A Green Mess!

[pstone7972]

I got t5 lights for my 26 gallon aquarium for christmas. Now I have green covering the glass and green covering the sand and some of the green in thick on the sand almost to a gel point. what is this and what can I do to get rid of it. I have a filter with carbon, air head and protein skimmer. I was advised by a fish store to use chemi-rid but it didnt help. Any suggestions?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Why do you have an air head? You shouldn't have bubbles in your tank. Get a powerhead to stir up some of the mess.
Replace your filter once a week. What type of protein skimmer are you using?
Perform a 50% water change immediately with store bought saltwater. Test your top off water to make sure the TDS reading is 0.
Feed your fish less. Put your lights on a timer, and don't let them stay on any longer the 8hrs a day.
The cause of algae in the aquarium is nitrates and phosphates. This is caused by bad top off water, food, and some chemicals you put in your system.
The solution to pollution is dilusion.

 

[snakeblitz33]

by the way, what substrate are you using? Are you using live sand or crushed coral? IS your tank in any type of direct sunlight? Is your temp swinging? Is your pH stable?
What are your tanks water parameters?

 

[pstone7972]

Its not an air head its a power head sorry. I just moves the water around. The protein skimmer is Deltec. I did a 6 gallon water change just now. thanks for the advise.

 

[pstone7972]

The lights are on a 12 hour timer. the salt level is at 1.022 the ph is 8.8, ammonia 0, nitrates 40, nitrites 0. water temp never changes.

 

[snakeblitz33]

You should try to do about a 17g water change. your pH is too high. Make sure your protein skimmer is working efficiantly. Also - cut back on your feeding. Don't feed but every other day.
You need to get your nitrates down. What are you phosphates sitting at right now? phosphates probably would show as zero, however it's all being converted into algae.
Also, you need to cut your lights back to 8hrs a day, less time for photosynthesis. If that doesn't help, cut it to 4 hours a day, then take care of your nitrate/phosphate problem at it's source.