Chaeto dying, algae starting to take over

That's actually the reason I have so much chaeto. I use it as my only nutrient export, with no skimmer. It's really good at binding nutrients in the right conditions, just like nuisance type algaes.

 

What's really strange is my last two balls of chaeto died pretty quickly, but the multiple 1-2" strands that fell off of the balls at one point are still green as ever! And most of those little strands are from my first batch of chaeto from reefcleaners.

I've got the gfo reactor up and running, I've kept my lights off for about a week now, reduced feeding, done some more water changes and siphoned out a bunch of algae. My corals don't look to happy so I'm going to give them at least a little light for a while before going back to the original schedule. Most of the stuff on the sand bed is gone, but the remaining kelp looking stuff is still there. I had an emerald sighting the second day I had em, but I haven't seen them out eating since. This pukani rock is like a honeycomb so I'm sure they're in there somewhere.