When was the last time you checked you water parameters? Ideally water parameters should be checked regularly enough that a pattern of what the aquarium does is determined and so it also can be determined if the maintenance and supplementation being done satisfies the aquariums needs. At least weekly tests should be done to learn what your aquarium does & needs. Your nitrates need to be closer to 0 ppm, this is a part of what is fueling the nuisance algae. You also need a phosphate kit to determine it's value and correct it if needed. It would not be surprising to hear upon testing that it is high, it needs to be 0 or at least very close to 0 ppm. What about your PH and ALK?
Those hard little dots are most likely diatoms being caused by silicates, I'm betting they are being introduced from using tap water. It is also likely other undesirable elements are being introduced as well and is contributing to the undesirable algae. Although I would not 100% blame the nuisance algae on using tap water, it is playing a roll in it. A quality Ro/Di unit or buying ro/di water will solve that portion of the problem. On a reef aquarium, some sort of devise that demineralizes your make up water really should not be considered a luxury item, it is a must have. Topping off with tap water between water changes just concentrated the bad stuff in our tap water in the aquarium. Might not be a problem early on but give it time, it will be.
Your light schedule on the tanks seems ok. How are the light bulbs? Are they older lamps (year +) What brand & type? Old light bulbs or cheap light bulbs, or even worse both old & cheap will contribute to nuisance algae in a big way. I can not give advise on the sump light because I don't know what an ott light is. Some report good experience with the hardware store bought type lamps, many report un-satisfactory to even down right bad experience with them. Cheato or calerpa that lives or survives (or dies) in a sump is not very desirable, cheato or caulerpa that has very vigorous growth to the point it need regular harvesting is what we want to have happen. Growth to the point of regular harvest is how the nutrient export takes place with macro algae. This vigorous growth often doesn't happen under weak or cheap lights.
As per your sump, if you don't have a thick, fine sand bed, natural nitrate reduction (NNR) will not happen. If your not properly pre filtering your water and or properly servicing - cleaning your pre filters, your sand bed in your sump can become loaded with organic debris (nutrient sink) and become a constant source of fuel for nuisance algae. Yes having a RDSB type filter with macro algae helps with nitrate and phosphate control but they have their limitations. I'd say from what your experiancing your system & maintenance practices have exceeded the filters limitations.
My advise;
Re evaluate your filter design and adjust as needed. Make sure your RDSB is as least 4" thick (6 is better in my opinion) with sugar size oolitic sand. Also make sure your existing sand bed is not loaded with debris, clean it if it is.
Make sure the water is being pre filtered very efficiently and regularly clean the pre filters, no less than once per week, 2 to 3 time per week cleaning the pre filters would be better. Remember that any debris in your pre filters is still in the water decaying and having a negative impact on your water, rinsing them to remove all that debris effectively eliminates that decaying matter (nutrient export).
Clean and adjust your protein skimmer to get it dialed in to operate at it's peak. They often need cleaning and adjusting weekly or more to keep them operating at their best (Another form of nutrient export)
Stop using tap water, buy an RO / DI or buy water from someone with a good RO / di. Start doing water changes, a daily 10% would be a good start until the phosphate and nitrate values are near 0 PPM. Time is not what determines how long you need to do this, you need to continue performing small water changes until the desired water quality is achieved.
Test your water regularly to determine what the aquarium needs and to determine if what your doing to the aquarium is keeping the waters values correct. You need to test for PH, ALK, Ammonia, NiTRITE, niTRATE, & phosphate. It would also be advisabe to test your calcium and magnesium values but may not be as important as the others. Testing these weekly or more will teach you what your tank does and what your tank needs. After several weeks of performing these tests, you will learn what you need to be doing and will be able to start testing less. You can not test infrequently and know what your tank needs or does. This is a very important practise that to many people don't do and eventually they get burned because of it in one way or another. You can't know how much and how often to perform water changes or add supplements to an aquarium if you are not testing regularly to see if what your doing is achieving the desired water quality & parameters - period!
Re evaluate your lighting on both the sump and your tank and correct as needed and as the budget allows. Light plays a too important roll in reef type aquariums to not have it right. Make sure the light are appropriate for what is being kept under them.
Using fish or inverts that are alive as a gauge to determine that thinks are ok is a really bad practice, it often means they are very tolerant. I think that better maintenance practices, better testing and possibly better equipment is the answer to what is wrong with this aquarium. If the system isn't being given what it needs to work properly, it won't
Joel
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