Algae outbreak!

My tank is being over run with algae. checked my ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and ph and everything is good.

Im getting a few variations of it. I'm getting a dust like algae on my glass (having to clean it once or twice a day) plus I'm getting some variations taking over my live rock.

I have a clean up crew consisting of 9 redline snails, various hermits etc.

What would be causing this?

Could it have anything to do with my light being 10" from the water? I'm running 30 x 3w leds. I'm running them 13 hrs a day.

 

I would take a stab at the light period being 13 hours being your cause. If we had some pictures it could be easier to tell you what the algaes are and what you could do to get rid of them. Generally speaking algae grows by consuming extra nutrients in your system. You can start by shortening your light period and feeding less often. In extra cases some people black out their tanks leaving the lights off a couple days. If it starts dying I would do frequent water changes to get the extra nutrients out of the water because most algae stock pile it. When they die it is released back in to the water. Unless you get them out it can just start over again. Main issue is finding the cause of your algae and eliminating it.

 

blacking out my tank probably wouldn't be the best of choices as I have several photosynthetic corals in there. I've been feeding my fish twice a day.
Going to cut back to once a day (I'm actually removing all of my fish aside from 1 sand sifting goby) so I wont have to feed very much. Maybe target feed my coral once a week? would that be sufficient? I will also cut back my lighting period.
Here are a few pictures.

 

I'd cut lighting time to anywhere from 5 to 7 hours a day. As for the pre existing algae, pick off as much as you can by hand. And maybe bulk up your CUC a little bit. If you can find them, chitons are great algae consumers. Good luck!

 

What are using as filtration?

 

Using a vertex in100 skimmer.

 

I went through a long battle with algae myself. I tried lots of things and what I believe fixed mine were these three things, in this order of importance.
1. Tuning in my skimmer to maximize it's efficiency. I now have to empty it more often, every 3-5 days.
2. I added poly filter in between the baffles of the sump. A lot of people use a filter sock for the same purpose.
3. Running GFO in a reactor, and changing it more often.
Hope this helps, I nearly give up several times. BTW I would cut your light cycle back to 6-8 hours. Good luck.

EDIT: forgot to add replacing or cleaning the poly filter/sock weekly.

 

I'm fairly new to sw, whats a poly filter? Also with my skimmer, I know how to adjust it but I have no idea where I am suppose to adjust it to lol... I also don't have a reactor nor do I know what one is.

 

Whenever I don't know what something is for sure I go to www.google.com and just do a search for it and start reading. Sometimes add things like ploy filter saltwater. Anyway, it is just a type of filter that is used to filter water. I think it refers to the material it is made from. As for your skimmer that could vary based on the skimmer and should be in the manual for it. I personally have mine adjusted so the level is to the bottom of my collection cup as my manual suggested. It works great there.

Something that may help you is learning about the different types of filtration and how they work

 

A reactor is a different beast essentially it is a canister filled with media to pull something out of your water so as to filter it in some way. They can also be used to add stuff to the water as it dissolves over time. Some examples can be found in some online stores. www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/reactors

Hope that helps a little. I haven't used one myself but people use them for all sorts of things.

Sorry forgot to.include that in my last post.