Brown Algae???

[trey the salt]

Ok, I set up my saltwater tank a few weeks ago and have live rock and live sand in it, and I currently have one Damsel. Now there is a brown algae spreading like wildfire through the tank, on the sand, sides, rocks. is this normal?? What can I do to be rid of it?

 

[mie]

how large is it? go and buy some hermits and snails if it is a 55 for example buy 10 to 20 hermits and 5 to 10 snails astrias or mexican turbos i recomend astrias

 

[nixis]

I do not know alot about this, I am fairly new to the hobby. When I had brown algae like that in my tank I was told it was Diatom algae. I purchased a magflow scraper for the sides of the tank and until you get a clean up crew I was told by my LFS(local fish store) to mix the sand with my hand. I now have my clean up crew and rarely see the problem anymore. I love my horseshoe crab, he really keeps the sand sifted. I hope I helped.

 

[perfectdark]

Yes, Diatom bloom very common in new tank set ups and this will usually get worse before it gets better. You may see this algea for another month or 2 but it will go away. There are no inverts or any other animal for that matter that eats this algea its best to just let it cycle through as its part of your new tanks growing pains.