Please help with algae

[bobbyreefs]

OK so heres the deal. I have a 40g breeder tank that's been up for about 4 or 5 months. The tank has gone through a couple cycles of different colored algae now but I'm stuck with this red algae that I can't get rid of. I've read a lot about how to get rid of it here so yesterday I scrubbed the life out of the rocks with a tooth brush. I took out the majority of the sand, or as much as I could with out removing all the rock. The tank looked great until about 30 minutes after the 1st stage of lighting came on. I was shocked at how fast this algae came back. My water was tested at the LFS and all my parameters are where they should be. I don't run a fuge but I do run a bio reactor and a carbon reactor that are both ran off of a 500 GPH pump as well as a skimmer of coarse. I have a maxi jet 1200, 900, another 260 GPH powerhead, and a 850 GPH power head. I also scaped the tank with a lot of holes and even lifted one of the base rocks up a little just to make sure that I had good tank flow. So my long winded question is, could this just be a cycle or is something wrong. A little algae I can deal with but I had to move the corals (only have a few) over to the corner out of fear that they would lose the fight with the algae. I have 10 snails and 10 blue legs in the tank and already know that I should get more but it seems like I need 100 more to keep up with the growth. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ecreef]

Some pictures of the algae could help id it...

A reef tank cycle certainly can have an algae stage and how long it is would depend on many factors but mainly in what does the rock and sand have in it.

It is no surprise to measure low phosphate and nitrate levels on a tank with a nuissance algae infestation, because that algae is taking the nutrients before you can measure.

Keep exporting nutrients using whatever means you prefer (biopellets, gfo, chaeto, ats) and trying to not import them on top-off water or excesive feeding.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Sounds like Cyano.
But, how old are your lights?

If its not cyano, what are your phosphate readings?

 

[bobbyreefs]

 

[bobbyreefs]

I don't know exactly what the reading was. The owner of the store said everything was right where it should be and that my tank was probably just cycling. If this was the case wouldn't a reading or two be off somewhere? My halide bulb is almost bran new. The two 96 watt PC's are reasonably new. But this brings my next question as far as the lighting schedule I currently am using. My PC's come on at about 10:30 AM and turn off at 8 PM. The halide comes on at 2 PM and off at 7 PM. Then of coarse the lunar white LED's run from 8 PM to 12 AM. Is this just simply to much light for a 40g breeder tank?