So MUCH ALGAE

[landlubber]

Wait it out on such a young tank.

while it's true that a young tank is going to see a lot of change in it's first year just letting it sort itself sure didn't work for me and has basically led me to issues into my second and now third year.
my advice would be to keep tabs on nutrients and use water changes as your main defense against issues. if phosphates become an issue... run some gfo or macroalgae in a reactor or refugium. for algae, consider your photoperiod, temp, and strategies on how you can better handle input of nutrient import (example: thawing frozen food into a net and discarding the waste water instead of adding it).
i imagine most get by and things balance out eventually but there is nothing wrong with being proactive while resisting resorting to chemicals to solve things either.

 

[BlennyKravitz]

Check your RO/DI filters. Are you backwashing the RO membrane each use? My filters were dirty and I was just adding phosphates from my tap water every water change.

Also, watch for ambient sun coming in from windows and causing cyano. Sun paths change through the year so I’m affected only in late summer.

Good luck!

 

[Teri Sullivan]

I am in the beginning stages of setting up a 125 gallon reef tank. .. don't even have the water in it yet, and I am becoming terrified that I will have all these problems creep up before I get a full tank of water! I am not up on all of these abbreviations everyone uses (forgive my ignorance!) but I am trying. Need I say this will be my first saltwater tank?

 

[penguin_free]

I am in the beginning stages of setting up a 125 gallon reef tank. .. don't even have the water in it yet, and I am becoming terrified that I will have all these problems creep up before I get a full tank of water! I am not up on all of these abbreviations everyone uses (forgive my ignorance!) but I am trying. Need I say this will be my first saltwater tank?

As far as the abbreviations in this particular thread...

RO/DI - reverse osmosis / deionizer : method of filtering tap water to make it clean enough to mix reef tank water from.

PO4 - phosphate / NO3 - nitrate : the major water chemistry factors that can fuel algae growth

GFO - granular ferric oxide : one of the materials that can be used to soak up PO4 out of the tank water

Before starting up your new tank, and as the process goes, I would suggest watching the '52 weeks of reefing' video series Bulk Reef Supply made (link on their website, or easy to find their youtube channel). They did a really nice job of making it a step by step how-to as they worked through the setup of a brand new tank.

 

[Dom]

I am in the beginning stages of setting up a 125 gallon reef tank. .. don't even have the water in it yet, and I am becoming terrified that I will have all these problems creep up before I get a full tank of water! I am not up on all of these abbreviations everyone uses (forgive my ignorance!) but I am trying. Need I say this will be my first saltwater tank?

It's hard not to get excited about the new (and first) saltwater setup you put together. You have to resist the urge to rush. Be patient. Go slow.

 

[FlyinBryan]

Invest in a huge CUC! I did and brought it under much better control after I did a 2 day black out on my tank to let them get caught up.
Also, I shortened my light on period to about 6-7 hours/day.
GL

 

[Rick Krejci]

Blackouts and cleanup crew are good solutions to the symptoms, but both just put the nutrients back into the water. You'll need to export them through water changes, heavy skimming, macro like Chaeto in a fuge, GFO , various Denitrate methods (carbon dosing, DSB, sulfur...) or the hundreds of other methods to remove nitrates and phosphates. Even controlling the food is a short term solution...I'd rather have a robust export method to allow heavier feeding and make the ecosystem less delicate.

 

[savetheocean]

I am in the beginning stages of setting up a 125 gallon reef tank. .. don't even have the water in it yet, and I am becoming terrified that I will have all these problems creep up before I get a full tank of water! I am not up on all of these abbreviations everyone uses (forgive my ignorance!) but I am trying. Need I say this will be my first saltwater tank?

Its going to happen. Happens to everyone, it WILL go away if you take it slow.

 

[samnaz]

Wait a sec... you run the Orbit at 100% for 12 hours? That's the problem. That preset setting option is only suitable for those who want to grow TONS of algae and bleach all their corals (srsly why is that even an option in the first place). I have the same light and have never exceeded 30% for the white channel. In fact, for months I've been running them at 22% max. I do run the blue's at 100%. Blue spectrum is great for coral growth. White/warm spectrum is great for algae, and bad for corals if there is too much.

I've come across a few people who were using that same preset option, their algae was so out of control the water was actually green! After lowering their white channel to around 30%, their algae virtually disappeared.

That's not to say this is the sole cause of your algae blooms. Of course, it could be something else at least partially, but your lighting schedule is very likely a major part of the cause. Definitely start with lowering the whites and lowering the photoperiod.

 

[Dom]

Wait a sec... you run the Orbit at 100% for 12 hours?

Can you provide a link to this light?