Algae and Corals

[mz3bmx]

A couple of days ago I come home from work after leaving my HQI lighting on for 8 hours and the tank was full of algae! I've had the tank for about a month and a half never having this issue. It was pretty much time for a water change so I scrapped the glass and performed a 5 gallon change. Next day I leave the HQI on for 6 hours only to come back to a tank that I could hardly see into due to the algae AGAIN!?! I've read about people turning off their lights completely until they resolve this issue. Now will this have any affect on the inhabitants in my tank mainly the xenia and goniopora? Any other suggestions on getting rid of the algae?
This is after scrapping the glass but you can see the algae that I'm talking about (I'm working on getting more LR lol)

 

[natclanwy]

Your lights are not the problem, the problem is you are most likely going through new tank syndrome which is just normal algae outbreaks that will occur until the system ages and stabalizes. If you have excess nutrients in your water that will feed and accelerate the growth of algae, what are your water parameters: ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, SG ect...?
Lights are often blamed for algae outbreaks but they really are only part of a bigger issue. Think of it this way in your garden if you have sterile soil or almost sterile soil your plants will grow but they will grow very slow. Now add some fertilizer (aka nutrients) and your plant growth rate accelerates exponentially. In your tank if you have very little excess nutrients mainly nitrate and phosphate algae will grow but very slowly even with long photoperiods, now take that same photoperiod and add some nitrate and phosphate to your water and your algae growth will explode. Reduce the photoperiod and the growth rate will slow but now your corals will suffer and as soon as you increase the photoperiod for the corals the algae outbreak will come back unless the excess nutrients have been removed.

 

[mz3bmx]

Thanks a lot for the help. Levels are:
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
SG: 1.024-1.025
Don't have any test kits for phosphate. What can I use to safely scrub all the algae of the rocks because it seem a bit to much for the CUC to handle?
As you can see the algae is all over my rocks

 

[natclanwy]

I wouldn't worry about trying to scrub that little bit of algae you will probably do more harm than good. Your CUC should be able to handle that much algae with no problem if it is adequately sized. What do you have for a CUC?
Just be patient as your tank matures the algae outbreaks will decrease and eventually stop.

 

[mz3bmx]

4 astrea
3 bumble bee
3 nass
3 red leg hermits
1 emerald
1 coral banded
2 stomatellas which were hitchhikers lol
I'm getting more this friday. Any suggestions on what I should get?

 

[natclanwy]

I would get some more snails, forgot to ask how big is your tank so I'm not positive how many to reccomend but I would start with another dozen and I would do a mix between astrea, magarita, and turbo snails. You could add a couple more nassarius too on top of that number. Its up to you whether you add more hermits but I would definetly see if you can get some extra shells so that they aren't tempted to kill your snails for new homes. Also keep in mind that the bumble bee snails are preditory whelks and will hunt and kill other snails. I don't reccomend keeping any at all, gets too expensive replacing snails all of the time.

 

[mz3bmx]

I have a 24 gallon Aquapod and I was going to get some Turbos but the ones at my LFS are the size of a baseball

 

[natclanwy]

Definetly don't get those I have a few in my 55g and as sooner they die the better they are actually called mexican turbo snails but I call them mexican bulldozers. They are constantly knocking my corals and rock loose. If they weren't so good at grazing I would just get rid of them.

 

[mz3bmx]

Thanks natclanwy for the help