ugly looking tank..algae

[tpaparazzo]

Man..I purcahsed a custom sealife powercompact with moonlights..Well i love the lights..But ever since I purcahsed I have had massive algae problems..Brown and green...I have cut back on the feeding...added some more snails...I have been using regular tap water for the lack of an ro/di..Which I finally broke down and bought on ebay...

Once I get this ro/di will this help get rid of the brown algae..The green algae is getting bad too..But I can live with that but the brown is just plain horrible looking on a white sandy substrate..Its very frustrating...

Should I cut back on the lighting,just 100lbs of liverock..(no corals yet)(after the ro/di and some water changes)..I have the lights on

8am 50/50 come on
9am 10000k come on
8pm 10000k go off
9pm 50/50 go off
moonlights on

Thanks

Tony

 

[Electrobes]

how large is your tank? How many snails do you have? As mentioned in other posts you'll ned to not only get more snails but also have to manually help them out by removing some yourself. Water changes are a bad idea either, and cutting back your feedings wasn't bad either.

 

[tpaparazzo]

75gallons--I have about 15 snails all together, some hermits and a couple of emeralds..Think I need more snails???

 

[Electrobes]

Oh yeah I would add some more.. I agree with the a snail for every 1.5-2 gallons general rule of thumb. As I elarned recently crabs are essential, they do help a little. But remember that the snails will need some help too, the super algae, a little too long for some snails may need to get mowed down some by you.

 

[steve-s]

As long as you keep using tap water, you may also wish to look into a good quality PO4 sponge. Tap water is usually higher in both silicates and phosphates. The green alage's will love any amount of PO4 in the tank. The sponge will help remove them both...

Skimmer?

Cheers
Steve

 

[jks1]

i sthis a new tank. With your change in lighting i would expect algae. Once your herbivores get up to speed, this will settle out