Thought I would revive this thread.

In October my nitrates and phosphates hit zero and I developed dinoflagellates. I ended up with a couple different types. The ones growing on the rocks was taken care of by UV sterilizer, but the dinos in the sand weren't effected by it.

To combat the dinos I kept my nitrates and phosphates high to get other algae to out compete it.

The results have been crazy amounts of gha!

Today I took a few of the rocks out and scrubbed them to remove the gha. Lost a bunch of pods and brittle stars. Even a couple of really big ones. But I got most of the gha off the rocks.

Some before and after shots.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c8620229d3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...330541a94b.jpg

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I went through something similar back in 2012 when I started my tank with mostly dry rock. Although mine wasn't nearly as bad as your's, I was able to clean it all out in the tank.
I had a canister filter available so installed it on the front of the tank and scrubbed everything with a nylon nail brush. I used a turkey baster to flush the rocks during this process until nothing came off the rocks.
Worked very well for me and pretty much removed all the algae.

I might have to look for a canister filter. I have been scrubbing the rocks and using the python hose to suck out all the algae. It's been working ok so far.

Another option for siphoning out the algae is to hook up a large 7" filter sock to your sump and siphon directly into the sock. This way you can siphon for an hour or more and not have to worry about replacing the water you have removed.

When I had a bad algae problem that is what I did and it was so easy to completely clean all the rocks, the gravel and the glass a couple times a week. Eventually you can win this battle. Your water is fine you just have to get the algae under control.

That's a good idea. I have a few filter socks that would work. I will give that a try before the long weekend.

Make sure to fasten the siphon hose and filter sock securely to the sump. The first time I didn't and the moving around the tank I was at the back side and the siphon hose jumped out of the sump and about a gallon of water was on the hardwood floor before I could say "Bobs Your Uncle".

I now tape it securely down with all purpose duct tape. Great stuff that duct tape.