Live sand growing algae

[jeremyhowe]

My tank has been set up for maybe 2 weeks now and is starting to grow a brownish algae only on one side of the sand. would this be caused from my light? I have a 250watt metal halide.

 

[lizardarm]

It's normal for this to happen in a newly established system and it usually passes. Do a search on Diatom algae or Cyanobacter. It's generally a combination of light and excess nutrients in the water column.
Here's a quote from another thread here on RF that I just looked at ten seconds ago-
From member Curtswearing:

Diatoms need 3 things, Nitrogen (nitrates), phosphorus, and Silica

Almost all phosphate removers also remove Silica so if you lower the levels of both of these things, you are taking away 2 of their food sources. If you also keep your nitrates down, you are taking away another of it's food sources.