Hi, reef chaser. I see you have good advice already. Here is my two cents.
Like you, I too ran the lights enough to allow too much algae to grow when I first started my tank six months ago. The problem being if it gets too overgrown it is difficult to get rid of later. I reduced my lighting to 4 hours a day until I got the algae under control. When my cycle was through and my tests showed that nitrites, nitrates and phosphates were not detectable I then ordered a clean up crew from reefcleaners.org as fragmatic posted. Be careful with that order because John is VERY generous (a good thing) so do not order more than what is recommended for your tank size. You will get your algae problem resolved in no time. I also got macro algae (chaeto, shaving brush, etc.) to use up some of the nitrates and phosphates. I also recommend a small Emerald crab because I have seen mine eat bubble algae and bryopsis on frags I bring home from the LFS. He is at work all the time mowing the lawn and never touches the flower beds.
Good luck!
Like you, I too ran the lights enough to allow too much algae to grow when I first started my tank six months ago. The problem being if it gets too overgrown it is difficult to get rid of later. I reduced my lighting to 4 hours a day until I got the algae under control. When my cycle was through and my tests showed that nitrites, nitrates and phosphates were not detectable I then ordered a clean up crew from reefcleaners.org as fragmatic posted. Be careful with that order because John is VERY generous (a good thing) so do not order more than what is recommended for your tank size. You will get your algae problem resolved in no time. I also got macro algae (chaeto, shaving brush, etc.) to use up some of the nitrates and phosphates. I also recommend a small Emerald crab because I have seen mine eat bubble algae and bryopsis on frags I bring home from the LFS. He is at work all the time mowing the lawn and never touches the flower beds.
Good luck!