I am new to this forum (as well as the hobby) so let me give you as much info about my tank as I can think of.

35 Gallon Reef Tank (almost 3 months old); Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0; Nitrates 0; Salinity 1.024, PH 8.4; Temp ~80F.

I currently have 2 clowns, 2 peppermint shrimp, 1 pincushion urchin, several snails and hermits, a watchman goby, a PJ cardinal as well as my first few corals.

I had my first algae problem over a month ago and it went away by itself.  I searched several forums and learned that it was normal for a new tank.  I was quite happy when the nasty brown algae subsided.  Well, now it is back along with some slimy red algae.  I have been very careful with my feeding schedule and make sure everything is eaten.  I feed once daily.  I only use distilled water for water changes, which I perform weekly.  I have now reduced my lights to only 6 hours a day to see if that will help. 

My light specs are:

What else can I do?  Can this 'new tank' algae bloom occur more than once for a beginner tank or am I doing something wrong?  I've looked into possibly getting chemical algae removers but I fear it will only attack the symptoms and not the actual problem.  I've only had my new protein skimmer for about a week and a half now.  Maybe I need to be more patient until the skimmer works itself in?

While doing a water change this morning I actually used a toothbrush to get some of the algae off my corals and the rocks followed by syphoning out at least 10% of the tank water.  I have one coral (green star polyp) that I thought was dying, only to see that once I removed some of the algae with the toothbrush, it came back and looks much better now.  I'm afraid the algae will suffocate my other corals. 

Any help/advice is much appreciated!  Thanks!

If you have the room to spare and a little building knowledge, you should check this out.

It might just do the trick for you, and it can't really hurt.

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic89570-4-1.aspx

I'm fairly new to the forum as well, and I have lots of questions to ask as well.  I'm in the process of building my first aquarium, you should check it out.

Red slime generally occurs in tanks with higher nutrient levels (phosphates and/or nitrates).  It can also occur in tanks with insufficient water flow.  If you haven't checked your phosphate levels, I would suggest double checking them.  The use of a phosphate remover (like Phosban or Rowaphos for example) can help out.  You can also do a search of the forum for Red Slime or cyanobacteria and should be able to find some threads discussing how to get rid of it.

Manual removal is a good idea.  The red slime certainly can suffocate the corals.  Also chemical removal, IMO, should be a last resort.  Also remember in a reef tank good things generally take time.  Don't expect the red slime to go away overnight.  It may take a few weeks to a few months to help rid the tank of the red slime.

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Keith

"Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer

I was also convinced that my phosphates were too high.  Surprisingly, after I bought a test kit and checked it, my levels were only 0.05mg/L which is great.  My Nitrates have been at 0 for a long time.  I will keep a restricted light and feeding schedule, make weekly (ore more if necessary) water changes and hope for the best.  I did a water change yesterday and really got out a lot of floating algae I stirred up while cleaning and see if that makes my corals happy.  My fish couldn't care less.  They're doing great and are always hungry, sigh.

I'm going to check out that thread you mentioned and try to stay positive.  When everything works well it is a very rewarding hobby.

Keith

"Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer