Help...lfs are contradicting each other!!

[hawkeye]

I have had my 54 gallon for about a month with 2 damsels. A brown alge/mossy substance is growing daily at the bottom of my tank and the walls of my tank. I did not use tap water. My lfs #1 said this is normal and not to worry about it. They said it is part of the process and will eventually go away. They also said to turn the temp down to 70-helping with alge. I also asked about cleaning my filter(fluval 304) and they said to wait until the cycle is done.
Lfs #2 said not to wait, and to replace/clean the filter every month including the first month, they also said to get bacter plus to help with the cycle. They also said that the brown stuff wasn't normal.
My fish appear to be very healthy, but the tank is getting worse and worse looking everyday. It is super frustrating because it looked so great the first 2 weeks. It seems like everyone has different advice and I am beggining to wonder if either know what they are doing.
Sorry, for the length

 

[seafish]

never belive ifs thay just whant to sell fish and supplys for exsample iasked ifs if i could put cleaner shrimp in my tank and thay said yes got home cleaner shrimp didnt make it to the bottom of my tank and shrimp was in hawk fish mouth thay all lie trust your self and some poeple on here are very good also look if thay have display tank and what kind of fish thay have together when you buy fish as far as the brown alge thats from frsh water make up it will go away mine had that at first to i dont know it all but i learned a lot off here and alot from tryal and erer good luck and sorry about spelling

 

[mr . salty]

First off,,Don't do,or add anything to the tank till the cycle is done.Second,the brown stuff is normal.It's a diotom bloom,or a brown algae phase.Most,if not all,tanks go through this stage on thier way to maturity.I would be warry of the guy who said to clean out the filter.That could prolong the cycle.

 

[jimi]

Also dont drop the temp to 70, while it may help slow the algae, that is going to grow anyway, it is not good for your inhabitants.

 

[quoc]

Is any sunlight hitting your tank? If so, you might want to shade it off. Sunlight can increase algae blooms.

 

[guppie]

You can wipe the brown algae off the glass also. I would not trust anything that lfs2 says. Good Luck

 

[twoods71]

This is one of the most frustrating parts of this hobby. You will often find that one person will not agree with another on some subjects.
I believe that most of us doing this hobby have seen great success but have acheived this success in different ways. Hence the different opinions on certain subjects.
Personaly I would take the advice from an experienced hobbiest before I take the advice from a LFS. Some LFS simply can not be trusted.
The great thing about this board is you can look at posts from certain people and determine if there advice can be trusted.
I have seen and followed great advice from the sharks as well as some of the newer members.
So after saying all that I agree with the above posts in that LFS#1 is giving you better advice then LFS#2

 

[the 55 aquarist]

Not to worry i had brown algae and it went awaynow there is good green algae in the tank. ur #2 LFS is more that likely wrong. IMOHO i would stick with lfs #1.

 

[hawkeye]

Thanks for all your advice.
What about this bacter plus to speed up the cycle, does it work or should I just let the fish do their thing?