Bad algae ... what to do?

[temple2101]

Hey guys ... my tank has been set up for about 2 and a half months now. I have had a little algae come once, and I fought that, and then I thought I got rid of it, but it's back and there's even more now. There are large growths of hair algae spurting up, and the rocks are turning brown from algae. What is the best way to combat this? I know to turn the lights on for less time, but I have corals, how long would you recommend so that the corals stay healthy? Also, and clean up crew members I should add? Oh ya, the sand bed is getting pretty brown as well. Here are my parameters and tank stock:
Amm - 0
pH - 8.2, 8.3
Trites - 0
Trates - 0
2 false percs
1 6 line
2 green chromis
1 orange spotted goby
20 nass snails (give or take a few)
1 fighting conch
2 scarlett hermits
2 zebra hermits
2 mex. turbos
and a few more assorted snails
What do you think? It is making my tank look REEEAAAALLLY bad Thanks in advance!

 

[finland]

IMO your cleanup crew looks ok. I like astrea snails for cleaning the glass and LR. First, you have to figure what is supplying the nutients for the algae. Phosphates? Also, do you use RO water. Brown on the sand is probably diatoms. They are usually caused by high silicates in the water. How often do you do water changes, and what type of lighting. A lower kelvin rating on the bulbs can cause algae blooms.

 

[temple2101]

I am using 440W of VHO (2 super actinic, 2 aquasun) ... I have been using RO water for the past month and a half and am also running phosguard. The algae seems to have picked up since I added 220W more of lighting (I only started w/ 220W). Maybe that is it?

 

[joecavender]

please check the phosphate level of the ro unit before adding salt if you do not have a deionizer on your ro depending on the water your filtering they still may be high also you may what to use an 18 to 25 watt uv sterilizer to kill it out you may not want to run it all the time but when you have an algae outbreak they are nice to have. it funny really when i started my first tank years ago i bought ro water from the local fish store it took me a year to find out that even though its ro water it can still be high in phosphates the has very large uv sterilizers so there tank look great and i like phosguard too you may need to do more than one treatment. hope this helps

 

[mr. angelfish]

Bob may be right about RO/DI?
Set up algae sump. Their menu of nutrients........
Hey, Bob!
Where are you!?

 

[temple2101]

Thanks for the replies guys!
Water:
The RO water I use is RO/DI, and it is an Aqua Safe system that I bought (6 stage). I have yet to test the water with a TDS meter though. (I know, never add anything you can't test for)
Lighting:
The bulbs are brand new, no more than 3 weeks old for the first lights I put on, 1 week for the 2nd 220W.
Circulation:
I run 2 maxi-jet 1200's, and there is ripple at the top of the water. I also run a sump and a skimmer.
Refugium:
No fuge yet, but I was actually thinking about building one this weekend. If you think that will help, that I will go ahead with the plan!
Orange spotted goby:
He has only been in the tank for about 5 days now. Hopefully he will start helpin with the clean up!
Emerald Crabs:
I had one, but it kept dragging my coral frags around the tank, or pulling them behind rocks. I took him back. Should I try another?
Soooooo ... with that info, anything else? Let me know what you think!!!! Thanks!

 

[temple2101]

Thanks kip ... looks like I will be building myself a refugium. I think I will also try another emerald crab ... the one I had did eat a lot of algae!! (even though he was a little pest!) Thanks again!