GHA - best way to move ahead

[carnthetiges]

15g nano, 8 months old. No detectable nitrates and i don't have a phos test kit.
I've noticed in the last couple of months small tufts of GHA starting to pop up, what looks like red cyano on the sandbed.
I try to tweeze the GHA and siphon the bed but results are short lived.
Water changes approx 20% a fortnight (store bought seawater and topups with RODI).

Bio load is a percula clown, a dottyback and a small flame hawk.
CUC consists of 5 trochus.
Filtration is filter floss and a bag of matrix, otherwise it's just live rock.

I was thinking of adding maybe adding some phosguard try starve the algae, though there's a lot of cautionary threads out there (i've got soft corals and an elegance).
Alternatively would bumping up the CUC (maybe some hermit crabs?) be a better option?
Love to hear peoples thoughts.
Cheers

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

this has been covered literally thousands of times on this forum. Use the search tool and do some reading.

 

[DeniableArc]

this has been covered literally thousands of times on this forum. Use the search tool and do some reading.

What’s wrong with a new member being able to ask a question?

 

[burningmime]

If it's a few small tufts and not a huge problem I would leave it. GHA is an easy algae to eliminate if it does start to take over. Natural biomes will have a little GHA; natural reefs have it too. Just get good coralline coverage and/or encrusing corals to replace it.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

There is nothing wrong with phosguard, I use it all the time. But you should be able to measure the phosphate, so you should have a phosphate test kit.

Tweezing GHA just massages it, you have to take the rock out of the tank, put it in a bucket of saltwater, and toothbrush it. In addition, use all other known tricks.... reduce lights, reduce feeding, more water changes, use phosguard (or similar product), more CUC, etc...

 

[SPR1968]

It’s probably raised phosphate being used as a food source by the GHA (it may give a false zero test result)

I use rowaphos to keep it down, you could maybe try it in a bag in a tank that size, or it might be easier to do more water changes