how much food is over feeding?

[goldie]

I am having algae issues in my red sea max 250(65 gallons). I want to know if overfeeding could be the problem. I alternate pellets, a pinch and frozen which I thaw with a little r/o water and pour a little in, about the equivalent of 1/4 of a cube. I have a melanarus wrasse, a bangaii, a scopus tang, royal gramma, a goby (that I hardly ever see), 3 shrimp and a serpent star. My parameters seem good. I have been battling this for awhile. What else can I do besides trying to physically pull off what I can and doing bi-weekly water changes. I believe it is green hair algae and red hair(looks like cotton candy)

[Aquattro]

Do you have a skimmer? A good skimmer? How big of water changes? Have you measured NO3/PO4? The question is more about getting the nutrients out rather than adding them. I feed really heavy, much more than you and have no nutrients, but that's a good protein skimmer and big water changes.

[Proteus]

How long has tank been running. Was rock dried out at some point

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

The question is more about getting the nutrients out rather than adding them.

This is a good point. It doesn't sound like you're overfeeding, but you somehow have a nutrient sink.

Poor flow is another concern; if waste is allowed to settle in the tank rather than getting flushed down to the sump (or flushed into an HOB filter or skimmer) it will break down within the tank and cause nutrient issues.

[goldie]

the tank has been running for almost 8 months. I started it with 2/3 dry rock and 1/3 live rock. I have good flow, the 2 stock pumps and an extra one positioned much lower down. I am using the stock skimmer, I wouldn't know how to change that out? It does pull out some disgusting green slime. I only am testing salinity,temp,nitrates,phosphates and calcium. My water changes are usually about 4 or 5 gallons, I guess I should start doing larger ones. Is it ok to scrub the rocks with a toothbrush while they are still in the tank. I usually try to do this just before a water change

[goldie]

I just read Myka's thread on getting rid of hair algae. Some good info there to try, now that I know it isn't over feeding.

[Myka]

What kits do you use to test phosphate and nitrate? What are the readings? My first inkling is the dry rock is leeching nutrients. Dry rock should be "cooked" (see link in signature) to leech nutrients out or at least to check for nutrients, but most people don't know or don't bother.