A little about my tank…
My tank is 6 months old. It’s a 50 gal AIO. I started with “live” sand and dry rock, and slowly ramped up the lights over a couple of months (at the end of that process now). So far I only have fish and inverts.
My nitrates and phosphates were just over the high side of normal for a month or so but I’ve decreased my filter change intervals and added a small fuge to one of the back chambers of my AIO (using an AI Blade fuge light for that). They’re back to normal now.
I have an AWC set up that changes about 1 gallon per day (2%) and I vacuum my sandbed once a week which amounts to another 10% water change each week. I dose Microbacter Clean per the label as well.
I have a decent snail load (trochus, nessarius, cerith, Mexican turbo, astraea), a cleaner shrimp, and I introduced a tuxedo urchin last week.
My questions are about the green film algae coating the rocks…
I understand it’s part of the ugly phase. Thankfully it’s the only “bad guy” I’ve faced in my ugly phase!
But will it go away over time? Is there anything else I need to be doing to expedite that process?
Would it help to kill the lights for a few weeks?
Should I add more CUC? If so, what works well for film algae?
Finally, am I just being too anal and need to relax and not worry about it?
(The photo is only half the tank)
My tank is 6 months old. It’s a 50 gal AIO. I started with “live” sand and dry rock, and slowly ramped up the lights over a couple of months (at the end of that process now). So far I only have fish and inverts.
My nitrates and phosphates were just over the high side of normal for a month or so but I’ve decreased my filter change intervals and added a small fuge to one of the back chambers of my AIO (using an AI Blade fuge light for that). They’re back to normal now.
I have an AWC set up that changes about 1 gallon per day (2%) and I vacuum my sandbed once a week which amounts to another 10% water change each week. I dose Microbacter Clean per the label as well.
I have a decent snail load (trochus, nessarius, cerith, Mexican turbo, astraea), a cleaner shrimp, and I introduced a tuxedo urchin last week.
My questions are about the green film algae coating the rocks…
I understand it’s part of the ugly phase. Thankfully it’s the only “bad guy” I’ve faced in my ugly phase!
But will it go away over time? Is there anything else I need to be doing to expedite that process?
Would it help to kill the lights for a few weeks?
Should I add more CUC? If so, what works well for film algae?
Finally, am I just being too anal and need to relax and not worry about it?
(The photo is only half the tank)
Seems you're doing everything right and are diligent with your maintenance, so I would just wait it out. 
