Nasty algae

[kwirky]

About a month ago I've started getting lots of this algae that's a cross between mucousy and filamentous. It grows in mucously clumps on everything plastic, and as a short filamentous form on some areas of the rock. I have trochus and turbo snails, but no algae eating fish. I'm pulling out a bowl full of the algae with my forceps every week; it just doesn't stop coming.

The few emerald crabs I had a while back died while molting at one time or another. Today I bought 4 emerald crabs, 4 peppermint shrimp, and a yellow tang, hoping it'll help with the algae problem. I see the tang picking at the rocks already.

I use RO/DI, still reads 0 tds. I change 20% of the water once a month. I feed 1cm cube lightly frozen mysis every 2nd day, and a single pinch of flake daily, slowly releasing it from my fingers for the fish to eat. Would cutting out the flake diet entirely help with the algae? Some of it gets blown into the rocks never to be eaten but most of it makes it to their mouthes.

I did introduce some new rock to the system about a month ago now. My nitrates never increased from 0 ppm (weekly testing). I have a phosban reactor with regularily changed media.

I'm just about ready to throw my hands up and get a zeovit system, but the suckers are like $400 to start up, and it'd be ANOTHER monthly expense and not guaranteed to work...

I just got my tank algae free then this nasty stuff starts happening.