Green algae problem

[earlysteven]

Any suggestions to get green algae down its flourishing now in my 150 all levels are good except nitrates which are at 40 and I've Ben battling for months. My temp is 76 Fahrenheit . And my lights now run seven hours. I keep cutting the light timer down and it's still growing. I have a 1400 something watt light with three 250w halides and four 98w acintics . And I have most of them turned off I'm usually pushing only 598w.

 

[Dav3]

Cut down on feeding and increase water changes. It's that simple. Your nitrates are high and if you've been battling for months you would have gotten it under control by now by simply following the above.

What, how much, and how often do you feed now? What fish? What does your filtration look like? How often and how large are water changes?

 

[Pimp My Fish]

Do you use RO/DI water?

 

[ryshark]

You need to do some serious water changes to get your nitrates down. Do you have a protein skimmer? Is your tank getting lots of natural sunlight (this cause algae)? Are you halide bulbs old? There are so many things, but nitrates of 40 is glaring out, i'd start by bringing that way down to like 5. Also as mentioned above, make sure to be using RO/DI water for both you water changes and your top off water.

 

[ryshark]

Wow, I just got instantly sad. I haven't been on this forum in a couple years and I had no clue what my avatar picture was... then I saw the pic of my boxer who just passed before Christmas.
Anyway, start with bringing nitrates down and then let us know how its going.

 

[earlysteven]

I feed my fish once a day and only have two small clownfish and mushrooms my filtration is a skimmer and a sump with a 500 gph pump I just did a 30 percent water change last week . Alone in the past two months I've spent 100 dollars on salt so trying to slow down and my lights are brand new. I don't have any ro water in it at all because I've Ben saving up for a good unit.

 

[earlysteven]

My lfs guy new the guy that had the tank before me and said he dosed all his aquariums for any problem so I'm trying to fix his mistakes. I kept most his water and lr and sand not knowing anything about saltwater when I first started or I would of done it different.

 

[Dav3]

Are you using tap water or buying rodi water from lfs?

 

[earlysteven]

Tap water

 

[Dav3]

Well then there is your problem. You are just continuing to add more and more nitrates, phosphates, etc to your tank. Just feeding the algae.

 

[bribo12]

Phosphates can also be trapped in the rock and sand. Try blasting the rock out with a turkey Baster right before water changes

 

[Gregcoyote]

Test your fresh SW after using tap water, my best guess it's high in nitrate.

 

[earlysteven]

I'll check it thanks guys