Help! Algae out of control

[Sincity]

I have done water changes nitrates are at 5 used Algaecide and now have moved on to hydrogen peroxide with no luck so far :/ it's brown and stringy and suffocating all my corals

[MacDracor]

Nitrates seem fine. What about Phosphates? What is your lighting schedule like, what size is the tank and how much is in it?

[Sincity]

It's a 60 gallon, I recently upgraded the bulbs in a 4 bulb t5 to 2 atinic one purple and one 10k. Live stock is yellow tang, blue damsel, domino damsel, two clowns, flame angel, lawnmower Benny, manderin dragonette, gbta, lots of corals, cleaner shrimp, turbo snails, blue maxima clam, flame scallop, I have about 80 lbs of live rock, eheim xp3 canister filter, lighting schedule is on about 9-10 hours a day, and blue LEDs at night, no protein skimmer:/

[Sincity]

Not sure on phosphates I'll have to check I use rodi water though

[MacDracor]

Hmm... Your lighting schedule sounds good. I had mine on 12 hours a day (D'oh!) and got a lot of algae for a while. Good choice on the water, but not having a protein skimmer in a 60 gallon is asking for trouble, IMO.
My guess is that even though your nitrates are low, you probably have a lot of dissolved organics and nutrients that are feeding the algae. To start, I'd step up the water change schedule and suck out as much of the algae as you can. Then pick up a protein skimmer. Expensive buggers, but totally worth it.
Your tank is a bit on the small side for a tang, but I am not the Tang Police, and as long as it appears healthy and happy, I aint judging. LOL

[Sincity]

Ya I know the tank is a bit small :/ plan on upgrading soon to a huge like 250 or something I'll look into a protein skimmer any thoughts on brands and such money isn't really a problem

[Patrice]

In freshwater, its cause by high sulphate or sulphite (sulfite).

[Sincity]

Think getting a lighting timer would help?

[Sincity]

I'm really not sure what type it is.... Green hair maybe? Or bubble? It's definately thick and slime like but forms long strings that have a bubble in them that break off and float around the tank and recolonize

[MacDracor]

I'm not super savvy on algae names either. Definitely not bubble algae though. Could be hair algae, though the sliminess makes me think of dinos.
Anywho, a lighting timer is an excellent idea because both the corals and the fish will appreciate the consistency.
I'm not the best to ask about protein skimmer brands, as I've only been doing this for a little while and have only used two. Search the forums and I'm sure you'll find plenty of threads dedicated to protein skimmer selection.

[Sincity]

So after some research I think I may have Dino ..... From what I read I'm supposed to increase the nitrates?! Huh?

[spoonman]

Doesn't most algae consume nitrates? That is why the reading is low, but you may be overfeeding or the canister hasn't been cleaned lately?

[Sincity]

Can I clean my canister without losing all the benificial bacteria? I know alot of it is in my live rock ....

[Sincity]

I've decided to keep my lights off for a couple days I also found filter media with carbon and a phosphate reducing pad at the LFS maybe I'll try that out?

[mr_X]

I would cut way back on feeding. Every 3 days or so for a while, until you've done enough water changes to correct your problem.
If you purchase a skimmer, look for one that's rated for 1.5 to 2 x your tank volume. Turning the lights off isn't going to do it.

[Sincity]

What kind of time thread and water change schedule would be recommended?

[Sincity]

Ok so I changed all filter media, going to start feeding every three days..., bought a protein skimmer up and running and added alk buffer liquid, gonna start doing 10% pwc every couple days, let's see if this works

[Photoevangelist]

If you have phosphates I used Brightwell's bacteria to add some beneficial bacteria. It's supposed to help lower phosphates and nitrates. Try one solution at a time though. You may not even need the bacteria stuff. It's supposed to be for new tanks, I believe. With as much live stock in your tank the skimmer should help a lot. I hope you took mr. X's advice and got one rated a few times larger than your tank size.

Don't power heads help keep algae growth down? I get some green algae on my glass that I have to clean off every two days. I might need some more flow. I have an Ehiem 2000 returning water back to my main tank from the sump. It's approx 30g (65x45x45cm). Maybe I could benefit from power heads.

[Photoevangelist]

Er.... Eheim compact+ 3000 is what I'm using.

[Patrice]

Hydrogen Peroxite don't work for brown algae. Seem to me you have high sulphate. To fix that, you need to balance your fertilizer. So that sulfite is being absorbed.