Algea problems

[jkreef]

I have a 20 gallon reef setup with 10 pounds of live rock and a live sand plenium of about 4 inches. I am using a small aqua tech power filter and a aquarium systems protein skimmer for filtration. My lighting is by sea life. It's a power compact setup with one 10,000k premium daylight bulb and one ultra atinic with moon lights. I have this running for about 6 months now and I was very successful with it. I had pods after about 10 weeks. But now I'm getting this long stringy type of algea that is infecting the tank. It looks like hair algea and it grows very fast. My nitrates,nitrites,phosphates,ammonia are zero and I'm using RO water to prevent contamination of phosphates and silicates but I can't get the upper hand on this stuff. I take the rocks out once and awhile to clean them as well as leave the lights off for awhile which is the only thing that seems to help. I have been doing partial water changes as well. I need help before all of my corals die....

[ckreef]

What are the exact specs of the lighting setup ??? watts ect...

Also how long is the light cycle duration ???

These might help with the diagnosis.

Also a pic of the algae is always a big help.

[Cookie_Monster]

How bout a lawn mower blenny?

[sammy33]

Are you using RO only water. I would recommend using RO/DI water. RO/DI is basically pure and will help control algae problems.

What sort of clean-up critters do you have? With a 20g tank you could have about 12-14 snails (Astrea's, Margarita's, Nassarius, etc.) and about 8-10 hermit crabs (Scarlet's, Left handed's, Blue-legs). These guys will help to control algae.

[Cookie_Monster]

I have the same size tank and had an algae bloom that made the tank look ugly. So I added two margarita snails and 4 red skirt snails and man did they ever take care of the algae. I haven't even bought a scraper yet and probably wont since the glass is clean.