My nuisance algae forest

[SmithZero]

I set up a 180 2 months ago that I bought used from a friend. It had been lights out for months (maybe longer.) It came with 200 lbs of formerly live rock. My ammonia has finally fallen to 0, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is down to 20ppm from over 180.

One week ago this stuff started growing, and it now covers the tank. There is also a green algae that dusts the glass and has turned my water green.

http://catie.smugmug.com/Other/Fish/DSC41575555/1211444798_4Kkyv-L.jpg

http://catie.smugmug.com/Other/Fish/DSC41755573/1211444273_XpzRv-L.jpg

Is this Bryopsis?

My skimmer is filling up with a black/green sludge daily. I have not been doing water changes since I was curing the live rock, but I will be doing my first change tomorrow.

There are no inhabitants in the tank, but I do not want to go lights out due to the macro algae that I have growing in there. I understand that nuisance algae is part of setting up a new tank, but this is ridiculous!

Any ideas? Is this Bryopsis? Any way to kill the nuisance algae without killing my macro algae?

[greech]

Little confused if it was in water under lights out for months of dried out LR. I think that is just some massive GHA. If the rock was live and then just taken out to dry, it likely had a lot of dead debris on/in it when you added it to your tank causing what you're seeing now.

If it was kept wet but without light and your friend let the tank go, nutrients built up and you lit the match when you added lighting.

If it is GHA you'll beat it with water changes using good RO/DI. Large mexican turbos will also help. I would hold off on stocking/feeding until you get it under control.

[SmithZero]

Yes, the rock was in water. The tank had about 75% of the water left in it. We removed the rock, drained it, and moved it to my house. I am definitely not stocking it until this is handled.

[bjpatrick75]

Hello All... I am new to RC and new to the hobby. I have a 55 gal aquarium that has been running just under two weeks. Right now, there is only live rock in there. I noticed yesterday that the live rock has turned a greenish-brown and there is green hairy algae on the powerheads and glass.

I got live rock for the beautiful purple and red colors but that is now covered with the algae. Is this part of the cycle process. I am being patient and will not stock my tank until I am 100% positive it is ready. Should I do something about the green stuff that has taken over my tank? Its kinda ugly :(:twitch:

[wbdevers]

bjpatrick75--couple of things, first welcome to RC. Great place, great people. Read a lot and learn even more. Second, it's not generally accepted to hijack another members post with your own question. The best way to get answers for your own tank is to go ahead and start your own thread, even if it seems to be the same title/thread topic as someone else's. Each tank is different so no worries on the multi-topic posts.

Again welcome and good luck.