Brown algae and new tank owner

[cyrusmekon]

Hi guys well i have been monitoring these sites for a few months now and am a proud owner of a new tank. I bought the tank of someone who had it running for a couple of years so everything is set up and running fine. However after two weeks i have what seems to be brown algae and its annoying.
Please see pics.
My question is how do i treat this. Buy algae eaters? clean the sand, less lighting.
My parameters are
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrate .2
Salinity yet to measure.
Fish: 2 clown fish, 1 foxface
4 snails and 1 coral banded shrimp.
Tom i am going to do a 25% water change and a general clean.
Can anyone give good advice for a novice.
Cheers.

 

[glowplug]

You could cut back on time the lights are on , but there are some excess nutrients in your water and you need to find the source of them, over feeding is one, so is tap water

 

[lion_crazz]

I would just get some more snails and hermits.
That is a very nice tank you have there.

 

[jsgreer1]

you should really check your salinity. it may not be whats causing your algae but its a saltwater tank so measuring the salt seems like it would be pretty important. and as for the algae i agree with the other guys. less lights and some snails and hermits. but you definately need to know your salinity.

 

[saltfan]

Originally Posted by lion_crazz
I would just get some more snails and hermits.
That is a very nice tank you have there.
I agree, your going to get algea no matter what you do, but snails and hermits take care of the problem before it becomes a problem.

 

[lion_crazz]

It looks like you have corals or an anemone in there. I would not cut the lights back. A nice clean-up crew will handle the problem.
I run my lights for 11 hours a day and I have very little to no algae.

 

[rusting]

It looks like you have no flow areas. Try adding 2 small powerheads, to increase your water flow. How old are your bulbs? They may need changing.

 

[cyrusmekon]

Hi all thank you for the responses.
Yes i do have corals in the tank and i run my lights from 4pm to 12am. I think the source of the problem is the food. Twice a day, ill cut that back to once.
I will get some more snails and shrimp, the coral banded shrimp i have at the moment is funny, he hides, havnt seen him since i bought him.
Again thank you for the suggestions, i would like to get on tp of this asap.
Cheers, Kevin.

 

[rainstate6]

I noticed your tank is close to two windows is it gettinng sunlight that will cause algea blooms also i would check for flow

 

[oreo12]

I not sure eithier I have a new 55 set up that has that same stuff. I used ro water and live rock out of na astblesed tank someone was takeing down. Ihave plenty of flow it is waving around from where the flow is moving it. I figure after it is up a few weeks it will clear up on its own. probbably once it uses all its food up.

 

[cyrusmekon]

Hi there.
I did my 25% water change and also bought a "vacume" for the sand. This got rid of the brown stuff for now at least. I expect it to come back, but i shall boost up my cleaning crew.
The tank is no longer in between the two windows (that was in the previous owners home).
I have my water inlet in the top right hand corner. The filtration system is a trickle filter system.
Where would you suggest i place a powerhead? Underneath the outlet where the water trickles out. The filtration system on the tank is in the main tank but behind the glass i.e the tank is in two sections.
The water trickles down bioballs onto the heater which then passes through a skimmer and then a powerhead inputs it back. Where the bioballs are is a heap of algae and i tried to get into it but a plastic plate is glued onto the glass and i cant clean it

Anyways ill look into a powerhead, but any suggestions where i should put this would be great.
Thanks.