How to get rid of all of this?

The tank is about 2 years old. It is a 75 gallon tank with a 10 gallon refugium containing live rock and chaeto. I have algae and all kinds of stuff all over the rocks and sand. How can I get rid of all of this? I have a blue tang and yellow tang. Also there is a lot of snails. It is a mixture of red, green, and a greyish algae.

 

Better water quality.

Do more water changes, use RODI only. Test your phosphate and nitrate levels and figure out why they are high (possibly due to poor quality makeup water). What is your lighting setup? Are your lamps very old, how long is your photo period? What is your feeding program like. Are you overfeeding, are you adding liquid from defrosted frozen foods.

There are many variables but generally an outbreak of algae is a result of poor maintenance. Get your water quality back in line and the algae will go away on its own.

 

An image to ID the types of algae please.

 

Ok thank you. I will begin doing water changes. I did a big one yesterday. How often can I do 5-10 gallon water changes? I have a stock lighting system and it is a couple years old.

 

Please check your phosphates and nitrates and report the numbers. If they are high, you may not have nitrifying bacteria to combat this. Also, how many snails of what kinds is in your tank, sometimes you might thing it's a lot but it may not be.

 

I dont see a problem dont see a problem doing water changes every day or every other day. But the real issue is that you need to figure out why your water is bad. Have you not been doing regular water changes?

 

I have been doing water changes about once a month since I lost interest in the tank but recently I have regained interest. I will continue to do water changes every other day for the next 2 weeks and see what happens. Thank you
The nitrates are at 80 ppm. I will continue to test them every few days

 

If you stock lighting system is 2 years old, that could be a problem if your bulbs are also that old. Depending on what type of lighting you have, bulbs should be replaced at least every 8-10 months because the spectrum will begin to change and this encourages algae along with poor husbandry (been there).

 

Thank you I never knew that. I will have to get new bulbs then because the bulbs are also that old.