Ongoing problem with Brown Film Covering Glass and Purple Gorgonia? "Not A New Tank".

archie

archie

Member
My tank has been established for over 6 years. I have had a consistent problem with what appears to be some sort of brown algae. It is mainly just a nuisance (gets on the glass and sand), but doesn’t generally bother the corals, except for my Purple Gorgonia. It keeps the Gorgonia covered. I brush it off at least once per day, sometimes more, but the brown “stuff” has won the battle, the Gorgonia is dead. I would like to get another but can’t until I solve this problem. The tank is 75Gal w/30Gal Sump, Kent Marine Nautilus TE (sized for tanks up to 300 gal), 14 Watts UV, water parameters are all ok, including no silicates. I use RO/DI water (TDS reads zero out). My lighting is 2X150 Watt HQI metal halide + 2X130 Watt Dual Actinics. Water flow is fine. I only feed the tank about every other day (frozen brine, marine snow, etc). Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have linked several pictures. :help:
]Power Heads x 4 1200max[/URL]
]Kent RO/DI[/URL]
]Pluming[/URL]
]UV'S[/URL]
]Purple Gorgonia [/URL]
 
tangs123

tangs123

Member
when you say water flow do you mean through the tank or by the gorgian, because you could move it into a little stronger water flow on it to keep the algea from forming
 
archie

archie

Member
Originally Posted by tangs123
when you say water flow do you mean through the tank or by the gorgian, because you could move it into a little stronger water flow on it to keep the algea from forming

Yes I have tried moving it around the tank, with different flow rates. Nothing worked, even in strong, direct, constant current, it would still get covered very quickly. Any idea what the brown "stuff" is, and how to get rid of it?
 
toonascott

toonascott

Member
I have been thru the brown film, how long are your lights on? I did 4 things to get rid of the problem 1/ 6 hours of light 2/ kent marine charcoal for a week a month 3/ reduced feeding 4/ 10% water changes every month. A stable tank is the key, always stagger the water changes with your carbon useage. Keep a stable enviroment. Additions of live rock or removal of filter media tend to cause a spike in brown film production in my tank. Little changes, stable and consistant maintenance and you will win.
My brown film loved current, the more the better. I think it was because the snails, blenny and hermit crabs did not like current. Clean all 4 glass surfaces of your tank and it will also help your clean up crew get rid of the brown film. Good luck.
 
toonascott

toonascott

Member
ok, now that i see the pics. Pics are worth a thousand words. Your "purple gorgonia" looks like a pumping xenia, or pom pom xenia. I have had a purple gorgonian, which does not look like any of your pictures. I am always open to learning, there are so many creatures to learn about.
So... if we go with my theory that you have a pumping xenia, it is pretty hard to believe it gets covered in a brown film, they move alot, but like I said.. its only a theory.
The most important thing your pictures show.... THE DIVIDER, that thing is going to screw up water flow bigtime. Water flow is what I consider to be the most difficult part about keeping corals.
My observations have not given me any ideas how to help you get the brown film off your coral, its just to weird to think a pulsing xenia with moderate current, could have algae growing on it. Sorry I could not be of more help, hope you get rid of the brown film. :notsure:
 
toonascott

toonascott

Member
WAIT, I looked at your picture again and noticed the dead as a door knob gorgonian! sorry man, no wonder it gets algae on it, its toast! That is the skeletal remains of a gorgonain. DOH, I goofed
. By the way, your tank looks great otherwise, that is the largest and happiest xenia I have ever seen!

I should have read your post better , before I opened my big mouth.
I lost my purple gorgonian the same way you did. If I try again, I will put it in a brighter spot to see if the light keeps brown film off.
 
archie

archie

Member
Originally Posted by ToonaScott
ok, now that i see the pics. Pics are worth a thousand words. Your "purple gorgonia" looks like a pumping xenia, or pom pom xenia. I have had a purple gorgonian, which does not look like any of your pictures. I am always open to learning, there are so many creatures to learn about.
So... if we go with my theory that you have a pumping xenia, it is pretty hard to believe it gets covered in a brown film, they move alot, but like I said.. its only a theory.
The most important thing your pictures show.... THE DIVIDER, that thing is going to screw up water flow bigtime. Water flow is what I consider to be the most difficult part about keeping corals.
My observations have not given me any ideas how to help you get the brown film off your coral, its just to weird to think a pulsing xenia with moderate current, could have algae growing on it. Sorry I could not be of more help, hope you get rid of the brown film. :notsure:
lol its right above the pom poms
 
archie

archie

Member
Originally Posted by ToonaScott
WAIT, I looked at your picture again and noticed the dead as a door knob gorgonian! sorry man, no wonder it gets algae on it, its toast! That is the skeletal remains of a gorgonain. DOH, I goofed
. By the way, your tank looks great otherwise, that is the largest and happiest xenia I have ever seen!

I should have read your post better , before I opened my big mouth.
I lost my purple gorgonian the same way you did. If I try again, I will put it in a brighter spot to see if the light keeps brown film off.
Thanks, the Xenia seem to grow faster than I can trade them at my LFS :) --
The divider was a necessary evil, I know it is not very apparent in the picture but on the other side of the tank I have a green carpet anemone. I tried it without the divider at first, for a while there was no problem. Then it ate one of my yellow tangs. I love the look of the anemone, and don't want to get rid of it, so I constructed this divider. I was worried about the water flow, so far it hasn't caused any noticable problems (other than being another service for the brown "stuff" to grow on.

Also, I have been doing a 10% water change every week. I am currently running Chemi-pure through a fluval. Do you think I am doing water changes too frequently?
 
toonascott

toonascott

Member
from the pics I can see you are very good at cleaning and maintenance, it looks like your tank was just setup. From your pics, I do not think you are leaving lights on too long or overfeeding. The brown film may be a small semi cycling each water change. I found that on my 40 gallon, I couldnt change 10% each week. I even had instances where a water change would turn the entire tank brown for a few days, water and all. So now I change water once a month and I use kent additives to keep my calcium up. I also add kent strontium & molybdenum, and an iodine suppliment once a week (half of what the bottle doseage recommends) You mentioned the tank has been running for 6 years, have you noticed a correlation between water changes and the brown film? Are you using activated carbon at all? I find it absorbs alot of organics that might support brown film algae. My skimmer stops producing anything after I put in fresh kent marine charcoal for a few days. I take it out after 3-5 days and throw it out. I have noticed it clogs with organics and then continues to suck up good trace elements, it can even leach bad stuff back into the water if left too long.
 
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