problem with green algae on sand and live rocks

Hi Guys I have had my reef tank running for a month everything is good for my water parameters. the only thing is i have green algae on my live rocks and my sand. I have my aquatic life t5 36 inch programmed for 12 noon whites on, 4pm blues on, 8pm whites off , 11 pm blues off, 11pm-12 noon moon lights. the guys at the lfs told me to program it this way but i think the lights are on to long. what do you program yours to ? I just got a yellow tang to help with the algae.

 

You should run your lights differently. The blues should go on first and shut off last, so 12-10 for the blues (actinics) and 1-9 for the whites (daylights). The green algae is normal for a new tank. It should go away on it's own, but if it doesn't then you have excess nutrients (probably from too much food, but can also be from not using RO/DI water). A very easy way to get rid of the nuisance algae is to run GFO (granulated ferric oxide) in either a reactor or (as I do) a hang on back filter. I have mine in a mesh bag (called "The Bag") in my Whisper 40 power filter, along with carbon. I have no trace of any nuisance algae. Before I started using the GFO, I had a lot of green cyano all over my glass, sand, and rocks. 3 weeks after running GFO in my power filter, I had no trace of the cyano in my tank.

 

+1 ^^^^