brown algea taking over substrate need input ASAP

[Jonathan G.]

the past two weeks my tank has been battling some brown algea type stuff on my substrate and i dont know what exactly it is or how to get rid of it all. here's the schpeel so we get the facts right. i have a 75gAGA with a 150g rated wet/dry filter with a mag7 as my return, 2 maxi jet 900's, a penguin 330 to help remove surface slime, about 40lbs live rock and a skimmer. Now i have recently built my own hood for my PC retrofit from ahsupply, about 3 weeks ago, and until then everything was good but now after i have my lights on this brown algea type stuff has been taking over my substrate. i set up my tank in febuary and have plenty of snails and have some hermits but plan to add more, also have 1 emerald mythrax and 1 red mythrax crab. as for fish i have two baby O. clowns, a lawnmower blenny, and a 6 line wrasse. i had a rainford goby, court jester, but he died from unknown reasons.

now at first the algea was just in one spot and i thought it might have been from low flow but it slowly progressed to the other side of my tank and quickly took it over, but it hasn't grown on the live rock at all. i did a quick 15g water change and did so again a day later. i vacuumed all troubled spots and also cleaned out my overflow and my powerheads as it was in there too. i thought i had gotten rid of it after the two water changes and leaving my lights off for a few days but here i am after two days of having my lights on and its starting to grow again. also after it started to build up before i did the two water changes i noticed little air bubbles on the top of it forming, i dont know if this is a sign of diatoms or cyano or just algea but it is bugging me. sorry for the long thread but TYIA to any suggestions or advice to handle this

 

[wrighty]

Hi Jonathon - Sounds like typical new tank syndrome diatomic algae to me -
tank was set up in Feb but with no lights until 3 weeks ago - with no lights there was nothing for the algae to feed on thats why it has only just developed

Diatoms and Cyno (which may be the bubbling you describe) are very common in newly set up tanks and do ulimatley subside wiithout any need for intervention on your part

Continue with water changes weekly and remove what you can at that point - other than that no need to worry

I have had cyno outbreaks on all my tanks and it always goes away it just a matter of time - same with diatoms

Rhowphos was helpful when I had a particularly stubborn attack on one of my reefs as it removes silicates in addition to Phosphates and diatoms construct their skeletons from silicates

Steve

 

[Jiddy]

You could always get could agae like caulpera which will also absorb the light

 

[Ed Hahn]

Jonathan,
I did not see if you were using Reverse Osmosis water or RO/Dionized water? Your water source could contribute to algae outbreak. Your tank being pretty new this is quite common. When your Live Rock goes from one environment to next(different light), you have die off of coraline algae, that die off create phosphates. I am sure new algae will form in the future if you can control your phospates. Phosphates interupt the calcification of corals and coraline algae. If it were me I would add more live rock slowly and use the best skimmer I could find. I recommend good water movement, water changes with filtered water, and time.
Thats my opinion, but I make a lot of mistakes..I hope your diatoms go away fast.
good luck,
Ed

 

[NaH2O]

How are your water parameters? I also feel this is just part of a new tank going through the various blooms. As Ed mentioned RO/DI water is very important when trying to eliminate excess nutrients. The air bubbles you see are just a product of the algae's respiration. They get trapped in it. Algae's favorite food....nutrients and light.

 

[Jonathan G.]

nitrates are around 20 everything else is 0, pH 8.2-.3, cal 470-480ppm. dont test for phosphates but i usually buy a phosphate pad every other week or so to put in my penguin330 as reassurance. and no i dont use ro-di water but i all of my lfs use our tap water and have no problems with keeping corals or the problem i am having. i am planning on getting one but until then i use my brita filter.

 

[NaH2O]

I would try and get your nitrates down. Cyano likes nitrogen. You can test your mix water for nitrates, too. That way you know if the nitrate problem is coming from the source water (Salifert tests can be performed on freshwater also, so you can test your tap). Things in your tank will likely be different than the LFS, regardless if you have the same set-up. Your bioload, feeding, maintenance, etc all play a role in comparison to what they do.

Hope this helps!