Brown Algae ID

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Over the pass week I've seen a steady climb in this brown algae. It's every where. On rocks and sand. I have tronchus snails (9) that eat this stuff up well and it has not come back from the rocks they ate it from. However, the sand bed is covered in it because they don't roam that area.

Parameters are ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 and phosphate .2 salinity 1.024
Tank is 5 weeks old.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Other info :

Some of the rock has what appears to be bright neon green algae spots.

The brown algae on the rocks easily gets blown off with a turkey baster.

 

[Bob Escher]

I still have this issue as well. But mostly under control. Various reasons for it including overfeeding.
Run GFO either in a bag or reactor. Get some phosguard and place in your filter, or a baffle in your sump
You can also buy some phosphate removal some as phosphate RX, Red Sea's NO3/PO4 /X is another on the last two vet careful about adding them.
Turkey Baxter works good as well as a very soft tooth brush

I think I did before but again Thank you for your service

 

[Bob Escher]

I still have this issue as well. But mostly under control. Various reasons for it including overfeeding.
Run GFO either in a bag or reactor. Get some phosguard and place in your filter, or a baffle in your sump
You can also buy some phosphate removal some as phosphate RX, Red Sea's NO3/PO4 /X is another on the last two vet careful about adding them.
Turkey Baxter works good as well as a very soft tooth brush

I think I did before but again Thank you for your service

 

[Bob Escher]

I still have this issue as well. But mostly under control. Various reasons for it including overfeeding.
Run GFO either in a bag or reactor. Get some phosguard and place in your filter, or a baffle in your sump
You can also buy some phosphate removal some as phosphate RX, Red Sea's NO3/PO4 /X is another on the last two vet careful about adding them.
Turkey Baxter works good as well as a very soft tooth brush

I think I did before but again Thank you for your service

 

[reeferfoxx]

Other info :

Some of the rock has what appears to be bright neon green algae spots.

The brown algae on the rocks easily gets blown off with a turkey baster.

Diatoms. Excess silicates create diatoms as that is their food source. The red spot is cyano which could be because of excess po4, feeding or lighting.

When cyano and diatoms collide you get whats called calothrix. You need to skim, feed less, reduce lighting, run gfo and manually clean. Looks like you have enough snails. This issue will pass. Cyano is also part of the tank maturing.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Thanks and you're welcome.

So phosphate at .2 causes this? I don't overfeed. I know that because the clown eats every pellet as I slowly let them go.

Ok I'll buy some gfo and phosguard in a mesh bag and place it in the sump baffle.

 

[reeferfoxx]

BTW how big is the tank?

 

[reeferfoxx]

Thanks and you're welcome.

So phosphate at .2 causes this? I don't overfeed. I know that because the clown eats every pellet as I slowly let them go.

Ok I'll buy some gfo and phosguard in a mesh bag and place it in the sump baffle.

Only need GFO or phosguard. Not both. They do the same thing.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Diatoms. Excess silicates create diatoms as that is their food source. The red spot is cyano which could be because of excess po4, feeding or lighting.

When cyano and diatoms collide you get whats called calothrix. You need to skim, feed less, reduce lighting, run gfo and manually clean. Looks like you have enough snails. This issue will pass. Cyano is also part of the tank maturing.

This stuff does kick up and spread as the lights are on. It sounds ridiculous but I've noticed spots become browner as the day goes on. I'll cut the lights down to 6 hours then.

Ok I'll do some daily cleaning of the sand bed.

9 snails is good for 65 lbs rock. 90 gallon tank FYI

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

BTW how big is the tank?

90 gallon display with 40 sump
65 lbs of Pukani

 

[reeferfoxx]

90 gallon display with 40 sump
65 lbs of Pukani

You have insufficient amount of snails. Typically should have 1 snail for every 2-3 gallons. You need to up your clean up crew.

Reduce phosphates too. Natural sea water is 0.005ppm. You have 0.2ppm. GFO or phosguard should be used.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Skimmer (curve 7 rated for up to 240 gallon) has been picking up a lot of crap. In just one day it's picked half of this up. This is a change as it was not picking this much up in the previous three weeks combined.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

You have insufficient amount of snails. Typically should have 1 snail for every 2-3 gallons. You need to up your clean up crew.

Reduce phosphates too. Natural sea water is 0.005ppm. You have 0.2ppm. GFO or phosguard should be used.

Ok I'll get more and reduce my phosphates.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Skimmer (curve 7 rated for up to 240 gallon) has been picking up a lot of crap. In just one day it's picked half of this up. This is a change as it was not picking this much up in the previous three weeks combined.

It's because of the excess phosphates.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

It's because of the excess phosphates.

Learning something everyday. Thanks!!!

 

[fragit]

Trochus snails generally stay off the sand bed from what I've read. They do great in rocks and glass but not sand. I would suggest some cerith snails which will do well in the sand. Agree on above that this will pass. 0.2 for phosphates is high, 0.02 would be way better![emoji106] Maybe try switching foods. Pellets can contain a lot of phosphate.

 

[USMC 4 LIFE]

Ok. Yeah i need a type of snail that eats algae and spends a good time on the sand bed. I'll snatch up 10 ceriths and see how they do.

 

[Hans-Werner]

Hi,
In my opinion this is the cyanobacterium Oscillatoria not an alga.
In my experience low phosphate concentrations in the water and higher phosphate concentrations in the gravel benefit this cyanobacterium. So I am not shure whether phosphate remover will help.