I’ve had my 55 gal marine tank for over 2 yrs now. I have a small cluster of corals, 1clownfish, 1 angelfish, 1 6 line wrasse, 1 yellow tail damsel, and a lawnmower blenny. My water parameters are all good. I thought phos might be the culprit but last test showed 0.25. I do a 15% water change every 2 weeks with R0 bottled water. I have 2 filters - one canister and 1 hang on, a protein skimmer and a uv sterilizer connected to my canister filter. I cannot for the life of me correct the over abundance of brown algae. I’ve added phosphate controlling media to my canister filter along with charcoal. I’ve even tried having lights off for days. Lights are LEDs. Please help! Sherry
How do I beat brown algae?
- Thread starter SherryB65
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Brown algae could be a variety of organisms. Can you describe it more?
I am in a similar boat. Watching thread for help
Brown/green kinda fuzzy looking and short.. only on rocks and glass ..never on the sand.
Tuxedo Urchins clean it up very well.
Brown/green kinda fuzzy looking and short.. only on rocks and glass ..never on the sand.
Tuxedo Urchins clean it up very well.
IMO, dealing with problem algae like this is best done either biologically by having organisms that eat it, or, in a very bad case, removing rocks individually and treating them outside the aquarium with thinks like hydrogen peroxide.
You all got emerald cards and a turbo snail? My tank is still new but I can't seem to build algae. First sign of green hair algae got a quarter inch. I added the emerald and haven't had algae since, I do no in time I will get it.
Crabs. I hate not proof reading
Or is that just diatomaceous?
Used hydrogen peroxide a bit ago . It helped alot but it came back a fair bit . Nutrients were high though. Now that I got the vodka dose working and nutrients are in Check. hoping critters will clean it up. And be able to keep up. I understand silicate can be a problem as much as phosphates .. is silicates something I should try figure out ?
I am right with you in this endeavor. My tank is 3+ years, my first reef tank was 1990 and I still struggle with algae. If not for my clean up crew and weekend maintenance I would be over run with algae. All tanks have Algae. All bodies of water have algae. Its more about control than trying to eradicate.
Controlling algae usually needs multiple methods for success, maintenance, equipment, live stock, lighting and water chemistry.
Older tanks with sand bottoms can become problematic search rip clean.
Controlling algae usually needs multiple methods for success, maintenance, equipment, live stock, lighting and water chemistry.
Older tanks with sand bottoms can become problematic search rip clean.
Are you using Tap water from faucet or RODI water ? If RoDI- are cartridges expired?I am right with you in this endeavor. My tank is 3+ years, my first reef tank was 1990 and I still struggle with algae. If not for my clean up crew and weekend maintenance I would be over run with algae. All tanks have Algae. All bodies of water have algae. Its more about control than trying to eradicate.
Controlling algae usually needs multiple methods for success, maintenance, equipment, live stock, lighting and water chemistry.
Older tanks with sand bottoms can become problematic search rip clean.
is tank at or near a window?
have you changed lighting schedule ?
Tank does Not look terrible, honestly
RO water, carts are changed as recommended and I test for TDS always zero. Under the microscope I have GHA, Diatoms and Dino's.
UV changed last week and 14 months prior, (bulb was very clean) and is set to low flow.
I test every other month with ICP usually in Redfield ratio. When I am out of balance I dose no3 or po4 I also use Moonshiners system.
I think my sand bed is killing me. If you look at this picture we are one week after 10% water change via vacuuming the sand bed. exactly four weeks from change the bed is a matt of algae.
I can tell when the four weeks is up by looking at the bed (1.5" of sand on average)
I blow off the rocks before the change and add internal canister with micron filter and add carbon reactor to sump and run them for two days during my 10% monthly weekend water change. Socks are changed weekly without fail. RS 300 skimmer, Apex, trident Red sea blue bucket matched perfectly to tank for changes.
No window, in man cave. No carbon dosing no aminos. I use Selcon twice a month on the J. Sprung Nori and feed Rods, LRS fresh shrimp clams Ocean nutrition and Hikari pellets.
And tank looks ok but I do struggle and I am trying to level up.
Real issue is the GHA right now likes to grow on certain torches you know the expensive ones and the sand looks nasty after week two.
The RS 90's are 100% blue 60% white ramp up and down two hours each way and 12 hour total duration. lighting not changed in over a year.
ICP parameters or good. The most GHA I ever had was with a fuge with Chaeto when I removed the Chaeto the GHA left with it go figure.
I also dose Biodigest once a week.
I have even dosed Vibrant three times over the last three years (it works for a while with no issues) just not the answer.
Any input would be appreciated by all of us who struggle with nuisance algae.
Thanks
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Not really
One culprit is Reed roids - They are well known for increasing Phosphates which promote algae.
Try dropping whites to 45% and cut percentage of food per feeding and see if this helps (will take effect about day 3 to notice)
For GHA and cyano, some good snails are Astrea-trochus-trochus-nerite-nassarius
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Turbo snails for the win. In 2 hrs it has cleaned off 1/3 of the back of my 180 gallon. The other two are on the new rocks
They really come from city water, if you're using rodi water, it helps to eliminate silicates. The only other trusted working method is use rowaphos. That will keep phosphates down but also removes silicates... Heard seachem also makes a good product.
Hello All - I have a 75 gallon tank that’s been running since late May of 2022.
PO4 .08, Nitrates 0, Alk 8.8, ph 7.9
For the past few months (maybe longer) I’ve been dealing with bubble algae. Been scraping/siphoning, added emerald crabs, a one spot Foxface (yes, I release I’ll likely need to re-home him in a couple of years) and it keeps coming back. Crabs and Foxface don‘t seem to be making a dent.
Getting tired of spending a couple hrs each weekend scraping rocks (in addition to regular cleaning and water change). Now, my rockscape is getting pretty jacked - moving a bit with scraping, super glue cracking loose.
Talked with my LFS, who helped with tank set-up, etc and they recommended taking out the rock (maybe 1/3 to 1/2), scrubbing it clean and dipping it in peroxide for 5 min. They say to wait a week or so before doing the next 1/3 to 1/2 of the rock so some of the good stuff can grow back on the rock that was dipped. The recommended mix was a 3:1 ratio of saltwater to peroxide.
I decided to post here as I saw Randy’s post above about using peroxide outside the tank.
my questions are:
1) I bought the 3% peroxide - would that be the one to use in a 3:1 ratio or would a higher concentration be needed?
2) Thoughts on this method?
3). I have some corals - not a ton. I could remove probably all of them except for a ricorida. Otherwise, I have 4 zoas (one isn’t doing too well from scraping bubble algae around it, 2 others have some bubble algae on the base), 2 torches, 1 hammer (some bubble algae on the skeleton), a Duncan, and a rhodactis that’s doing ok but not great. Would you remove these before dipping and just clean manually or dip them with the rock?
PO4 .08, Nitrates 0, Alk 8.8, ph 7.9
For the past few months (maybe longer) I’ve been dealing with bubble algae. Been scraping/siphoning, added emerald crabs, a one spot Foxface (yes, I release I’ll likely need to re-home him in a couple of years) and it keeps coming back. Crabs and Foxface don‘t seem to be making a dent.
Getting tired of spending a couple hrs each weekend scraping rocks (in addition to regular cleaning and water change). Now, my rockscape is getting pretty jacked - moving a bit with scraping, super glue cracking loose.
Talked with my LFS, who helped with tank set-up, etc and they recommended taking out the rock (maybe 1/3 to 1/2), scrubbing it clean and dipping it in peroxide for 5 min. They say to wait a week or so before doing the next 1/3 to 1/2 of the rock so some of the good stuff can grow back on the rock that was dipped. The recommended mix was a 3:1 ratio of saltwater to peroxide.
I decided to post here as I saw Randy’s post above about using peroxide outside the tank.
my questions are:
1) I bought the 3% peroxide - would that be the one to use in a 3:1 ratio or would a higher concentration be needed?
2) Thoughts on this method?
3). I have some corals - not a ton. I could remove probably all of them except for a ricorida. Otherwise, I have 4 zoas (one isn’t doing too well from scraping bubble algae around it, 2 others have some bubble algae on the base), 2 torches, 1 hammer (some bubble algae on the skeleton), a Duncan, and a rhodactis that’s doing ok but not great. Would you remove these before dipping and just clean manually or dip them with the rock?
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