Too much algae??

[montana]

We have ALOT of slime algea on the glass - if we let it go more than 4 or 5 days it starts to looks terrible. There are also alot of "clumps" of algae in the sand. There is some lmtd hair algae.
Started cycling tank on 1-6-6 with live rock. Currently:
pH 8.02
temp 78-79
nitrate, nitrite, amonia ZERO
calcium 450
SG 1.022
Livestock: Foxface rabbitfish, Coral Beauty angel, lawnmower blennie, saddleback clown w/condy anenome (I know, I know, but they were partners at the LFS and we kept them together), 3 royal grammas, 2 yellow tail damsels, 2 cleaner shrimp, 10 hermit crabs, 1 open brain coral. Hoping to start to add more invertebrates. LR came with a few feather dusters, sponges, and a nice colony of star polyps. Everything is doing great so far.
We are running the actinics for 12 hrs, the MH for 8.
What can we do/add to help with the algae problem? We added the hermit crabs 2 wks ago, but algae has only gotten worse. We have alot of dark pink-red spots on the sides of the tank as well, but we have been leaving those, assuming they are "good" ?! (could it be acropora?!)

 

[Meloco14]

Well first of all, algae outbreaks are common with every new tank, so you probably aren't doing anything wrong. Do you have a phosphate test kit? Phosphate is a fuel for algae, so if you can limit your phosphate it will help slow down the algae growth. I would test your RO water for phosphate and make sure it is 0. Make sure you don't overfeed your tank. Most foods, especially frozen or liquid coral or invert foods have phosphate in them. If you need to you can run phosban or even get a phosban reactor. Keep up with regular water changes, assuming your new water is good. What is your lighting period like? It looks like your condy and brain are the only light demanding inhabitants so you could do a shorter lighting period, maybe 6 hours a day. If both of those are on the same side of the tank you can cut down the light on the other side of the tank even more. You don't mention having snails, you should get some if you really don't have any. IME hermits dont eat slime algae or hair algae, they mostly seem to eat leftover food and detritus. Make sure you have decent flow through your tank and no dead spots. The pink/red spots, if they are hard, are coralline algae, which are good. They make your rocks look pretty and help compete with bad algae for nutrients. Thats about all I can think of right now, but overall just have patience. Every tank battles algae and in many cases it seems impossible to beat. But over time it will die off, assuming you limit its fuel. On a side note, you may have stocked your tank a little too quickly, which may have lead to elevated nutrient levels and algae breakouts. But this isn't a big deal in this case, as your water parameters remain perfectly safe for your fish, and algae breakouts are pretty much inevitable in new tanks anyway. HTH

 

[montana]

Thanks for the good insight & advice. Our phosphate is almost zero (0.05). We will get some snails and hopefully this phase will pass!

 

[Anonymous]

Whats the TDS of your RO water?

Ahother tip is to blast the LR every few days with a powerhead or a turkey baster to get the detritus suspeded to is can be skimmed out.
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[fyrefysh]

Hey montana, it's good to know that there's another Billings-ite here on the forums! I'd sure love to see your tank sometime.