Help... Brown Algae

[vorider]

I have a 45 gallon tank and let the tap water sit for one Month. Then I added 3 Damsels and some lr and I have had that for one month, so 2 total. Now my whole tank is turning brown rapidly. The whole thing is almost brown all over my dead coral and crushed coral. What should I do?

 

[beth]

Give specific details regarding the tank setup that you have, including equiptment, lighting, filtration. How many lbs' of LR? Etc.?

 

[kev]

Thats pretty normal for tanks... almost every tank goes through the nasty brown algae stage!

 

[vorider]

My tank is 45 gallon, Excalibur Protein Skimmer, Emperor double sided wet dry filter, Temp set at 77, Power head at the base for current, 3.5 lbs of live rock, and 3 damsels. I went today and got some tablets for my phosphate being to high and I put them in the compartment in my wet dry filter. The guy there recommended emerald crabs and blue legged hermit crabs to eat all of the algae. I also did a 6 gallon water change and used water that was done by 0smosis. The algae seems to be re-appearing but next week when I get the crabs and stuff I hope that they eat all that stuff. I'll probably keep adding live rock and probably wont add any fish for a couple of months. Any suggestions I'll appreciate it. I also have another question. Should I get a air pump for my tank? I guess extra oxyagen wouldn't hurt but I never see it mentioned in salt water fish, only fresh. Why is that?

 

[beth]

Well, diatoms certainly are typical of new setups but the way you described it, it sounded a bit excessive.
Your priority should be the LR. Crabs are good, but not for diatoms. At best, crabs are Omnivorous, but prefer to be carnivores...meat over their veggies .
If you are having phosphate problems at this stage, than you might be overfeeding. Your input of nutrients, in other words, is exceeding your export of same. Using flake food by chance? If so, switch to frozen...or, better yet, make your own fish food out of fresh products.
For diatoms, snails do the job better, ceriths or nerites. You may also want to try a fighting conch. Mirthex [emerald] crab would be a desent choice for a crab, but if you plan on going reef in the future, the fewer crabs you have, the happier your corals will be.
Check the water you are using. Does it have phosphate in it? If so, then look around for bottled water that does not have phosphate.
what type of substrate did you use? If it is silca based, then this is basically another food for diatoms. Not to worry though, once the diatoms get done eating it all up, you will have a distinctive decline in this "brown algae. However, phosphate is a by-product of nutritents that you put in the tank...either via your water or salt mix source, or the food you are feeding your fish, etc.

 

[pbuckler]

The solution to your problem is the kind of water you are adding. I had the same problem, when I started my tank. I started with tap water and had Diatoms all over. I then started adding Reverse Osmosis water instead of tap water and there is not a single diatom in my tank. You can get Reverse Osmosis water in any large supermarket. They usually have a fill it yourself station where you will have to buy the gallon jugs the first time you fill and then you will bring them back everytime after that. Yes, snails will generally "clean" your glass for you but they will not get all of it off, it is best to get a glass scrubber from a fish store. Phosphates primarilly come from the food you are feeding. A great way to get rid of them is Reverse Osmosis water. Some other ways are to get a good protein skimmer and to add some Phos-zorb. The Phos-zorb comes in a small canister and has a mesh bag inside it with the chemical. Just set this in a good current (I put mine in my filter) and it will do the trick.

 

[pbuckler]

By the way, I have only had my tank setup for 2 months and I have 0 nitrites, less than readable on many phosphate tests, perfect calcium and many others. I have a good amount of coralline algae growing on my glass already! If you have any other questions drop me a line, I would be more than glad to help.

 

[bigwrench]

the same thing happened to my tank as well it is a 75 gallon as soon as i added a 9lb piece of live rock to the tank i started having this major growth of brown algae, everyone i asked said this was normal and not to worry so i just kept scrubbing and scrubbing the insides of the tank changing the filters twice as often as recommended in hopes of getting rid of this stuff to me the whole allure of the saltwater tank was the crystal clear white rocks and the beautiful colors the fish add to this background,at this point i had 3 blue damsels ,1 yellow tang,a tomatoe clown,1 beautiful trigger fish and all was going well if i didnt pay much attention to this nasty brown growth all over the place ,i also must note that i bought a special light bulb the pet shop stated i must have to control this growth at a cost of 45 dollars a bulb (?) ,as fate would have it i had to travel out of town on the weekend and i had my trusted older brother look in on my tank and feed my fish and gave specific instructions on how important my fish were to me and how much money was involved and if anything were to hppen please call my cell immediately and i would try to rush home i was 3 hours away well no calls and all weekend i sorta felt sick with worry now and again wondering how the fish were...this is the first trip away from home lol well on sunday afternoon i returned home to a smiling big brother who said i just fed the fish a little bit ago and i found your algae scrubber and went ahead and scrubbed the tank walls for you the algae was everywhere and it had turned green well i quickly grabbed my house keys from him and rushed home only to find that every fish i had except the tomatoe clown died within the hour since he had scrubbed this stuff off the sides of the tank the water was full of this floating algae and my heart sank .I am sorry this is so long but i wanted to get it all in and i guess there are a few lessons to be learned here and as you all can attest it was a costly loss but before i give up on saltwater completely and convert it to fresh water is there a sure fire way to keep my tank crystal clear at all times because for me that was basically the entire reason i wanted to try and start one the tanks in all the local pet stores are always crystal clear unless they are reef tanks

 

[beth]

There are no maintence-free tanks. Diatoms are a natural process of setting up a new tank. LS and LR along with adequate cleanup crews, I have found, work best for keeping things clean. On the other side of the fence however, if you are in to DIY and elaborate support filtrations, then this too will usually keep things crystal clear.
Myself, I like to keep things simple. My only filtration is the LR, LS and a skimmer.

 

[bigwrench]

thanks for the reply Beth ,I guess i would have to give you an idea of my situation a little more before youd know what i need i work mon-fri 7am till 12:30 midnite so i am home very little to care for the tank ,it is a 75 gallon with 75lbs of crushed coral 9 lbs of live rock with an undergravel filtration system a penguing 660 powerhead for flow and an emperor double bio wheel filtration system ,i am not even sure what a skimmer is lol and you mentioned an LS ...? with my work schedule is there a way for me to maintain a healthy saltwater tank and if so are there certain types of fish that i would be better off having ? any certain chemicals i may need ? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated i do use frozen brine shrimp for food and am bi weekly checking the levels of the water for nitrates and nitrites etc