Please please help me! Going mad!!!!!!

I added a po4 reactor a fortnight ago and things have gone from bad to worse in my tank, all my corals have been closed for over a week now and algae has taken over the tank! im really at the point where i want to give up!! can anyone out there please help me through this dark time with some good advice and pointers on what i should do??

I've done two large water changes in the space of a week , and i just tested my water and here are my results.......

AMMONIA- 0 MG/L
PO4-0 MG/L
NITRITE- 0 MG/L
NITRATE-25 MG/L
CALCIUM-600 MG/L
Ph- 7.9
S/G- 1.025
TEMP-80*F
Kh-9dKH

Nitrate looks high as does the calcium.
My "friend" told me that po4 reactors were NITRATE factories, could the reactor be causing a rise in nitrates??
The flow through the reactor looks great, i have it around a third full with rowaphos media, and there is around 10mm of lift.

I added a handful of caulerpa to the main tank the other day (i dont have a sump) to help control nitrates and hence contorl algae!

I am considering TOTAL LIGHT DEPRAVATION to help kill off the remaining algae on the rocks and sand, I have dont this before on the advice of 3 reef moderator steve wright, and it worked very well last time, Now i have corals, will they be ok for a few days without light? And will the caulerpa survive?

I was thinking lights off cover tank and leave for three days,
Any other advice??

THE ALGAE IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!!

PLEASE HELP!

 

what kind of lighting? and how old are the bulbs?

 

2x 55w 50/50 10,000k & Actinic T5 Power compact lamps, they are exactly 1 year old.

 

I have had issues with that before and I used the same method (shorten the light cycle). Then I added coral and couldn't shorten the light cycle. A rep. at my local fish store pointed out ALGAEFIX which is a Marine API product. Takes 1mL per 10 gal. of water and has helped me significantly reduce the algae. What lighting are you using?

 

It's not "fortnightly," it's 2 weeks ago. =)

 

change those bulbs. power compact bulbs dont last that long

 

the problem with shutting down the lights at this point would be the caulerpa going sexual due to the 3 day darkness.
defiantly need to change those bulbs.

 

Ok i just ordered two new bulbs and they'll be here within 3 days.

This might sound stupid but how should i add them?
What i mean is, if i just take the two old bulbs out and put new ones in will that be too intense for the tank?
Should i replace a bulb at a time? over a few days/week?

 

Put both new bulbs in at the same time, you need to get those bad bulbs out. Then you can lower your lighting time and slowly bring it back to normal and all should be good.

 

Thanks, in the meantime, what should I do about algae and diatoms?