Starting to get brown algae

[dearis]

G'day,

I am starting to get brown tinge to my coral gravel, the tank is only 12days old and its not cycled is it normal to get that brown tinge/algae so soon? the tank is full with cycled rock if that will help

and will it correct itself once cycling has happened?

and what will eat it?

Regards Darren

 

[MartinE]

Hi Darren, you can get brown diatoms any time you have the lighting on a normal schedule and in new tanks it is normal. You can cut the lighting back a little until your tank is fully cycled, or if you have no ammonia and nitrite and your nitrate looks fairly low you can start to add some snails to help you with them. You did not say how big your tank is, or what your water parameters are.
Happy Reefing and

:welcome:

 

[Sponge_Bob]

Yep, more details are needed. Here's a list of things you should provide us in order to help us help you.

- Tank size
- Sump size if any
- Lighting (Watts / Type)
- Substrate and thinkness
- Number of pounds of Live Rocks
- Filtration
- Water parms : Ammo, Nititre, Nitrate, pH, Temp.
- Any powerheads in your tank for circulating water / water flow

Brown algea is common in new tanks and it's not an option. You have to through that stage. It's pain in the anal fin, but it's a sign that the tank is slowly maturing. Be prepared, you will have brown diatoms for a long time (several months). As said above, snail like Astrea sp. will help you with that. So would a Kole Tang. But all those things can not be added right off the bat. Your Nitrates will indicate if you can or can not add some of the above.

Waiting for your response for further comments and advices.

 

[dearis]

ok the tank is

75 litres
ph is 7.9 a little low but still getteng salt right if that makes a differencs,

no sump
30kg live cycled rock
nitrite 0ppm

and the amonia well im waiting for my test kit to get here

Regards Darren

this tank is an ar510 with the filtration built in, the lighting 40w fluros, one white one blue.

Have had a smaller tamk running and look some filter water and gravel from that tank.

Regards Darren

P.S. Have started planning a 10ft x 2.5ft x 2.5ft however i am unsure of all the things i need to get have an idea of most things but does anyone have a list of the common accesories needed.....

e.g.
sump size/design
skimmer size and all the other things to want a keep a full reef fish/coral/clams the works, we have built a room in our knew house to be the tank room one side will be a reef system then on the other wall facing into another room(behind my bar) a predator tank

any assistance would be awesome

 

[Anonymous]

Time to start adding a few critters. Don't go balistic, but I'd add a fighting conch to the bottom to eat those diatoms. If you like hermit crabs, get a few scarlet legs. I like watching them...interesting. Some people hate hermits.

 

[dearis]

Will they be ok even thought the tank hasnt gone up and back to 0ppm?

we like coral banded shrimp would they be ok?

 

[Sponge_Bob]

Will they be ok even thought the tank hasnt gone up and back to 0ppm?

we like coral banded shrimp would they be ok?

Make sure you get a mated pair if you plan on having more than one. Otherwise, you are in for some serious shrimp fights.

 

[Len]

You'll likely battle through many phases of algae. My algae is finally disappearing after 5 months. I started with brown diatoms like you. It lasted about 2 weeks, then I "dusted" them off with my hands and they never returned. However, different algaes took its place, from bryopsis to hair to all sorts of weird algaes in between. It's finally all disappearing, so you may have to be patient.

I wouldn't add snails and other herbivores until after the tank is more mature. Don't worry about the diatoms. Provided you are maintaining the tank well, it will go away shortly.

 

[dearis]

Will wait I think, with the first tank i ever did i never had this, however i never used live rock i guess

Regards Darren

 

[Omni2226]

My tank is about 6 weeks old now. The brown diatoms are fading and some green hairy stuff is showing.

But my pride and joy is a very lovely bloom of cyno bacteria.Lovely shade of pukeish purple

I think it takes a couple of years to get a marine system looking "right".

 

[Nautilus1]

I always found it interesting that diatoms grow in evryones tank. Diatoms require silica to grow. Where is the silica coming from?

 

[Omni2226]

Dust in the air, in the water.

 

[biotech_chris]

Silica can come from a number of places. Well water and municipal supplies can be heavy with it.

I just watched a Discovery Channel program on water treatment, and one of the phases of cleaning water for drinking is silica finings along with a polymer to remove impuritites (a lot like diatom filters). Trace silica can also come from root invaded pipes in a city supply.