Algae bloom with corals in tank

_chamomile

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I was hoping to get some help with my tank. I have a 75L Red Sea Max nano tank, has been running for the last 10 months or so. We used to struggle with brown algae/diatoms or SOMETHING that covered the tank walls and sand bed and created a film over the rocks, but 3 months ago was able to fix that with reduced lighting whilst we only had fish and snails in the tank. We used to keep lighting at 80% not knowing that its probably much too strong for the tank and created algae issues (LED50 Red Sea). We recuded down to 1% lighting for 3-4 days and the brown algae issue was fixed, since then we've been keeping tank at 30-40% blue and 15-25% white.

Since then, the tank has been really good and all parameters have been in check. We bought corals approx. 1 month ago from LFS and it was thriving, we maintained water changes etc, and have gotten more corals since then. To keep the corals happy, our lighting was at around 40% for white and blue (LED50 Red Sea), but in the last week or so, we've noticed a huge algae bloom, with green sludge covering the tank walls, by the end of every day despite cleaning daily.

Question: The corals for some reason also seem a bit less open than they were when we first got them, any ideas as to why? Can we reduce lighting to control algae or will that affect the corals too much? How do I go about this...

When we got the first corals 1 month ago, nitrate was at 15ppm, now 0 (the only change that's been found). I assume because corals have been using it as a nutrient? Are they starving now that it is 0?


Current Parameters:

Temp: 24.0c
Salinity: 1.25
Alk: 9
Calcium: 420
Mag: 1350
pH: 8.3
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: 0 (Reading is 0, but tank is full of algae, my understanding is there's none in the water given the algae has used it all to grow)
 

bigboiireef

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I have found that my tanks do the best when the levels are a bit over 0 ppm; that's when everything is the most stable for me. If there is algae growing on the corals I would brush it off and cut down on lighting a bit. A UV sterilizer would definitely help as well in my opinion.
 
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_chamomile

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I have found that my tanks do the best when the levels are a bit over 0 ppm; that's when everything is the most stable for me. If there is algae growing on the corals I would brush it off and cut down on lighting a bit. A UV sterilizer would definitely help as well in my opinion.
how do we go about raising the nutrients to over 0ppm? i assume you mean nitrate and phosphate? feed more? would that create a bigger algae problem?

and for UV light, im not too familiar with how that works, how often and where? would is affect beneficial bacteria ?
 
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bigboiireef

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I personally just feed more, but not too much. Feeding in conjunction with a good clean up crew should do it. A UV light will definitely harm some beneficial bacteria, but I've found the benefits to outweigh any cons. My water is always crystal clear with the help of a bag of chemipure and a UV light. A UV sterilizer would typically be placed in your sump or back compartment if an AIO.
 
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