bugs & algee

Question
I have a bad algee problem. There is red and green algee all over my live rock,and glass. As soon as i get rid of it it's back within two days. I also have alot of little white bugs that like to hang out on the glass when the lights are off, there about the size of a grain of sand, and i can't get rid of either the bugs, or the algee. Can you help? Thank you.

Answer
Curtis,
The bugs are easy.  Sounds to me like you have a flatworm population growing.  They aren't harmful and provide a great foodsource for most gobies and blennies.  Green Mandarins love them.

The algae problem is a bit more difficult to pin down seeing as I really don't know a lot about your tank.  However based on what I do know it sounds like you have an excess ammount of nutrient in the water be it nitrate or phosphate.  I recommend you increase the frequency of your 25% water changes to once a week and start using reverse osmosis water (bottled drinking water) for those water changes.  This will get your water quality back in check and should start starving out the algae.

I'd also consider using a phosphate absorbing resin like Two Little Fishies PhosBan to remove any excess phosphate and silicate to help maintain lower nutrient levels between water changes.

Consider using kalkwasser in place of your regular calcium additive.  Kalkwasser does a great job at encouraging coralline algaes to grow that will chock out the other less desirable algaes.

Other than that... look at adding some herbivores and detrivores to the tank like turbo grazers and blue legged hermit crabs.

This isn't every trick in the book, but it is a good start  Try these things for a bit and let me know how things go.

Best of luck with your tank!

Regards,
Scott Johnson
Aquarium Crazy Fish
www.aquariumcrazyfish.com