Why Is My Live Rock Turning Brown?please Help Asap

thamobster

thamobster

Member
hey my tank has been established now with live rock for well over a month and looked great...i added 2 clown fish a yellow tang and a green mandarin..(at different times of course) everything was looking great..til yesterday when i added 2 teaspoons of live brine..now when i woke up in the morning the water appears to be cloudier and the live rock in certain areas is an ugly brown..even the sand is brown in certain areas..why is this?i checked all my levels and they are Nitrites 0....Ammonia 0...Nitrates 10 (which is usually at 0 so im not sure why)....Salinity 1.021..and High range ph is 7.8..Please help with any info on why this might be..thanks nick
 
thamobster

thamobster

Member
my main concern also is that i hope the live rock wasnt killed and if its on its way how can i prevent it from dying..thanks
 
thamobster

thamobster

Member
oh and one more thing i forgot to mention i just bought a 36 inch coralife aqualight lunar..i got it and it had a broke acintic bulb so ive only been able to use the 10000k bulb in the daytime and the lunar lights at night..could it be possible its growth from the light or something weird..thanks
 
thamobster

thamobster

Member
Correct. I just did a ton of research and figured out it is brown algae. It just came up over night, I was not sure if that was normal. What can I do to prevent it? My water is good, I just recently did a water change, and am going to do another one. I was reading that these diatoms are common at the one month mark of new tanks, but its been a little over a month now and I just am getting the problem. Is the only way to get rid of this just by good water changes, less feeding of the fish, and not much light so the algae can't survive? And if so will the fish be ok without light on constantly? One more thing are the lunar lights ok to go on or should I keep them off until I get the problem under control? Thanks.
 
viet-tin

viet-tin

Active Member
It should go away on its own. What type of water are you using? any direct sunlight? Those are just a few things that may cause the growth of diatoms and unwanted algae.
 
sly

sly

Active Member
I had a similar problem with brown algae covering everything but it was beause I used non-aquarium grade silicon on my refugium. It caused things to die off which seemed to create more die-off. The only thing that worked for me to break this cycle was to keep cleaning my rocks off with a toothbrush and to keep the filters cleaned out daily until the algae went away. I fought it for about a month but finally it went completely away. Now my water is crystal clear and I have no problems. I had some slight die-off on my LR but nothing severe. Keep at it... It will go away.
BTY, all my paremeters were perfect also. My PH was 8.3 and everything else was 0 and SG was 1.023. It could be that your nitrates are 0 because the algae is consuming it which is a benefit. Once you get your algae problem under control, you might want to invest in a fuge with some macros to control your nitrates (since it seems like algae is actually beneficial to your water paremeters). I have mangroves in my fuge and they work great.
 
thamobster

thamobster

Member
I have 70 lbs. of LR in the tank. I feed the mandarin live brine and frozen foods. He is very healthy, also looking a little chunky, so I know he's good right now. There is not much natural light hitting the tank, the lights are the best source for it. I have the Coralife Aqua Lunar light with one true actinic 03 blue fluorscent lamp, one 10,000K daylight lamp, and three lunar blue-moon LED lamps. Currently I am not able to use the blue lamp b/c I recieved it broken so until I get a new one I am just using the 10,000 lamp and lunar lights at night. The lighting is great so I don't believe that is an issue. I use aged water with Crystal Sea salt, I age it about a day or a little more. Everythings been perfect until this horrible looking algae! Hopefully it goes away soon, I am trying to keep it as clean as possible for now.
 
dedwards

dedwards

Member
Good to hear that the mandarin is eating frozen food. You might try some more snails. I had some green algae and added 3 turbos and they got it under control in a few days
 
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