brown algae wont go away

l.roach

l.roach

Member
i have a 55 gallon saltwater aquarium. has been set up for 2 yrs now. i have in it one yellow tang, 4 damsels, two brittle star, one Coral Banded Shrimp, 8 assorted turbo snails and a few crabs. i have a fluval 404 plus 2 penguin 330's wth bio wheels and a seaclone 100 skimmer. also have rotating powerhead to keep flow of water moving on lower level of tank. have about 20 lbs of live rock and sand bed 2+inchas deep. sand was just added 4 months ago and come from florida beach but in a secluded place not used. cant shake the brown dusting on bed and glass. read about diatoms and am using ALGONE and PHOS-ZORB to help. they say this is part of cycle but i cant get rid of it for nothing. what temp does anyone suggest for tank. i am set on 80 degrees. is this ok? also have 2 6 inch airstones in tank
Phos Zorb has drastically reduced phosphates in just 24 hour period to almost none and Algone has redused nitrates to zero. tank is looking better. both these products work great for me
 
larrynews

larrynews

Active Member
80 degrees is good, i have the same problem from time to time...mine is a 90, 1 1/2 years old....i just re directed a power head and i hope that takes care of it...also i think i may have been over feeding, i always do when i put in a new fish....not that i answered your questions but letting you know that you are not the only one in that boat...
 
carshark

carshark

Active Member
Originally Posted by L.Roach
i have a 55 gallon saltwater aquarium. has been set up for 2 yrs now. i have in it one yellow tang, 4 damsels, two brittle star, one Coral Banded Shrimp, 8 assorted turbo snails and a few crabs. i have a fluval 404 plus 2 penguin 330's wth bio wheels and a seaclone 100 skimmer. also have rotating powerhead to keep flow of water moving on lower level of tank. have about 20 lbs of live rock and sand bed 2+inchas deep. sand was just added 4 months ago and come from florida beach but in a secluded place not used. cant shake the brown dusting on bed and glass. read about diatoms and am using ALGONE and PHOS-ZORB to help. they say this is part of cycle but i cant get rid of it for nothing. what temp does anyone suggest for tank. i am set on 80 degrees. is this ok? also have 2 6 inch airstones in tank

umm you might wanna try to slowly reduce your temps.....get one degree per day, i keep mine around 76-78 i have a 75 gallon long i have tangs, inverts, red general star, etc... also look into a timer for your lights.....like maybe 8-10 hours day max! that'll help, also adding more crabs will aid a little.. i finally got over my major diatom outbreaks, i have little from time to time but the cleanup crew has to eat dont they? umm and air stones?? why? and you could definitely use more live rock....like 30-40 more pounds
 
l.roach

l.roach

Member
i am on timer and use satellite powercompact lights. 2 65 watt bulbs. lights on about 10 hrs per day. when i added lights i took out air about a yr ago now and that is when i got brown algae and diatoms. was trying to get back to where i was before this mess.
 
tombonius

tombonius

Member
algae grows because it can, plain and simple. if it has light and nutrients, it will grow. If it doesn't, it wont. Redirecting powerheads might take care of a problem with algae growing in a "dead spot" from accumulated detritus, but it will not get rid of a whole tank bloom. The things to consider here are (1) Are you overfeeding? (2) is your filtration adequate? (A: No. 20# LR in a 55gal may be too little, but then again you don't have a big bioload.) (3) Is you photoperiod too long? (4) is your skimmer doing an adequate job?
If all of these things are OK, you need to expand your janitorial crew. My favorites are the big Mexican turbos (buy 2 for a 55 gallon tank). They mow down algae like nobody's business.
 
carshark

carshark

Active Member
Originally Posted by L.Roach
i am on timer and use satellite powercompact lights. 2 65 watt bulbs. lights on about 10 hrs per day. when i added lights i took out air about a yr ago now and that is when i got brown algae and diatoms. was trying to get back to where i was before this mess.
yeah thought maybe that might be the lighting, the only thing i can think to do is get more cleanup crew, brwon algae isnt horrible, but the little guys will appreciate the food!!!, but yeah i know what you mean ill post a pic of mine as soon as the gf brings her digital camera over and youll see the brown on the substrate and on the real dead cats paw, it goes away with the cleaners and water changes but it wont look perfect until those lil guys make their rounds, my tank is the same way, real clean and good looking not like most established tanks so the sight of any diatoms at all throw off the great look, so in short i know what you mean
 
coopersx

coopersx

Member
Everything I have read about Brown Diatom is they live off of silicates. Remove the Silicates and the Diatom will die off and disappear...Cannot live with out this. Sure phosphates and other things may help this to grow but the common denomitaor is silcates...which regardless of anything else Phosphates, etc. needs to be removed in order for it to die. The Silicates could be coming from your top off water, substrate, salt mix, or anything you add to your tank that may contain silicates. I have read where high lighting will kill them....others state that low light will kill them...its anybodies geuss as far as the lighting is concerned.
Take care, Wayne
 
l.roach

l.roach

Member
i feed little like once every 3 days, i use a fluval 404 canister filter and 2 penguin 330's with bio wheels and am adding rock as i can afford it. lights about 10 hrs a day and skimmer do well. i have 4 mexican turbos and 4 turbos and 3 or 4 crabs
 
tombonius

tombonius

Member
Oh, please feed your fish more often!! They get hungry! Just give small amounts.
Another question: have you cleaned your filters? Especially the mechanical filters (foam blocks, etc)? These can be big nitrate producers. If so, get the rock and snails and shorten your photoperiod for a while, and you ought to see the problem clear.
 
l.roach

l.roach

Member
i clean filters once a week thoroughly yes and i will start to feed more often per your request. nitrates are now undere control and at zero and got phos zorb to take down phosphates
 
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