Brown algea on sand!?!?

jbrown511

jbrown511

Member
I am constantly getting brown algea on sand when I do my water changes I get rid of it. If I do not turn my lights on for long periods of time it does not grow as fast. I have had my tank for six months it has gone through its cycle all my levels are good. I want to know what to put in my tank that will keep my tank clean? When I do my water changes I do use RO water from my LFS
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
Sounds like cyanobacteria or diatoms. Get a sea cucumber. Mine keeps the sand clean as a whistle and it is fun to watch it poop out egg-shaped clumps of sand :)
Just make sure it is a detrivore cucumber and not a filter-feeding one.
ps- don't believe all the negative opinions on sea cucumbers. The detrivore ones are no more toxic than an anemone or a coral, and it would take quite a bit of abuse to get them to fire it off. I've accidently squeezed mine before and it kept right on eating sand.
 
jbrown511

jbrown511

Member
Are you sure ? For some reason I feel like my tank is the barmuda triangle. I am almost ready to give it up. I can keep shrimp and coral and even a goby alive but anything else I put in the tank seems to die after a couple of weeks. I put 7 chromis in there just to see what would happen I am down to three, Everything in my tank is good. I even took my water to the local LFS and they tested it and said everything is fine. I am afraid if I put a cucumber in there he would blow up and kill everything. Maybe I am alcimating my fish wrong. I am not real sure all I know is I am extermly frustrated because I love fish and saltwater and for some reason I cannot seem to make it work.
 
palumbo

palumbo

Member
What size tank do you have? Your quick die off could be from adding too many fish at one time if your tank can't handle the additional bio load. It's kind of hard to acclimate chromis the wrong way, considering their hardiness. Usually I drip acclimate my fish/corals/inverts just to be safe.
The brown is definately diatoms. You'll get it a lot if you're using tap water because of the excess minerals. The sleeper gobies to a wonderful job cleaning that up, as well as sand sifting stars.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top