What's up with the brown algea

[20 gallon nano]

I got brown algea everywhere, my tank has been up for almost a year and this algea just recently started showing up all over my sand and rocks. Anyone know how to stop it.I'm not getting much success on getting green algea anywhere. Purple caraline would be better but it seems impossible , I tried scraping purple rocks , I tried caraline algea boosting chemicles. Nothing really works.

 

[kevinsmixed90]

if you raise your magnesium level above 1380 (slowly!) you will get coralline making sure your alk. is around 9 and cal. around 420. once I raised my mag i even have coralline covering my sump! As to the brown algae (diatoms) I just finished battling it myself. what I did is took small airline tubing to siphon it off the corals and live rock, also reduced the amounts I was feeding, several small water changes and just kept at it every day and after two weeks I got it all. So, keep at it and you will get it!

 

[20 gallon nano]

I don't have a mag and calcium test kit, I think then that means I need purchase them. I will get some more snails to see if they can take care of the brown algea.

 

[kevinsmixed90]

FWIW, reefs2go seem to always have decent deals on snails and hermit crabs but I really would try to siphon as much as you can (I know its a pain) but the stuff grows so fast the snails and such need your help to get out in front of it. and when you can a test kit for calcium and one for magnesium would really help to keep the best water for your tank. hope this helps.

 

[20 gallon nano]

Yea but this brown algea only apears when the lights turn on. If I sifon it out I think it would just come back the next day the lights turn on. Right?

 

[eashton123]

I would get a media reactor float some GFO in it if you don't already. Also a run a protein skimmer clean the cup every 3-5 days. Use RODI water. Restock the cleanup crew. Feed less. Your phosphates are probably to high.

 

[20 gallon nano]

I have a pack of seachem phosgard and purigen in my sump, it must not be enough.I use tap water with clorine ,chloramine eliminator. And I do have a aquamaxx em200 protein skimmer which barely get full of skimate

 

[kevinsmixed90]

In my case , yes it did come back for a little while but I got on top of it. hopefully at some point you can get a RO/DI setup but you should be able to adjust you skimmer to be more effective. it takes time to find the "sweet spot" for the air adjustment. also to see if its phosphate if you don't test for it try feeding other than flake food for a while . the whole brown algae episode lasted about two months before it was completely gone, so stay with it

 

[20 gallon nano]

Yea I know I need one but there expensive. I don't have that much live stock at this point and I'm still getting my protein skimmer to break in. I tested my phosphate levels and its at 0 so I know that must not be the issue.

 

[20 gallon nano]

I added some cheatomorpha in the sump, will this help?

 

[kbourque]

Get you some cerith snails they worked great for me.

 

[20 gallon nano]

I read they are amnivores, does that mean they can eat my corals? I introduced a star fish to get rid of the brown algea but it ate one of my corals so now it down in the sump.

 

[luxauterna]

chaeto will help with phosphate and nitrate removal. Your phosphate test may be reading zero, but that is probably because of the algae utilizing the phosphate to produce more algae. Keep the chaeto going, and hopefully that will help. The tap water is probably a big contributor to the algae growth. Cerith snails will not eat your corals. Certain sea stars are not reef safe (chocolate chips). Linkias & sand-sifting stars are reef safe. Sand sifters do a great job of stirring up the sand, but neither are primary algae eaters. Snails will do the work for you, but I agree with the idea of siphoning if you have a lot of it.

 

[reefbeard]

Cerith snails work great for brown algae in a reef tank. A combination of GFO, Skimming, Chaeto, Snails (Cerith, Trochus and Fighting Conch) and small weekly water changes using RO/DI water work wonders. Watch your PO4 and NO3 levels.

 

[20 gallon nano]

I got a big chunk of cheatomorpha , I will grab some snails if I can find those. Yea now I know that about my chocolate chip after it ate the whole coral up. I've been always using tap water, this brown algea just apeared out of no where. I wish I could afford a ro-di filter but at this point I can't.

 

[reefbeard]

Diatom Brown algae thrives on the silicates found in tap water. RO/DI will help reduce the amount of silicates transported to your tank via the water supply. Of course silcates can be introduced to your system via sand, rock, etc. Usually part of a new tank outbreak, the diatoms will die off once they have depleted their food source. Keep excess nutrient levels in check as well and test your nitrate and phosphate levels.

 

[20 gallon nano]

I use tap water for my auto top off also, is there anything that can remove the silicates out of tap water before I add it into the tank?

 

[reefbeard]

Rowaphos fluidized in a media reactor has been my go to for a while now. I have used Seachem Phosgaurd years ago in a media bag placed in my sump filter sock. Both will bind phosphates and silicates.

 

[jsker]

Yes, get a RO/DI system. This solved my algie issues. There are a lot of systems out there, do not go cheap either. Some of the more expensive systems are less in the long run with media changes

 

[20 gallon nano]

Did you have any better results after changing from seachem phosgard?