Need help dealing with brown algae outbreak

[yavaar19]

Hello everyone.

I am currently dealing with a problem with my 48 gallon tank. The tank has been cycled for about 3 months now. I have 3 clownfish, 1 anemone, 1 mushroom and 2 acros....Since last week, my tank has been filling up with brown algae and i cannot get it to stop overtaking the tank or clear it out altogether....I did a 35% water change to clear a lot of it out but it came back again....i added Seachem Phosguard to my filtration but still the same.....the brown algae attaches to the rocks and on the sand they are like strings brown algae....I tried turning off lighting altogether for 2 days straight and most of it went away....but as soon as i turn the lights back on, it comes back stronger than before.....i do not think the lighting is the problem...i think that there is an underlying issue that i cannot fix or understand.....I would really appreciate some help on how to clear my tank of this crap and get it to stop growing as well....my water parameters are as follows:

Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
pH: 8
Phosphate: 0.01
Calcium: 500
Alkalinity: 7

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Ron Reefman]

WOW! A new member here with a question and nobody replies?

It sounds like you have dino algae. Search here as lots of people have had the problem and there are lots of answers.

 

[Ippyroy]

Hello everyone.

I am currently dealing with a problem with my 48 gallon tank. The tank has been cycled for about 3 months now. I have 3 clownfish, 1 anemone, 1 mushroom and 2 acros....Since last week, my tank has been filling up with brown algae and i cannot get it to stop overtaking the tank or clear it out altogether....I did a 35% water change to clear a lot of it out but it came back again....i added Seachem Phosguard to my filtration but still the same.....the brown algae attaches to the rocks and on the sand they are like strings brown algae....I tried turning off lighting altogether for 2 days straight and most of it went away....but as soon as i turn the lights back on, it comes back stronger than before.....i do not think the lighting is the problem...i think that there is an underlying issue that i cannot fix or understand.....I would really appreciate some help on how to clear my tank of this crap and get it to stop growing as well....my water parameters are as follows:

Salinity: 1.025
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 5 ppm
pH: 8
Phosphate: 0.01
Calcium: 500
Alkalinity: 7

Any help would be appreciated!

Most likely they are diatoms. Hard to tell without pics. There is basically nothing to be done but wait them out. They eat silicates which are in the sand. The silicates will eventually all be eaten and the diatoms will go away. If you are using tap water that is another issue. Tap water commonly has silicates in it as well. Diatoms are a very temporary issue that will go away as fast as they appeared. Just give it some time.

 

[thedon986]

Definitely post up a good clear photo with mostly white lights but does sound like dinos getting stringy.

 

[reefdoink]

Sounds like Dinos as others stated. If you're using GFO or a bacteria such as vibrant, Microbacter clean it can cause the nitrates and phosphates to be real low. Dinos normally will happen anyway when the bacteria population is building and reaching maturity.