Algae driving me crazy

[Pilotjcm]

Hello,everyone,I am fairly new to saltwater pretty much learning as I go,I have a question.I set up my tank about 6 mos ago,added a little at time,and now I am getting large amounts of green,purple and red algae,I clean the glass every night and by the next morning it's covered again,it is also all over the sand,it looks terrible,I have a list of everything that I use,I'm not sure what other things I should add to fix this and prepare for adding coral etc. I think I need to add more chemicals but not sure,any help would be appreciated.

I have an 29 gal tank,penguin bio-wheel 330,seaclone protien skimmer,good heater temp always around 78,so far 16 lbs live rock(adding another 20 lbs this week),I use RO water only,use dual satellite lights(30",7am to 7pm dual actinic,8 am to 6pm dual daylight),aragonate sand,I use reef crystals salt,proper PH 8.5 to keep PH right,phosban and Nitrex in skimmer,I add Kent liquid calcium every day,Kent Iodine once a week,marine-clene sludge and debris and oxygenating bacteria booster after every water change which I do 25% every 3 weeks. I have only 3 fish(1 clown,1 three stripe damselfish and 1 yellow tang) all of which are doing great.also have algae attack pack(snales,crabs,shrimp etc). cleaning filters I do as per instructed.
what more do I need to add or do? thank you,I am also new to this forum and hope to be around more and more as I learn.

 

[lando]

Hi and Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com!!!
I am not sure what type of algea you are describing. On the glass it could be coraline (good algea). Does it develope in a circular purple pattern? On the sand it is most likely cynobacteria. If it coats the sand and has a velet texture to it it is cyno (bad algea). The presence of uneanted algea in the tank is a sig of excess nutrients (PO4 or over feeding) or too little water movement. First thing I suggest is that you get a PO4 test kit and test both your tank water and your source water (from RO untit). Let us kow what the results of the PO4 and let us know how much turnover you have in the tank. Any powerheads?? If so, type and model.

 

[Pilotjcm]

Thanks so much for welcoming me to the forum

I went ahead and tested my phosphate levels. In the aquarium, the level registered between 0.1 and 0.2. The RO water(from the grocery store) is registering 0. Currently I am only running a penguin bio-wheel 330 and a seaclone protien skimmer. The algae in the sand seems to be waving around from water movement, so I would say movement is probably a medium flow. Below are pics of the algae problem. Any help clearing this up is really appreciated.

 

[lando]

Cut way back on feedings for now, light feeding every other day. Keep doing water changes with the good RO/DI water. Add more flow to your tank to eliminate dead spots. Algea tends to get a foothold in areas of little or no water movement. What do you have for a clean-up crew?

 

[Pilotjcm]

Hi, I will take your advice adding a power pump for more waterflow,and my wife does tend to overfeed and for cleanup crew we have a new attack pack from fosters and smith,about 40 crabs,snails and shrimp plus what we already have from old attack pack,which seem to be getting smaller. Is there also a chemical to get rid of whats already in the tank that is reef safe just to help?

Thanks for the help already,this seems to be a great forum!

 

[RMPD109]

You can use chemi-clean to clear it up. You still need to figure out the cause and treat that or the algae will be back pretty quick.

 

[Pilotjcm]

thanks for the info,after looking at the tank and waterflow it looks like there isn't much flow hitting the sand because my skimmers drop water into the water instead of being forced out a tube in the water,and after doing the math I am only getting a flow rate of 11,seems 20 is the number I should be at,i'll try adding the powerhead and see if that helps,What about the light times right now I have the daylight 10000K lights on for 12 hours,I heard 8 is enough for reef tank,is that right? With the light being on that long that might also be a problem with algae.

 

[lando]

You can cut back on the lighting a bit, however, the algea is most likey still a product of too many nutrients in the water. Try the Chemi-Clean and keep up on the water changes.