How to deal with massive new tank algae outbreak

[BamboozleBean]

I’ve been stirring the sand bed up to try to prevent algae and I’ve been scrubbing the sides clean but it all comes back within a day or two!
This algae is getting out of control, the tank is brand new only about 6 weeks old but is there anything I can do? There is no cleanup crew yet besides 2 hermit crabs.

 

[marito09]

Are you running lights at all?

 

[BamboozleBean]

Are you running lights at all?

Yes I have coral in the tank as well

 

[marito09]

My opinion only... I would shorten the period of light on maybe adjust intensity as well. Do a 15% waterchange also vacuuming some of the top of the sand and I would put a few snails like aistreas. Look at them over the days to make sure they are not dying otherwise it will increase your nutrients. I would put also some chemipure elite if you dont know what your parameters are.This is all assuming you are making your own water with 0 tds and watch overfeeding what you have in the tank. Less goes a long way.Good luck !

 

[BamboozleBean]

My opinion only... I would shorten the period of light on maybe adjust intensity as well. Do a 15% waterchange also vacuuming some of the top of the sand and I would put a few snails like aistreas. Look at them over the days to make sure they are not dying otherwise it will increase your nutrients. I would put also some chemipure elite if you dont know what your parameters are.This is all assuming you are making your own water with 0 tds and watch overfeeding what you have in the tank. Less goes a long way.Good luck !

Thanks appreciate it

 

[slojim]

just seemed like part of the cycle for me. started out nice and pristine, then some black slime, replaced by some brown slime, replaced by some green slime, then suddenly green hair algae was thick and everywhere, and 2 weeks later it was gone. I do have an ATS, and it started working well around the time the GHA dropped away. I also had an emerald crab eating it on the rocks and a fighting conch eating it on the bottom.
I thought I was past bad algae, but a while back I found a little bubble algae on a small rock I got from someone, a week or 2 after it went in. It spread, then dropped back, then spread again. I decided to feed a little nitrate (I always seem to have a little phosphate and no nitrate) and turn up my ATS to 24 hours, and it is dropping back again, slowly. My little corals are largely hitchhikers, I don't really have the light for them yet. But they are suddenly taking off.

 

[AndyinAtlanta]

I had an initial green algae spike a few weeks into my tank's cycling process. Dialing back the amount of time my lights were on and a bit of patience and it receded pretty quickly. I also increased the frequency of my water changes as I figured I was overfeeding.