Please help..Algae out of control..what kind of Algae is this?

[yankeeslover]

tank is roughly six months old now.. 46 gallon bowfront... using RODI water for past 6 weeks... 4 weeks ago i switched from T5 light to Two 165w Ebay led fixtures.. the mars aqua... i slowly acclimated my corals... im up to rougly 75%blue and 25% white... im probably gonna keep it there... i have both fixtures around 12 inches off the top of the surface..
It seems ever since I hooked up the LED lights i have had an explosion of Algae over the past couple weeks.. I dont know if this is normal and will subside over time..I am doing 10% water changes once per week right now.. im not sure what kind of Algae this is..any ideas how to fight this? are the bulbs too much? my corals dont mind them at all... im also using a eshopps 100 HOB skimmer... i dont know have any sump or refugium due to space... please give me any hint or tips.... cleanup crew is multiple snails, crabs and an Lawnmower blenny..thank you..
http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/yankeesluvr/IMG_20150928_110538574.jpg (http://s708.photobucket.com/user/yankeesluvr/media/IMG_20150928_110538574.jpg.html)
http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/yankeesluvr/IMG_20150928_110553273.jpg (http://s708.photobucket.com/user/yankeesluvr/media/IMG_20150928_110553273.jpg.html)
http://i708.photobucket.com/albums/ww89/yankeesluvr/IMG_20150928_111134646.jpg (http://s708.photobucket.com/user/yankeesluvr/media/IMG_20150928_111134646.jpg.html)

[Swensos]

Algae grows because of nutrients in the water--mainly nitrate and phosphate--plus light. Get rid of the phosphates with a GFO reactor or some other method in order to starve the algae.

[Xxero]

I heard (both through my LFS and also here on another thread) that the RED and the GREEN bulbs really promote algae growth. You might need to swap those out for some whites.

[yankeeslover]

I heard (both through my LFS and also here on another thread) that the RED and the GREEN bulbs really promote algae growth. You might need to swap those out for some whites.

each fixture has 2 red and 2 green..so total of 4 reds and 4 greens... but its mostly blue bulbs.

[Reefstarter2]

It's not the lights it is high nutrients in water that you may not be able to measure since the algae is using it aggressive nutrient export is needed

[LuciDog]

What's your p04 at?

[Xxero]

I heard (both through my LFS and also here on another thread) that the RED and the GREEN bulbs really promote algae growth. You might need to swap those out for some whites.

So is this an un-Truth?

[yankeeslover]

Nitrates with my API test and oddly its coming up as 0ppm.... as of last week i was always around 5-10 ppm nitrates, but this week my skimmer has been cranking more then usual... but still how can i have zero nitrates all of a sudden when i do have some fish in the tank.for first 5 months i was at 5-10 ppm of nitrates until this morning...
As far as p04, i have gotten away from testing for that since i have the api test kit and i heard that i shouldnt use that.. but last week it was showing between the yellow and 1st green spot on card which is .25ppm..wasnt quite either color... i will test that again...im concerned though why all of sudden my nitrates are zero..that cant be possible?

[LuciDog]

Nitrates with my API test and oddly its coming up as 0ppm.... as of last week i was always around 5-10 ppm nitrates, but this week my skimmer has been cranking more then usual... but still how can i have zero nitrates all of a sudden when i do have some fish in the tank.for first 5 months i was at 5-10 ppm of nitrates until this morning...
As far as p04, i have gotten away from testing for that since i have the api test kit and i heard that i shouldnt use that.. but last week it was showing between the yellow and 1st green spot on card which is .25ppm..wasnt quite either color... i will test that again...im concerned though why all of sudden my nitrates are zero..that cant be possible?

Yes. It can. It's a false reading. The algae is consuming it.

P04- phosphate. Double check that's the test your using

[LuciDog]

What's your lighting schedule?

[yankeeslover]

Yes. It can. It's a false reading. The algae is consuming it.

P04- phosphate. Double check that's the test your using
Just tested, and thats showing close to zero on the api test... but i hear that api is no good for phosphate??? how else can i lower nitrates then if its really not zero? I have a skimmer...what else can I use? all i have is a skimmer hooked up to the tank..thanks..

[yankeeslover]

What's your lighting schedule?
roughly 1.5 hrs in morning for blue, then 8 hours of white/blue, then 1.5 hrs after of just blue..so total of 11 hours... 8 of which are white/blue and 3 just blue.

[LuciDog]

Close to 0 is high on a API kit. I have one. They are junk. Go buy a good one. 0.25 is def not the first reading.

Anyways...

You can put some phosguard in a sock and put it in a high flow area, but it's going to work nearly as well. Your better off (and cheaper) to buy a reactor.

Lots of water changes and turn your lights off for a few days.

[yankeeslover]

Can i use a reactor with a hob skimmer already on tank??? do they both just hang on the back?

[gone fishin]

IMO it is really irrelevant what the phosphate and nitrate numbers are right now. We know there is to much right now. For phosphate removal get some GFO to run. You may need to replace the GFO pretty frequently in the beginning.

I can't see your pics at work but I will assume it is green hair algae. I would also manually remove as much of the algae as possible. Once the algae starts to die out then the nutrients will go right back into your water column.

You will know when the GFO is working because you will start to see the algae die off. Be patient, getting rid of an algae issue usually takes much longer than it did to pop up. Good luck

[billdogg]

IMO it is really irrelevant what the phosphate and nitrate numbers are right now. We know there is to much right now. For phosphate removal get some GFO to run. You may need to replace the GFO pretty frequently in the beginning.

I can't see your pics at work but I will assume it is green hair algae. I would also manually remove as much of the algae as possible. Once the algae starts to die out then the nutrients will go right back into your water column.

You will know when the GFO is working because you will start to see the algae die off. Be patient, getting rid of an algae issue usually takes much longer than it did to pop up. Good luck

Exactly what he said!!! (although I can see the picture, it is indeed Hair Algae)

+1 to GFO in a reactor to lower the PO4, water changes to lower the Nitrate. To keep them low, you need to identify the sources. It is usually overfeeding, detritus buildup, or leeching from the rocks (PO4). It is often all of the above.