Can I do a blackout?

Hey guys

Some parts of my live rock have turned light limeish green and other parts are dark green. There's also quite a bit of brown algae on my live sand that just keeps coming back, and some lumps of dark green algae develop on the sand as well.

I did a 25% water change a few days ago and plan on doing another in about a week and half to see if this will help. Any other tips you can suggest for me?

My lights were on only four hours a day until I got my first corals ever, some zoas and green star polyps four days ago. Since then I uped the lighting to 6 hours a day.

I havnt tried a blackout but I want to. Is it a good idea? Will it harm any of my corals or fish? If so, how long should I do it for?

Also my moonlight is on a lot of the time when my main lights are off. Would this promote algae growth?

Thank you all

 

Before you go to that extreme lets find out the cause of your troubles is. Please list your nitrate and phosphate numbers. Tell us what your circulation rate is. Do you use tap water?. What size tank do you have? List the fish in the tank. What type of filtration do you have and how often do you clean it? How old is the tank?

 

Yeah I agree with 2in10 lets get some info on the tank before busting the lights off for a while.

 

I have an 8 month old 55 gal tank with a Tom rapids rp3 canister wet dry filter/skimmer. I also have a koralia powerhead stupid of me but I honestly don't remember which model it was I went with what my local fish store recommended. I do maintenance on a regular basis. I was thinking it might have been my phosphates I havnt tested it yet since my local fish store is closed during the weekend. I will pick up a tester on Monday. But my other readings are:

Nitrates 30 (will go even less after my planned water change)
Nitrites 0
pH is at 8.2
Ammonia is 0

My live stock in addition to my two soft corals are:

Hippo tang
Yellow tang
2 Clowns
Cleaner shrimp
A sea urchin
A lobster
And many snails and crabs

 

I suspect from reading your stocking list that to keep up with the nutritional needs of the tangs you are probably feeding frequently ( I hope so for the tangs ) and this may be leading to elevated levels of nutrients ( DOC ) and now algae development.

 

I feed the fish seaweed every other day and include a weakly meal of mysis shrimp. That shouldn't be too much correct? Also to my knowledge seaweed does not release any waste or toxins right?

 

the nitrates is pretty high. especially since the algae is consuming some. you probably need more circulation. i doubt that the one koralia (whatever size) is enough. Also, what type of clean up crew do you have?

 

Are you using tap water or RO/DI water?

 

Yes your right you are not feeding too much at all.

Can you post a picture of the algae if you have not already please?

 

I looked it up, and I have one 600 gph Koralia 2. Do I need more in a 55 gal tank?

I have about 12 snails, and a few hermits. I plan on buying more online.

For water changes, I use water from the fish store which comes from Catalina Island near the coast of southern Cal. I use RO/DI water for top offs, I am going to try to swap out the filters maybe its no good.

pictures posted, thank you all for your replies.