i have a brown algae problem

hachi_roku

hachi_roku

Member
well every three days i have to clean my rocks because brown and redish algae grows on them it looks durty i dont like it is it my lights or what is it. Its a 30g long reef tank i only have three fish how do i get ride of it i do water changes every three to four days.
Thankx
 
drewsta

drewsta

Active Member
If it is brown it is diatoms and will go away in time all new tanks get them. If its red and slimey its cyno bacteria and the below list will get rid of it with time.
  • You need to cut back on lighting time
  • you need to get more movement in there (ie. powerheads, filters, etc.)
    do weekly water changes
Also what are your water parameters? Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, PH, etc......
 
J

jeps

Guest
Originally Posted by FishFatty
maybe a little clean up crew too?
My tank's starting to get diatoms too. What specific cleaner will handle diatoms on sand and also eat leftover food (my sister tends to overfeed our tank sometimes)? So far, I only have 6 turbo snails (Hachi_roku. you should get turbos, they do wonders cleaning up the rock and glass but never touch the sand), one peppermint shrimp, then today i got a dozen nassurius (sp?) snails and one tiny blue leg hermit (I've read some negative stuff about the blue hermits and so i wanted to try a single one first). What else should i get for my 44 gallon? Thanks.
 
drewsta

drewsta

Active Member
The Diatoms are a natural part of the tank snails and critters will pick at it but it will still be splotchy unless you acutally clean/remove the sand rocks etc... If you really hate the look get a diamond goby or a dragon goby both are sand sifters and will move your entire sand bed around to their liking. Blue leg hermits so far for me are fine I have about 13 in my 75G and I see them every once in a while cruising around eating at algea and food scraps. Usually in this hobby if something is not right (cyno, hair algea, etc..) adding critters is not the best idea you need to find out what is causing the problem not just possably creating a new one (personal experiance). JMO
 
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