Brown algae

[dandrews40030]

Ugh. My tank makes me so grumpy. I know the fact that I currently don't have a functioning protein skimmer really matters. But that's just not quite in the budget just yet. So I've got all this yucky brown algae growing on all my live rock and in my sand. I've got a white sand bed so it's super obvious. My tank looks ugly and I don't like it. We've tested the water and it's perfect. We've got a 100 gal refugium and a 30gal sump. There's two sock filters and two filter pads. We do a weekly water change with the best water in town. I just don't know what else to do to make this better.

Help?

 

[Humblefish]

What does "the best water in town" mean exactly? Anything less than 0 TDS RODI can contribute to algae problems. Doing water changes with high quality water is very important if you don't have a skimmer to remove organics. Also, what kind/how old are your lights? I also only see one powerhead for circulation. If you don't have enough flow circulating the water in your tank, detritus might be settling on the rocks which will lead to nuisance algae growth.

 

[aaron23]

few things you can do, add snails and such to clean it up or you can make a new batch of saltwater take the rock out and scrub them in changed water and replace the tank with new water

 

[cloak]

How long has the tank been set up? It's looks pretty normal to me. Don't overstock, don't overfeed, remove as much detritus as you can on a regular basis and you should be fine.. With good husbandry everything will be purple eventually. GL.

http://www.reefcleaners.org/nuisance-algae-id-guide

 

[Anirban]

I will try to answer to the point...
1. Only put RO/DI water in the tank not just the best water in town as suggested by @Humblefish
2. What is your phosphate level and how you measure it?
3. Feed very less until you get the skimmer and you can use carbon dosing to lower your nutrient level
4. Use low light for few days algae will go away.
5. There are other ways to get rid of them but your case doesn't look like that serious.

Clean water and less feeding till you get the skimmer.

 

[NeverlosT]

I think the tank looks fine, toss some Tiger Trochus snails in and you will be off to the races.

A skimmer is great, and will help. I would suggest finding a cheap used one from a local reefer. You definitely dont need an expensive one to do the job.

Good luck!

 

[dandrews40030]

We use the water from our local fish store, and he does his water changes with the water from the Seattle Aquarium. I'm not sure on numbers and such because I'm kind of new to this but I will ask my boyfriend when he gets home. The lights are pretty old. We are buying three halide lights next week, will that improve the situation? We have the power head, then we have another pump in the sump and two pumps in the 100gal fuge. Our sock filters mud up really nice so I know they're catching SOMETHING just not what I want. Or at least not as efficiently as I want. The tank is about four years old. It's got really healthy cultured water. I thought brown algae was a new tank thing and I certainly don't have a new tank.

 

[hybridazn]

How long has the tank been up and running? It's more than likely diatoms because of a cycle. I would get some clean up crew and keep up with water changes and it should start to clear up.

 

[CodyRVA]

Our sock filters mud up really nice so I know they're catching SOMETHING just not what I want.

How often do you change the socks out? If you let them fill up with gunk for too long they're essentially pointless. Just my two cents, but... considering you're on a budget; I think you can get more out of investing in a solid skimmer vs the halides. If you have algae issues now, the new strong lights are only going to contribute to the issue, IME. Like @NeverlosT said, you should be able to find a used skimmer from a local reefer.

 

[aaron23]

water from the aquarium is probably water from the sea and probably filtered through several times.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

sorry but I'm confused, in your other thread the 100g fuge isn't online. its just water.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/100-gallon-refugium.236228/
a 4 year old tank should have at least some corraline in it some where. not to mention salt creep.
its cool if stuff got blown up, I had it happen, all of us have and we all are willing to jump in and help no matter what.

 

[Humblefish]

We use the water from our local fish store, and he does his water changes with the water from the Seattle Aquarium. I'm not sure on numbers and such because I'm kind of new to this but I will ask my boyfriend when he gets home. The lights are pretty old. We are buying three halide lights next week, will that improve the situation? We have the power head, then we have another pump in the sump and two pumps in the 100gal fuge. Our sock filters mud up really nice so I know they're catching SOMETHING just not what I want. Or at least not as efficiently as I want. The tank is about four years old. It's got really healthy cultured water. I thought brown algae was a new tank thing and I certainly don't have a new tank.

Old bulbs will sometimes cause weird algae to grow. MHs are great for growing corals, but the downside is you have to replace the lamps every 12 months. And last time I looked 20k Radiums were running $80 per lamp.

Try something ... Take a turkey baster or small powerhead. Blow your rocks out with it. If a ton of detritus comes out of your rocks, that means you don't have enough flow as that much detritus should never be allowed to settle on or inside the rock work.

 

[Diesel]

Ugh... I would be grumpy too
Lots of good advice already given and it's just matters what all you do with it.
I know this hobby sometimes can be overwhelming but even the most experience hobbyist under us have those days too.
Read up about nutrient control without a skimmer.

 

[dandrews40030]

sorry but I'm confused, in your other thread the 100g fuge isn't online. its just water.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/100-gallon-refugium.236228/
a 4 year old tank should have at least some corraline in it some where. not to mention salt creep.
its cool if stuff got blown up, I had it happen, all of us have and we all are willing to jump in and help no matter what.

We just got the refugium going this weekend. It's cycling through with the rest of it now. There's nothing in it yet except for a sock filter. Honestly, the tank was my boyfriends before we started dating. He really neglected it. So I'm just trying to fix it up and make it look good because I'm totally into it. So chances are, stuff just blew up in there and now I've got to clean it all up. Maybe I should just start over. Ugh.

 

[dandrews40030]

Old bulbs will sometimes cause weird algae to grow. MHs are great for growing corals, but the downside is you have to replace the lamps every 12 months. And last time I looked 20k Radiums were running $80 per lamp.

Try something ... Take a turkey baster or small powerhead. Blow your rocks out with it. If a ton of detritus comes out of your rocks, that means you don't have enough flow as that much detritus should never be allowed to settle on or inside the rock work.

It definitely looks like there's a lot of detritus build up then. I'll increase flow for sure. Thanks!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

We just got the refugium going this weekend. It's cycling through with the rest of it now. There's nothing in it yet except for a sock filter. Honestly, the tank was my boyfriends before we started dating. He really neglected it. So I'm just trying to fix it up and make it look good because I'm totally into it. So chances are, stuff just blew up in there and now I've got to clean it all up. Maybe I should just start over. Ugh.

yea. check out refugiums on the internet google image search.
Empty buckets of water wont need to cycle. rocks and sand do. .
yea starting over on that would be your best bet. probably only take a day.
melevs reefs has a good starter guide on how to set up a saltwater tank and how the cycle works.
and I think someting is wrong with the tank water. whats going on in there is not normal for any tank. its that bad.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

With that much algae built up your going to have to scrub. Get a bucket and a bin and add 10 parts water to 1 part hydroigen peroxide. put the rock in it and scrub. rinse in another bucket with fresh salt water, It wont disturb the cycle. I rinse twice.
youll want 2 products to help bolster the cycle. Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability. add per instructions. They cost about $10 each on amazon.
Everthing you have in the main set up is all you need for a sucessful reef system. the only thing I would add is an airstone .
limit feeding.
keep removing the hair algae with a scraper and siphon with a hose at water change time.
Have your water tested at 2 different fish stores. $5
Also get a test for chlorine(i suspect tap water)


Heres some info.
Test kits. VERY easy to use. Also youtube how to use them. BOARING. instructions are easy.
http://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?sectionid=1&catid=18&subcatid=94&id=581#.VsvGIJwrKUk
very basic guide to set up
http://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-a-Marine-Reef-Aquarium
http://blog.marinedepot.com/2014/03/reef-it-simpleyour-first-reef-tank.html

 

[dandrews40030]

With that much algae built up your going to have to scrub. Get a bucket and a bin and add 10 parts water to 1 part hydroigen peroxide. put the rock in it and scrub. rinse in another bucket with fresh salt water, It wont disturb the cycle. I rinse twice.
youll want 2 products to help bolster the cycle. Seachem Prime and Seachem Stability. add per instructions. They cost about $10 each on amazon.
Everthing you have in the main set up is all you need for a sucessful reef system. the only thing I would add is an airstone .
limit feeding.
keep removing the hair algae with a scraper and siphon with a hose at water change time.
Have your water tested at 2 different fish stores. $5
Also get a test for chlorine(i suspect tap water)


Heres some info.
Test kits. VERY easy to use. Also youtube how to use them. BOARING. instructions are easy.
http://www.apifishcare.com/product.php?sectionid=1&catid=18&subcatid=94&id=581#.VsvGIJwrKUk
very basic guide to set up
http://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-a-Marine-Reef-Aquarium
http://blog.marinedepot.com/2014/03/reef-it-simpleyour-first-reef-tank.html

Okay. I will for sure do that this weekend but if didn't do that, would I always be battling this brown algae, or could I clear it up another way, long run? We do use a fair amount of tap water, would that contribute largely to the algae or somehow hinder coralline growth?

What benefit would an air stone provide? Sorry if these are dumb questions. I'm still pretty new to this so I'm still learning.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Sorry if these are dumb

No sweat. They are not dumb. I will say check out the links. Guys never stop and ask for directions do they?

Never use tap water again. The "cycle" it uses bacteria to break down food and poop. Tap water depending on where you live, can have chlorine or other chemicals to kill bacteria in the pipes . With no bacteria to to eat the poo, the brown or green algae does. kinda yucky we drink it.

Most everything likes oxygen, it also likes co2, buy using the airsone it increases the dissolved gasses in the water making it more available to organisms that need it. a skimmer usually does part of that job.

could I clear it up another way, long run?

Itll be easier in my opinion to scrub it out, probably an hour, the other way would take longer.

So in my opinion, if you did a big scrub and a water change...... the next day the tank would look great!

most folks are afraid of scrubbing the rocks and interrupting the cycle, so im guessing that is why you got the big refugium. but if its out of control I think its a good idea.

so I personally would
disconnect the 100 gal. from the System leave a powerhead in it. to keep it flowing and moving.
take out the big rocks in the display and scrub them with some of the water from the 100 gal. and peroxide(5%) and rinse well twice with the fresh salt water(from the 100 tap or no its ok).
put them back in the display
do a 20% or more refill WaterChange of the display with new no tap saltwater
put in prime and stability follow the directions on the bottle.

Dont do the rock in the sump this time . Do that next week when you do the next big WC.(you want to leave some of the old bacteria in there)

check the PH after you finish the scrub, it may be low, the airstone will help.
If the LFS has chato, put it in the sump on the rock. its a refugium. it will help with the PH & bacteria.
do another 10 or 20% wc for the next couple weeks.

it should be a $75 to 80 dollar fix and take 8 hours or less the first day.

I think youll see pretty fast change the first couple weeks. If you get algae starting agin, wait until WC day and scrub lightly and siphon when you do the WC.

in a month itll be a different tank. in 6 weeks Id start shopping for easy coral. (after we talk about your light)

A refugium so you know, is a place for extra bacteria to live and grow macro algae. the macro algae will outcompete the bad algae in the display. so you keep algae in the fuge so no algae is in the Display.

the things to test for daily after you do this are ammonia and the ph. both are bad for the fish. the stability and prime are added bacteria to keep the ammonia out and a slime coat for the fish. and the airstone and chato will help the ph stay stable.

[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] did I miss anything?

 

[Diesel]

No sweat. They are not dumb. I will say check out the links. Guys never stop and ask for directions do they?

Never use tap water again. The "cycle" it uses bacteria to break down food and poop. Tap water depending on where you live, can have chlorine or other chemicals to kill bacteria in the pipes . With no bacteria to to eat the poo, the brown or green algae does. kinda yucky we drink it.

Most everything likes oxygen, it also likes co2, buy using the airsone it increases the dissolved gasses in the water making it more available to organisms that need it. a skimmer usually does part of that job.


Itll be easier in my opinion to scrub it out, probably an hour, the other way would take longer.

So in my opinion, if you did a big scrub and a water change...... the next day the tank would look great!

most folks are afraid of scrubbing the rocks and interrupting the cycle, so im guessing that is why you got the big refugium. but if its out of control I think its a good idea.

so I personally would
disconnect the 100 gal. from the System leave a powerhead in it. to keep it flowing and moving.
take out the big rocks in the display and scrub them with some of the water from the 100 gal. and peroxide(5%) and rinse well twice with the fresh salt water(from the 100 tap or no its ok).
put them back in the display
do a 20% or more refill WaterChange of the display with new no tap saltwater
put in prime and stability follow the directions on the bottle.

Dont do the rock in the sump this time . Do that next week when you do the next big WC.(you want to leave some of the old bacteria in there)

check the PH after you finish the scrub, it may be low, the airstone will help.
If the LFS has chato, put it in the sump on the rock. its a refugium. it will help with the PH & bacteria.
do another 10 or 20% wc for the next couple weeks.

it should be a $75 to 80 dollar fix and take 8 hours or less the first day.

I think youll see pretty fast change the first couple weeks. If you get algae starting agin, wait until WC day and scrub lightly and siphon when you do the WC.

in a month itll be a different tank. in 6 weeks Id start shopping for easy coral. (after we talk about your light)

A refugium so you know, is a place for extra bacteria to live and grow macro algae. the macro algae will outcompete the bad algae in the display. so you keep algae in the fuge so no algae is in the Display.

the things to test for daily after you do this are ammonia and the ph. both are bad for the fish. the stability and prime are added bacteria to keep the ammonia out and a slime coat for the fish. and the airstone and chato will help the ph stay stable.

[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] did I miss anything?

"Nothing good happens fast in this hobby only bad things happen overnight, if you think you go slow, slow down even more"