Red or Brown algae/bacteria problem please help

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Emonger88

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
10
Location
Harrisonburg, Va
Hello everyone,
I'm fairly new to saltwater aquariums and recently purchased a 75g saltwater aquarium off of a guy i work with. This guy just completly ignored this tank and everything in it. Getting to the point the tank has about 60-70lbs of live rock and ive had the tank setup now for alil over a month and when i got the tank the rocks where pretty bare(no coraline algae etc) and now its a redish looking brown substance covering the rock and the coraline algae that had begun to take off. All my water paramaters are good execpt the nitrates are around 20ppm. The tanks runs 2 rena xp2 canisters and a penguin bio wheel 350. I also have 2 powerheads at opposite ends. Tank inhabitants are percula clownfish,blue hippo tank,teardrop butterfly,chocolate chip starfish, and a scarlet cleaner shrimp and 5 turbo snails and some small crabs. Ill post up some pics and if someone could help me identify the algae/bacteria i would appreciate it. It really doest look like "red slime" algae. It has a brown and redish color to it and im also seeing some green algae.
 

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Heres a few more close pictures of some of whats happening on the lr. Thanks
 

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Looks like diatoms to me. When moving the tank if to did not clean the sand, or the rocks were out of water too long- their may have been die off in the rocks and the sand not being cleaned and shuffled around in the move could have caused some unfun stuff to surface and cause a cycle. Usually as diatoms arrive it means the cycle is over
 
The move transition took bout a 2 hours but the LR stayed in tank water that we put in a plastic tote. We saved about 50g of the original water and i replaced the other 25g with D/I water. Whats the best method to get rid of these diatoms/algae. I purchased some ChemiClean but am hessitant to use it becuse id rather not turn my tank into a big medicine bowl.
 
And phosphate media isn't a medicine. It's like carbon for phosphates. It sits in a media bag in your sump for months until it turns brown and you switch it out.
 
Thanks for the info. Correct me if im wrong but i was under the impression "diatoms" consumed nitrates. That being said the im wondering why i still have a nitrate level of around 20ppm? Im thinking im nearing the end of the cycling because all other water parameters are good. In both of my rena xp2's im using 2 20ppi and 2 30ppi filters in the lower basket and in the upper basket im using the ceramic rings so maybe ill get a good phosphate media for atleast one of them.
 
You could actually have a reading higher than 20 ppm if the algae wasn't there. Most algaes throw off water reading btw.
 
I too just finished my cycle and am experiencing golden diatoms in my 75G. I am limiting the light (6hrs or so per day) and also going to do a 35-40% water change this weekend (I have been doing 15% changes weekly while cycling). I also think it's time for me to get some snails in there as well as some phosphate media.

I agree with Jlsardina, algae and diatoms throw off readings. Yes diatoms consume nitrates but if they (diatoms) weren't in there your nitrate levels would be through the roof. The reason is the diatoms are consuming as much as they possible can and what you are left with in your tests is the remainder they haven't consumed.

Keep us posted!
 
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