Algae advise

[ksatterf]

Hi all,

Sharing my 180 tank. I'm battling a little algae issue and any suggestions for battling are apprciated.
The tank has been running since 2008. About 2 1/2 year ago I drained about 2/3 of the water and about half of the rock to catch a huge Domino Damsel that had cause too much death and destruction. The rock is about 2/3 what it ws originally. All has been well except this algae that started about 4 or months ago/

Current inhabitants:
2 Tank raised Ocellaris Clowns
2 Captive-Bred Kaudern's Cardinalfish
1 Blue Throat Trigger (Male)
1 Blue Reef Chromis (Caribbean)
1 Lemonpeel Angelfish (Fiji)
1 peppermint Shrimp
1 Coral Banded shrimp
1 Yellow Eye Kole Tang
1 Yellow Tang
3 Maldives Lyretail Anthias ( 1 male & 2 female)
1 bubble tip anemone
Various Corals
2 Urchins and typical Cleanup Crew

Recently removed a big lobster after I found it with half of my new trigger in its claws.

Like I said I'm battling a bit of green algae on the sand bed.
Here are some pictures of the tank and algae (hopefully, not sure how to do this and also need to work on photography skills).

So far here is what I've done:

New lights (t5 bulbs were over a year so replace fixture with USA Orbit Marine Pro™ Marine Reef LED Lighting System 72" Dual)
Cleaning of all sponges anything that can hold debris (foam filter sponges, etc.)
Multiple frequent water changes (generally around 30 gal weekly, but increased for a while)
Replaced all RODI filters (TDS readings of new water nitrates 0, ammonia 0)
Installed Apex Wav pumps with an Apex controller
30% food reduction
Straining frozen foods
Recently started restricting lighting​

Looks like the algae is more brown so the lighting may be a temp solution.
Temps 78-79, PH 8.0 - 8.16. I'm doing a cleaning and water change tonight and will get some other measurements, but don't expect any surprises.

Thanks in advance

​

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

well If you just added light It wouldn't surprise me that you get a bit more cyano and algae for a little while and it sounds like your taking steps there.
Its quite likely to go just away in that case. If you No and Po tests come out a bit high you could add some bottled bacteria to help eat up the excess nutrints. att that age of a tank it probably wouldnt hurt.
Dr Tims and Probisio make some pretty good fairly aggressive treatments you might want to look at.
adding some CUC snails that like the sand wouldn't hurt either.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/choosing-cleanup-crew-critters.258695/page-4#post-3371791

 

[ksatterf]

Thanks saltyfilmfolks. It's definitely not Cyano. Had that and don't like it. Even treated just in case. Since I have shutdown the lights it is more brown than green so maybe its dieing. I like increasing the CUC approach. Also planning to modify my combo carbon/GFO reator into separate units. After that I'm out of ideas.

 

[ksatterf]

Thanks saltyfilmfolks. It's definitely not Cyano. Had that and don't like it. Even treated just in case. Since I have shutdown the lights it is more brown than green so maybe its dieing. I like increasing the CUC approach. Also planning to modify my combo carbon/GFO reator into separate units. After that I'm out of ideas.

First, sorry for my literacy issues. I'd fix the title if I new how and my typing skill are horrible!

Since my last post I found that my salt water mixing bin needed a much needed cleaning. I was also out of town so the tank went 3 days without feeding and I have cut down on lighting.

Now that I'm back I have mixed all new water in a different container. Changed about 30 gallons this evening and modified my duel gfo/carbon reactor two 2 singles. I expect to this to help a lot. I never felt the flow through the combined unit was very good but now I have to cut it down the flow a bit. Also replaced the 2 inner canisters and cleaned the outer ones on the teachers.

Vacuumed the algae tonight with water change.
Nitrate and nitrite read as zero with API kit. Maybe need a different test kit.

I'll post pictures after things clear a bit but all in all every thing is good except the growth on the substrate.

 

[ksatterf]

Took some pics but still not happy with the quality. Using vinegar to clean the old mixing container and seemed like a good time to re-use the vinegar clean all my pumps as well. Still have a few to go but amazing results. One I was ready to declare dead looks and runs like new!

Sorry, don't like how the pics came out. Anyhow, looking for advice on cleaning the skimmer. Not so much as how, but how often and how Important? How important is it to clean the collection container when emptying? I tend to not clean very often even though it is pretty nasty. Seems to work better without cleaning. I'm assuming it isn't introducing anything back into the tank. Anyone have any advice?