Tough, Slimey Algae

[salty27]

For the past few months, I have had a slimey green algae (with patches of brown algae) infest my fish-only aquarium glass and rocks/dead coral. It's not the typical algae I used to get (leafy and easily wiped clean with a sponge). I tried scrubbing some of the rocks, pieces and the glass to remove the algae, but it almost seems permanently baked in. It looks very unpretty, and I know it's affecting my water clarity.
The water parameters are all norm, and my fish seem healthy. I haven't been using any chemicals and perform patial water changes every 2-3 weeks. My lighting consists of one Coralife 50/50 and one Coralife 10,000 degree K bulb, and the tank is not in any direct sunlight. I operate the lighting from 9:30 AM to 9:00 PM each night (via timer).
Any ideas as to why this slime is growing or what I can do/use to prevent it is appreciated!

 

[roka64]

How much/what/how often do you feed?
You can probably reducin your lighting to 8-10 hours.
What are your phosphates/nitrAtes numbers?
What kind of canister/how3 often do you clean it?

 

[dskidmore]

What is your feeding schedule?

Could you post the actual numbers on those water parameters?

Do you have a cleaning crew? Are your current fish compatible with adding one?

 

[salty27]

I feed my fish frozen meals about once every 2-3 days (currently I have a snowflake, clown grouper and tomato clown).
My last nitrate test (last week) was below 10. Though I've never tested for phosphates, I do use Phos-Zorb in my cannister filter, and replace it about every 3-4 weeks when cleaning my Fluval 3-series cannister filter. I also use BioChem carbon filter (also replaced every 3-4 weeks), BioMax filter material, and the foam block. Unfortunately, my current inhabitants would make appetizers out of any cleaning crew.
How concerned should I be of this type of algae?

 

[roka64]

How concerned should I be of this type of algae?

It is definitely an indication of excess nutriens in your tank.
I think you have two messy eaters, snowflake eel(?) and grouper, in a 45G tank (which will be too smal for those guys).

 

[dskidmore]

I agree with roka.

Can you see leftovers after they eat? Might consider netting them back out.

 

[salty27]

These fish never leave any leftovers. I try to monitor how much I feed them carefully by basically hand feeding each piece of food one-by-one. The grouper gets his swallow-size pieces first (not by my choice!), then the clown gets some mysis shrimp, followed by the eel (one bite-size piece at a time). I'm usually careful not to overfeed or leave food floating in the water.
I know the grouper is going to get too large for the tank, and I plan on exchanging him at my LFS for a smaller fish once he begins to look cramped. Unfortunately, I don't have the space right now for a larger capacity tank.

 

[roka64]

Any chance you can get us a pic?
I think you can cut back on your lighting. I run mine for 8 hours, others run them for 10 hours. Start with that nad see what happens.
BTW what kind of substrate do you have?

 

[salty27]

I can try to get a pic of the algae that wouldn't scrub off...I'll post it up when I can.
My bedding is crushed coral. I used to operate a UG filter before I installed my protein skimmer about 5 months ago, but don't anymore. And I'll cut the lighting back to 8 hours as well.

Thanks again for all the advice/comments!

 

[tweaver001]

My new recommendation for any algae problems is a Kole' yellow eye tang. I had a pretty bad agae problem and my blennies were fighting a loosing battle. I got a Kole' tang that is only about 4 inches long and he is a powerful force in algae control off the rocks and the glass. I personally think with my experience that you may be doing water changes too often. Everytime I do a partial change since I use tap water and instant ocean salt I get a small boom. Just my opinion.

 

[melosu58]

I personally think with my experience that you may be doing water changes too often. Everytime I do a partial change since I use tap water and instant ocean salt I get a small boom. Just my opinion.

IMO you are not doing them too much. I do mine every week and have excellent water parameters. You answered your own question about your small bloom by saying that you use tap water. Salty27, I`m thinking your CC might need cleaning and more frequent PWC`s. What kind of water are you using for top off`s and PWC`s.