Algae Explosion

[w33s3l]

Hi I'm brand-new to the site and really hoping someone could help me out here. I have a 30 gallon tank with live rock and sand.
Corals:
1 small green star polyp
1 unidentified
1 torch coral
1 small colt coral
Fish:
1 cleaner shrimp
2 clownfish
1 yellow tang
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
PH: between 7.5 and 8 (can't read test)
Salinity: 1.022
When I added the corals last week, they were doing great and were very healthy. There were no fish yet. Over time, they seemed to be closing up more and more. Fish added Tuesday (except shrimp, which I've had healthy since early March). Wednesday, woke up to lots of algae--green spots on glass and brown over sand and live rock. Fish seem to be doing fine but after the 10% water change, the torch coral formed a white stringy mucus and turned half white. Colt coral is also turning white. Other corals are colorful but half-closed. I really don't want to lose these; they were very expensive. Is there anything I can do to save the corals?
Also, I have a protein skimmer, filter, and current-maker (?). Is that enough for these guys?

 

[0o.Kelsey.o0]

How long has this tank been up and running?? How much do you feed? How long are the lights on and what kind of lights? How often do you do water changes?

These questions will help us figure out the issue.

Also the yellow tang should be returned to your LFS. A 30 gallon tank is way too small for any tang. It will get stressed from the lack of swimming room and eventually die.

 

[Bonz]

I agree with kms about the tang. I just got into this and had a yellow tang. He was doing good, bbut i seen the spurts he was trying to do but had limited range of swimming. I returned him to the lfs and now hes in their coral tank which is 10ft long. But to you situation, do you have hermits, snails to eat that stuff. Also, are you using ro water? If your tank is new, then it could be a diatom bloom because the tank didnt finish cycling. Please add more info.

 

[Smitty]

Isn't 1.022 a little low for corals? It thought they liked the 1.025 or so range better.

 

[Bonz]

1.022 is fine for corals, they will thrive between 1.024-1.026

 

[sdergar]

Definitely need more info as per above responses. Could be cycling, could be lights, how old are the lights, What kind of water...as you can see it could be lots of things...and the more you put the more accurate help you'll get.

It really isn't fair for the yellow tang to be in a small tank. Enough said.

Steve