brown algea

[MYTY1705]

I have a 65 gal. tank that is only one month old cycled with biospira marine then let set for two weeks. I added two triggers and now am starting to get brown/rusty algea all over tank. It is getting on power head, filter, rock and all.

With the trigger is there any clean up crew that I can get??

How do I get rid of the algea??

Is htere any thing that will eat this? Not really wanting to add more fish for a while, letting tank set for a while with these two additions for about 2 months, but will add if it will get rid of it.

 

[saltcreep1025]

tanks will normally to through a period of algae after cycling... just give it a few weeks and it will probably go away on its on.

 

[CBRGuy]

I had the same problem. Are you using Tap water or RO/DI water..

 

[SpeckledGrouper]

Snails, Snails and more snails. I have found those to be the most effective algae eaters.
I am going through it right now myself. I also got a horseshoe crab and that creature is going to town, I am worried about how to feed it when the algae is all gone.....

 

[SpeckledGrouper]

Snails, Snails and more snails. I have found those to be the most effective algae eaters.
I am going through it right now myself. I also got a horseshoe crab and that creature is going to town, I am worried about how to feed it when the algae is all gone.....

 

[MYTY1705]

I am using ro water. As for snails and horseshoe crabs, won't the trigger fish eat them??? Or will they be ok, cause I would love to have some to help out on cleaning.

 

[Nitrate]

From what I've read in these forums every trigger is different. Some may not bother a crab or snails. Mine would probably kill it before it hit the bottom of the tank.

 

[MYTY1705]

So I guess the advice would be to try something cheap and go from there??
Maybe a couple snails and a hermit on emerald??

 

[MYTY1705]

And if it doesn't work I gues I don't have to feed them krill that day.

 

[Sparky]

I was told here that I should cut back on the lighting (amount of time it is on), and to not overfeed the fish I had in there. It's hard to not feed them too much...specially if your new to this. How do you know how much to feed?

I started backing off on the food by just feeding very small increaments that I can watch the fish eat. If they didn't eat all of it when I fed them then I would not put as much in the next time. I ended up feeding them only what they could eat at the time. This way you don't have all the wasted food collecting on the substrate.

I backed off the lighting by half and that seemed to help some.

The best thing I did was get a ton of snails, I have 125 gallon tank so it took quite a few. I still stayed under the recommended snail per gallon that the LFS said.

And, of course this is part of the cycling process as I have found out. I was told here by the people in the forums that a new algea will grow to fight the brown algea, and so on,and so on.

My brown algea is gone, it took a good month and a half to get rid of it. I also think that quality lighting does has an effect on algea growth, I could be wrong.

This being a new tank expect more of the same. Everyone here has gone through the same thing, and evryone who comes after you will too. Welcome to the wonderful world of Saltwater.......

Hope this helps out. If I missed anything I am sure some others will jump in and help out.

Mike