- found that Turbos from Dr Mac will eat RHA. The other nuisance algae has other well know predators- emerald crabs for bubble agea, and a healthy mix of other cleanup. I currently have scarlet crabs and astrea snails as my primary CUC.
Doing all of these in steps really seemed to slowly fight back the problem along with some old fashioned manual removal. I went on my yearly two week vacation this month and decided to stop skimming and vinegar dosing since my LPS was starting to bleach a bit from what I assume to be low nutrient levels. I am ecstatic to report that my tank is looking better than it has in probably almost two years! The cheato and culerpa which had been growing at a very slow rate took off during this period and the tank seems to be in a better balance overall than I had hoped to return home to. Keep in mind as well, that all this was done without a single major water change other than a few small ones of about 5 gal each to siphon detritus out of the sump.
Well, I think that about ends this odyssey. The tank isn’t perfect yet, but its well on its way and to be honest its good enough for me at this point.
Hope all this has helped some out there.