Uglies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rk_R-jB8hA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

So if you watch this video I think you will see just about every type of algae possible... lol.... Only thing I'm not real sure of is the red things on the branches of my hammer coral? this tank is bout 7-8 months old...& I have been battling some phosphates a lot lately...working to get that controlled..
My whole thing is I've heard some algae in a new tank is good... so is it good? What's good? What's bad? What needs to come out first? The video has my fuge/skimmer/sump trio box in it, so you can see what's going on there & how it works... any & all input is greatly appreciated! thank you!

 

new tanks are prone to more algae, and honestly your tank isnt all the bad, but at 7-8 months old I think the algae should be minimal. Are you using RO/DI? Could you list your equipment, maintence routine, feeding routine and parameters?

 

I dont know if i would call algae "good" or "bad" it s just a symptom of what is going on inside your little ecosystem. That being said, if you look at things one piece at a time, most of these issues can be controlled. I think water is the first place i would look. A good Ro/Di system with good cartridges goes a long way. Next i would look to see if i have any areas in my tank, sump or equipment were debris is collecting. After that the skimmer then maybe look at running carbon, a reactor or something else if there is still a problem. Dont fall into the trap of looking for an immediate solution to a long term issue. I m sure that if you take your time you will be able to fix your issues and learn a lot during the process. Good luck!!

 

Well I'll try.. that's a lot to list... yes on the RO/DI water... equipment is a 55 gallon display tank... a 30+ gallon fuge/skimmer/sump trio box... (all in 1).. overflow box, low flow pump for fuge part of trio box with LR & cheato... skimmer pump with needle wheel... return pump in sump...HOB skilter 400(temporary until trio box is completely broke in) 2 aqueon power heads for flow.... lighting is 2 15k MH lights with 4 T5 acintic lights & 6 moon glow LED.. all in 1 housing....lighting routine goes as follows... wake up around 6:30am & turn on T5 acintics @ 8am I keep T5's on & turn on MH lights...those stay on till about 1pm then T5's stay on till 8pm...
Livestock= 1 black clown, 4 green chromis, 1 tail spotted wrasse (hoevens),2 RBTA, big blue linika star fish,small red starfish, a few crabs & snails (what the wrasse hasn't taken out)
Coral= 3/4" frag of cerealis glowstick, 1-2" frag of Aussie Duncan, branching hammer, frogspawn, candy cane coral, fungi plate coral, green star polyps, 2- 1 1/2" frags of rainbow pocillopora, 2" frag of green birds nest, 1-1 1/2" not sure name of acro, 1- 3" frag of not sure name of pocillopora, small green/brown zoa's, colony of pink/brown zoa's..
maintenance is just 20% WC about every 2 weeks... @ least 30% a month... no dosing or anything... feeding goes as follows... around 7:30 every other day, I drop in a chunk frozen cyclop-eeze, then around noon I will put a cube of mysis shrimp in little cup of tank water to un thaw then I rinse with RO/DI water, then slowly put in tank... on the opposite days I will use either oceans nutrition flakes or pellets.. also feeding RBTA Mino's 1 time week..
Parameters using tetra easy strip= ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
PH 8.2
Using red sea reef foundation kit..parameters= alkalinity 4.5 meq/L 12.6 dkh
Calcium 460
Mag 1400
Using a Hannna low phosphorus checker
Phosphate 50ppb... was higher then that... I've been on that battle for a minute now.. hope that helps.. thank you..