- Joined
- Aug 22, 2008
- Messages
- 113
- Reaction score
- 68
Hey there, I have a Red Sea Reefer 170 (@40 gallon) that is 9 months old. 25 lbs of Walt Smith 2.1 rock and a marinepure plate. Running a Curve 5 skimmer and recently an Avast Spyglass with 1/2 cup GFO. Also passively running a bag of ROX carbon in the sump. Filter sock changed every 3-4 days. Video for reference...brown algae is NOT visible too much here:
I was and still get a covering of brown hairlike algae/cyano? on my rocks and sandbed. It blows and brushes off but it is annoying. It was really bad until I stopped dosing Red Sea Reef Energy, cut back on Reef Chili and I added a few more CUC members...Currently I have about 8 cerith snails...3 narrsissus snails and a handful of hermits.
Adding more snails has helped keep the rocks clean, as has adding a GFO reactor and Purigen bag....but I still get more than a dusting of this brown stuff on my sand after a few days.
I have lowered my whites quite a bit and lean more blue now....
Lately, I have been sucking out sand and replacing with rinsed clean sand...but it too gets dusted brown with this hairlike brown stuff after a few days. At this point, I'm fairly sure its bacterial.
I was thinking about adding more snails that prowl the sandbed...continuing to suck out offending brown sand, and keep up on water changes...also keep on top of replacing GFO in the reactor. Is there anything else I should be doing? Again the tank is 9 months old...and still ZERO coraline algae. Could I still just be feeling the growing pains of a newer tank?
- Nitrates - 5-7
- Alk - 8.7-9.0
- Cal - 470
- Mag - 1440
- Phosphates undetectable on basic Hanna.
- Fritz RPM salt....8 gallons a week water change
- O TDS RO/DI water out of new unit.
- 2 Clownfish, 1 Royal Gramma - fed 1 fingernail sized bit of LRS Reef Frenzy Nano daily.
- Nanobox Duo light - 80 blues, 20 whites
- Chalice frags are spot fed Reef Chili 1x per week
I was and still get a covering of brown hairlike algae/cyano? on my rocks and sandbed. It blows and brushes off but it is annoying. It was really bad until I stopped dosing Red Sea Reef Energy, cut back on Reef Chili and I added a few more CUC members...Currently I have about 8 cerith snails...3 narrsissus snails and a handful of hermits.
Adding more snails has helped keep the rocks clean, as has adding a GFO reactor and Purigen bag....but I still get more than a dusting of this brown stuff on my sand after a few days.
I have lowered my whites quite a bit and lean more blue now....
Lately, I have been sucking out sand and replacing with rinsed clean sand...but it too gets dusted brown with this hairlike brown stuff after a few days. At this point, I'm fairly sure its bacterial.
I was thinking about adding more snails that prowl the sandbed...continuing to suck out offending brown sand, and keep up on water changes...also keep on top of replacing GFO in the reactor. Is there anything else I should be doing? Again the tank is 9 months old...and still ZERO coraline algae. Could I still just be feeling the growing pains of a newer tank?
Last edited: