Brown algae? New to saltwater tanks

[Brett Garcia]

Hi all,

I’m new to this and bought a used Red Sea Reefer from a kid who didn’t take

care of it real well, I’ve reset it up and going on a week now and there is brown stuff on the sand what is it and can I get rid of it? Also what is the best critter to get rid of the mass amount of brown “hairy” algae all over the coral

 

[Kremis]

blue leg hermit crabs cleared up my hair algae. the stuff on the sand is most likely cyanobacteria. You can either use chemiclean (worked for me multiple times) get a sand sifting goby, or if this is a newer tank wait a few months and it will most likely disappear on its own

 

[Brett Garcia]

It’s a three year old tank and the kid I bought it from said he could never get rid of it

 

[Kremis]

I would go ahead and try chemiclean then