Brown algae bloom

[Mac11]

my 55 reef was having no problems with algae until I switched to 260w compact fluorescents 2 weeks ago now Im trying to fight off this brown algae thats starting cover everything. Any suggestions on what I should do guys?

 

[Ingy]

Any chance it's simply diatoms? A common phenomena in newer tanks.


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[Mac11]

thats a possibility. I had a swing like this when my tank was cycling but it went away after that until now that I switched lights. My tanks been up and running for about 4 months

 

[Mac11]

I had my water tested and the parameters are all fine, except for a bit of low calcium. Im assuming my lighting schedule may have to be cut down

EDIT: I also read that play sand will cause this (which is the sand I used)

 

[Mebbid]

Yeah, I would blame the play sand on the diatom source.

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[Mac11]

So it will eventually stop giving off silica, or no?

 

[Mebbid]

Possibly, but its likely to be a very long process.

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[Mattyfelts]

diatoms will feed in silica material in the sand until there is none left. in which the diatoms will die off and be gone.

 

[Ingy]

Most play sand is granite sand. Although silica is present in granite, it CANNOT be consumed by diatoms as it is a very tight molecular structure. Just like the glass sides of the aquarium it is not a diatom feeding ground.

Coral sand and rocks are much more likely sources of silica:
Diatoms consume silica
Corals eat diatoms
Corals make their hard structure out of things they consume including the silica from diatoms.
Corals die
Dead corals become rocks and wear down to sand.
Those rocks and sand have molecularly loose silica in them which CAN feed the diatoms

And the circle of diatoms continues.


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[Mebbid]

Most play sand is granite sand. Although silica is present in granite, it CANNOT be consumed by diatoms as it is a very tight molecular structure. Just like the glass sides of the aquarium it is not a diatom feeding ground.

Coral sand and rocks are much more likely sources of silica:
Diatoms consume silica
Corals eat diatoms
Corals make their hard structure out of things they consume including the silica from diatoms.
Corals die
Dead corals become rocks and wear down to sand.
Those rocks and sand have molecularly loose silica in them which CAN feed the diatoms

And the circle of diatoms continues.


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Thats making quite a few assumptions ingy. Youre assuming the ay sand is a pure granite sand without other minerals mixed in. I dont know about you but all the play sand ive ever seen seems to be a jumble of randomness.

Ive seen the exact same argument made for a silica based sand I use for my cichlid tanks. I always have issues with diatoms in those tanks and its quite obvious that the sand is the culprit despite wide spread belief that the silica is locked away through some crystalline process never to see the darkness of a diatoms stomach again. However, with a little testing if can be easily seen that its a potent source of silica in the aquarium.

Follow the kiss rule for aquariums and keep things simple. The simplest explanation is correct more times than not.

 

[jeffaquarius]

Try reducing the intensity of light and cut the time of white to half. The frequency of light that the algae prefers is below the blue band.