Green Algae on rocks/sand

KeystoneMalone

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Hello all!

First time salt/reef tank keeper- I have a 20G Nuvo that has been cycled for about two months now (up for a little over 3 months in total), started with live sand and dry reefsaver rock. I do a 5gal water change every week (with RODI, 0.00 TDS), and also vacuum the sand bed while doing it. I never kept my light on for a very long time as I was trying to limit any possible algae outbreak during the newer phases of my tank, but I finally started a (what I believe) is a normal lighting schedule, and within a week there is green algae all over my rocks and glass.

I am very careful about making sure I dont overfeed, and the light is on for 9 hours a day - 3 hrs low / 3 hrs med-high / 3 hrs low.

I understand that this is unrealistic to avoid algae altogether, but I just wanted an opinion or any info/advice about how to clean it up and avoid it getting worse, as well as what could have caused it, or, am I freaking out about nothing and this is just what happens with newer systems.

I tested with the redsea algae control pro kit last night and this is what I came up with
P04 was 0.01 ppm
N03 was 4ppm

Any help would be really appreciated - thanks!!!!

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Spare time

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The first algae colors you get on a rock are going to be green. The green on the sand is probably diatoms which happen in all new tanks. Don't worry about it. If you want to speed up some other colors, you can buy one of the bottles to seed coralline algae. Your nitrate and phosphate are fine. If anything your phosphate is a little too low lol
 
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KeystoneMalone

KeystoneMalone

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Thanks! I was thinking that my phosphate was on the lower end of the spectrum, is that something that takes a little while to develop being as the tank is so newly established? Something I should possibly dose for? I test about every week and a half and its been pretty much consistent at that number for the last 3 tests.
 

S.Pepper

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Thanks! I was thinking that my phosphate was on the lower end of the spectrum, is that something that takes a little while to develop being as the tank is so newly established? Something I should possibly dose for? I test about every week and a half and its been pretty much consistent at that number for the last 3 tests.

Your tank is going thru the ugly stage. It's completely natural and part of a healthy system. As spare time said, your numbers are fine with phosphate being a little low.
 
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Andrew9909

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Your tank looks fine and exactly what you'd expect a 2 month old tank to look like! Maybe start doing a water change every 10 days or so to see if your phosphates increases a little. Other than that just be patient and ride it out.
 
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