Lights how long? And what a mess!

Hi I posted a while ago saying I was buying a house with a 170 gallon tank. Well the guy left it in a HUGE mess. I got the water tested a a big Als by me and the nitres(sp?) were sky high and the salt really low. Green and red alge everywhere. I *thought* the gravel was brown, surprise it's white!

Well I got 50% of the water changed(over 2 days), two of the filters cleaned and parts changed. Scrubbed the agle off the front and sides where I can reach. Got rid of a really big fish that was a polutter and got 5 mexican turbo snails(its amazing how quickly they're working.

Any way over a week later the tank seems to be in good conditon and the fish are looking better and more active. I had to replace 3 lights to. There's 6 all together, there the blue and white ones meant for coral ect... 4 are the thins and 2 normal size. How long do these need to be on? There on a timer and the guy left it on for 15hrs. I've cut it back to 13 but that still seems a little long would 10-11 hrs do?

I've had fresh water fish all my life and am new to this salt water and live rock/coral

(sorry for spelling mistakes I need to get my baby. Will hopefully have time later to talk more and post pics.)

WoW ok so you say allot really fast.

I am going to try and break this all down for you.
1. Free 170 gallon saltwater tank. You are very lucky I wish I had a tank that large.
2. Previous owner left it in a HUGE mess. I got the water tested at big Al’s by me and the nitrate (sp?) were sky high and the salt really low. There is Green and red algae everywhere. I *thought* the gravel was brown, surprise its white!
- Define sky high? My nitrates are always at 10-20ppm and that is fine. Some corals like the water a little dirty.
- What was the salt at? Try to keep it constant around 1.023 to 1.025. Of course this depends on what you want to keep in the tank.
- You mentioned green and red algae everywhere. Would you be able to describe it better? There are certain algae’s that are good to have. If it looks like slime and is red that is not algae it is Cyano bacteria and it is bad.
Removing Cyano Bacteria
Basically it is summarized like this
-Check Phosphates. High is bad low to zero is good
-Increase flow in the area where the cyano is located
-Reduce feeding. (This will also lower your phosphates)
-If all else fails you can reducing lighting times ( you need to reduce lighting 11 hours is way too much / more on this later)
-If there are big sheets of cyano you can gently remove them using a turkey bester. Very gently suck it up and squirt it into an empty bucket, then flush.

If you are doing these things the Cyano will dissipate over time. There are many articles on the destruction of Cyano out on the WEB.

3. Now let’s talk lighting

First and foremost you must find out what kind of lights you have. There are many types out there ranging from Metal halides to Compact florescences. Once you know what you have we can help you better.

As for the lights being on for 15hr that is crazy. 10-11 is also a bit extensive. Aim for 8 or so. This will also help lower fish stress and eliminate algae.

I live in Cambridge, Ontario and am more than happy to help. I can also recommend a few people to help you if I cannot answer your questions.

I do really hop this helped

Regards
Khayman

I know I say a lot fast and doesn't always make sense. A 3yr old and 5 month old will do that to you, not much spare time.

I'll post pics real soon(just took some more) The red alge looks kind of like soft fuzzy carpet. I got almost all the green gone. The nitrate was something like 40.