Green dust algae help

I have been having trouble with green dust algae for about a month now and it is getting out of control. At first i would clean it every day and it would come back 30 minutes later. Then I gave up on that and decided to try and leave it alone for a couple of weeks to let it go into a different phase but i am now at the 2 week mark and it seems to be just floating in the water mostly with a thin film on the glass. At first it was mostly on the glass and sand but now it won't settle down and i can hardly see my fish because the water is so murky. What should i do?? Should i try to do a massive water change after stirring it up? All of my water parameters are good and i have cut down to 7-8hrs of light a day.

 

It sounds like you may be overfeeding, how often do you feed and about how much. I had problems with that too and have cut down on feedings significantly and seems to be getting better. For the short term, you can try a marine algaecide.

 

I only feed once a day

 

Sounds like a phytoplankton bloom. Are you running carbon? Why are you running lights? They're not really needed during the initial cycle and you said that you're only 2 weeks into it? How many fish have you got in this tank?

 

I had this issue when I had multiple issues going on.

#1 Was overfeeding phyto to the corals, cut back on that, they really dont need that much
#2 I had natural light hitting my tank. got better blinds and blackout curtains for that area and after correcting these 2 things the issue hasn't come back. I now clean the glass about once every 2 weeks.

 

This tank has been running for over a year now but i recently switched from a fowlr setup to a reef setup. It is a 55gallon with about 35lbs of live rock, seaclone 150 and a biowheel filter that i am using activated carbon with. I currently have 1 cinnamon clown(5"), 2 yellow-tail damsels, 1 barred goby, and a variety of mushrooms and polyps. I only feed them mysis and flake food

 

OK, so the live rock is pretty much the only "live" thing that has been added so far? I'm thinking that you're going to have to upgrade your filter.

 

The filter i am using is about 300gph, what upgrade would you recommend?

 

I would actually set up a sump system rather than have a hang on or cannister type filter. Is that an option for you?

 

not really, the only other tank i have is a 10gallon hex that i like to have as a quarantine tank just in case. I don't think i can afford that upgrade anytime soon, is there any other way to resolve the problem? If it is harmful to my fish i could just give them to a friend until i can afford a sump system