algae out of control 4mo old 180 gallon Fowlr

[alfieferenzo84]

First i want to say i have been doing this for over 8 years and have never had problems like this before.
I just moved and upgraded from a 120g to 180g tank 4mo ago
I have over 200lb of live rock, About 4 in of live sand
3x Koralia 4 power heads 1200 gph x 3 Total of 20x a hour
4x 54w t5 ho lights on the tank so total of 216 watts running a 10 hour cycle
Fish i have 1 blue tang small, 1 clown fish, 1 sand goby, 1 small angel fish dwarf, 1 midas blenny... way understocked
Clean up there are a few blue legs, reg legs, astro, mexican snails, 2 star fish brittle and serpent, A few shrimp cleaner, peppermint, blood.
Thats about it
The water test good only 10ppm nitrates. amno o, nitirites 0, temp 78 F night and day. salt 1.0023
The problem is i have algae growing everywhere. There is a mix of all i think and its just out of control.
What can i do or what is going on? I have done 6 gallon nano reef, all the way up to this tank and never had a issue like this.
I just throw a skimmer on it last night it pulled a full cup overnight witch is unusal for a hob. Also wanted thought on skimmer i hate them they make a ton of noise put bubbles in tank and always need adjusted and cleaned so i dont use them. I have a aquac remora pro mag 350
Any advice would be great, Thanks in advance.

 

[mrdc]

Have you tested phosphates? How old are your lights? What type of lights are you running and for how long? Are you doing water changes and if so, are you using RO water?

 

[alfieferenzo84]

no test kit for phosphates. Lights are 4 mo old. Read up t5 4x54 coralife 2x 10k and 2x blue forget color code. Water change 30% 1x a mo. Tap water like i always have for the past 8 years same city.

 

[btldreef]

Get a phosphate kit and test for it.
I would highly recommend NOT using tap water, at least during the algae outbreak.
Up your water changes to weekly at minimum with good quality water.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

I just relized this tank i never put a background on it. It does get a little sunlight from the window do you think that could be it?
I think ill pickup a tester
Whats your thought on the skimmer?

 

[slice]

Just for giggles, you may also want to get a water quality report from your municipal utility website and compare to previous reports. Maybe something is going on there. Seeing what is passed along may very well entice you to go RO from now on. Perhaps TDS have now accumulated in your tank to undesirable levels.

 

[alfieferenzo84]

I have a ro/di unit just dont use it never noticed a difference in the tank. Yes on test kits i notice but it was not worth the extra water bill and time using it. Its been sitting for about 2 years now so im sure it needs all new filters it has 3 big ones plus the main thing and 2 di tubes i forget all the detail names for it. Was not happy spending 250 bucks on it
Tap tds have been around 300-600 for the past 5 years i have been checking
Just tested my tap water and its wow only 204 maybe its broke... Its a hm digital dm1

 

[mrdc]

Seems like a high TDS to me. Also, wasn't there something about too much algae possibly causing faulty nitrate readings or am thinking wrong?

 

[sjse]

I just had an algae outbreak in my tank....I have used tap water until I found a good source for ro water. Then there was algae - eerywhere! I have redueced the amount of light and tempered the ro with tap and it is clearing the algae out. Sunlight may have some effect - I have noticed there is more growth where the sun does manage to touch the tank.

 

[ibew41]

do you know what kind of algae you have?