brown algae

nutindeadyet

nutindeadyet

New Member
I'm having a problem with brown algae. I transfered a 30 gal tank to a 55 gal. Everything was fine until about 2 months ago. I had anemones they were doing well in the 30 gal tank awhile in the bigger tank they started shrinking. All the amonia, nitrates have been fine. Then brown algae started taking over. I read posts that it would go away. I've done monthly water changes, weekly checks Now the brown algae is on the anemone. I have well water, my other 30 gal tank isn't as bad using the same water. Any suggestions??
 
slick

slick

Active Member
Could be diatoms, they are normal in a newly set up tank. Where is it growing? Sand? Rocks? corals?
 
nutindeadyet

nutindeadyet

New Member
It's everywhere, It started in one corner and has made it halfway across the tank. It's on the CC, tank, and the anemone. Could it be causing my clams and anemone to die?
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
Sounds like diatoms to me too. When did you do the changeover? You say problem started 2 months ago. How long after changeover was that? Could just be from the changeover, I'm experiencing that myself. Could you be introducing phosphates and/or silicates into the tank with your well water? did you make any lighting changes? Is it slimy or dusty? How long was your 30 going before the change? Did you transfer a dsb? Sorry for all the questions, just going through all this myself and these are things I've to think about.
 
M

mudshark

Guest

Originally posted by slick
Could be diatoms, they are normal in a newly set up tank. Where is it growing? Sand? Rocks? corals?
Yup, I agree. It sounds like the tank is still cycling.
 
nutindeadyet

nutindeadyet

New Member
OK here goes. The 30 gal tank was set up about a year ago. I did the change over about 4 months ago. I don't know about the phosphates and/or silicates, but I reset up the 30 gal and it's not so bad in it. I recently bought new lights they're Coralite 50/50 flourcent. I've tested the water and everything is normal but Calcium. I'm adding CA. I have a yellow tang in there, I thought those were very sensitive with water, wouldn't it look poor if it was still cycling???
 
flamingkingofhe

flamingkingofhe

Active Member
yellow tangs are pretty hardy all saltwater fish are sensitive to water like you are sensitive to air
assuming that they are diatoms what you can do is run some silicate remover and mixed bed reisen in your filter/ wet-dry/ whatever you use
the silicate remover will help because it will remove silicates which is something that diatoms cannot live without because they use it to build there cell walls out of and the mixed bed reisen will help tremendously with water clarity and possibly with the diatoms
 
wrassecal

wrassecal

Active Member
It could be the water and the lighting change and the changeover from the other tank which would have added 25 gals of "fresh" saltwater to the 30 gals from the old tank. I guess I should ask, did you use the water from the old tank? I don't think based on your water parameter reports that your tank is "cycling" but the diatoms in a new tank usually show up after the actual "cycle" about the second month or so. If you want to check my thread "whole new meaning to diatoms" Broomer5 gave me some great advice when I was trying to figure mine out.
And there is a good link to an article on diatoms posted there. HTH
 
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