Is it common

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Reefing newb
Is it common to have a little algae growth on the sand? All my parameters look fine, Phos 0, Nitrates 0, Nitrites 0 but I have a little bit of growth on the sand and really don't know how to get rid of it since my parameters indicate 0 for everything, therefore there should not be anything in the water to feed the algae growth. Any idea?
 
sounds like it might be cyan if its red.

But your levels could be reading zero because they are removing the nitrates from the water.
 
No it does not really look like that. Mine is more stringy and on the sand only. I will have to upload a pic for you all to see. Right now I can't get it upload becuase the file is too big and I don't have a program at home to resize it, will try to upload tomorrow.
 
Hopefully you can see what I am talking about in the pic.
 

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What is the best way to eliminate it now and in the future? I was doing 10 gallon water changes a week and recently changed to 15 gallons a week. Last week end I did a 30 gallon water change over two days. I figured up the quantity of my water change would help but it came back.
 
Well water changes will help. Its living off of excess nutrients in your water column.

What exactly is your test results. What are you feeding, how long has this tank been set up, what fish do you have in there, how big is the tank, and how old are your lights?

Be careful you dont go too overboard with the waterchanges, if you do one too large it can cause a mini cycle. Dont go over about 40% per day.
 
Nitrates 0, Nitrates 0, Phos 0. 2 clowns, a Fire Goby, 5-7 hermits, 2 Mexican Turbos, sea serpent and 5 Black Turbos. I feed them frozen food every other day and the tank has been up for almost a year. I’m thinking I may need to replace the bulbs to my light. The light has been up for a year and I have never changed the bulbs. It’s the only thing I can think of since the parameters seem to be good. Any other ideas?
 
Changing the light bulbs is a good idea -- they need to be replaced about once a year. Old bulbs are a common reason for algae.
 
Other than changing the lights, maybe just feed them a bit little once a day instead of every other day. That way there is less overall food going into the tank.
 
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