[Myka]

Crushed coral is a poor choice for a reef tank. It is best suited to a fish only tank where you would be gravel vacuuming it. In all honesty, I would suggest removing it. A royal pain in the butt, but you would be much happier in the end. A more suitable substrate would be any type of aragonite sand like Caribsea Seaflor Select. The reason why it isn't a very good choice is because it traps a lot of detritus in the large open spaces between the pieces of crushed coral. The purpose of your skimmer is to remove detritus from the water column, and it can't do that if it is trapped in the cc. On top of that you say your skimmer sucks. What kind of skimmer do you have? Having this excess detritus is causing an excess of nutrients, and algae is taking hold. You are getting green film algae and cyanobacteria (the reddish stuff) from the sounds of it as either your problem is very minor so far or your photo isn't showing it very well. Take a reading through the Guide in my signature on hair algae, and it will help you understand why you are having algae issues, and what you can do to help alleviate your problems. Best to get on it as soon as possible.