tell me what algae this is on glass and gravel

[kenvance]

Can someone tell me what algae this is on glass and gravel please and how to get rid of this daily battle please. Cheers

 

[Bectan01]

Looks like diatoms, which will burn out if it's own. How old is the tank? Have you ever thought about sand instead of gravel? Gravel is not usually used in saltwater because it traps nitrates and also sand looks more natural

 

[kenvance]

I was thinking diatoms but the tank thank is 5 months old. All levels are 0 for nitrate/rite phosphate etc. when I say gravel it's a crushed coral. Last time I had a tank this worked a treat but I'm at a loss with this algae. BTW sorry hoe the title of the post sounded. Wasn't supposed to be so harsh lol. Please was supposed to be before tell me

 

[Bectan01]

You may see 0 nitrate and phos because the algae is there giving a false reading. Tell us a bit more about the tank, how big, filtration, stock? How often do you water change, leave lights on, feed?

 

[kenvance]

50 gal tank
Protein skimmer
Surface skimmer
External canister filter but with media removed and a bag of carbon
Lights on 6-8 hours a day
Two powerheads
2 blue leg hermits
Algae blenney
Dwarf bicolour angel
Small tomato clown
Forgot to add. We do a 15-20% wc/week with pre mix saltwater that we've tested and readings are good

Thank you

 

[Bectan01]

Well that all looks pretty good, what kind of lights are they? Excess algae can come if the bulbs need to be replaced. Other than that how much do you feed? How often do you clean the canister?

 

[kenvance]

Canister cleaned weekly feed a maybe one or two biggish flakes of low nitrate phosphate food. The lights are nearly new. Couple months old actinic and daylight. It's got me beat honestly