brown alge

[Fishthoughts]

hey guys! 120 gallon tank has cycled, nitrates are 30ppm and we have got some brown alge on the rock, how big of water changes should I do to help get rid of that brown alge?

 

[BrianAnthony]

That brown will give way to green. It's prolly diatoms right now. I would perform your normal water changes (whatever that may be) and allow your "ugly" phase to proceed. Your nitrates will come down slowly which is what you want. This is provided you are not feeding anything which it looks like your tank is empty anyway.

 

[Lavey29]

You can also cut back on your lights which aren't needed unless you have corals in the tank.

 

[Fishthoughts]

You can also cut back on your lights which aren't needed unless you have corals in the tank.

we do have corals in the tank

 

[tmccaff]

What size cleanup crew you have? I would add a bit more to help.

 

[Fishthoughts]

What size cleanup crew you have? I would add a bit more to help.

we have a couple hermits and a couple turbo 2 or 3 of each

 

[tmccaff]

Yes you need a bigger cleanup crew; Reefcleaners has good packages; I wouldn't get a 120 gallon package probably go 1/2 that and see; Always can add more. Your Nitrates a bit high though 30ppm; what kit are you testing it with?

reefcleaners.org by the way; SaltyBottomreefcompany I used before as well and have good packages. I stay away from hermits but that is just me. Hermits will eat anything if hungry enough

 

[Lavey29]

we do have corals in the tank

Oh ok, then cut them back to 6 hours on blues no whites to help mitigate the start of your tanks ugly phase. There will be multiple months of various types of algae as your tank goes through its new tank maturing process. Maintaining good water parameters, regular water changes with siphon and manual removal will help keep the ugly phase manageable. Along with a good cleaner crew.

 

[131696]

Do what I just did, no water change no light change ,get rid of the phosphates got mine down to hardly anything that brown turned to green 2 days later that green is now white about dead. keep nutrients low that problem will go away.

 

[Drich5150]

Ugly stage.

 

[131696]

Don't matter keep nutrients low won't have that problem,if hair Dino's shows up use uv

Ugly stage

 

[Lavey29]

Don't matter keep nutrients low won't have that problem,if hair Dino's shows up use uv

Would work if there are no corals in the tank. You can starve the algae but with corals you will need nutrients or they won't survive.

 

[BrianAnthony]

Yeah, I saw some corals.. I wouldn't stock anymore until your tank matures more. I think you may have added them too soon. That's why you want to perform regular water changes to bring down those nitrates slowly. Don't add any fish yet, so you aren't feeding on a regular basis. This will add to your nitrates. You have a nice size tank, so it will take some time to get the nitrates down to 5ppm. Just remember to do things slow and steady. Congrats on the diatoms though. This is good. Next, will be your green phase. Don't panic and add chemicals that you don't need. Let nature take it's course. When you see the green, get some more algae eating cleanup crew. Your corals look good right now too. (From what I see) regular water changes (20-30%) and keep the green algae (the smothering kind... Hair algae,etc) away from the corals, will give them a good chance. When your water parameters are in the good zone and your algae isn't overpowering, add some more!

 

[damsels are not mean]

hey guys! 120 gallon tank has cycled, nitrates are 30ppm and we have got some brown alge on the rock, how big of water changes should I do to help get rid of that brown alge?

just wait