Help, Brown Algea Outbreak

[Hart62]

Ok, to make a long story short, I have a 45g tall, 3 month old tank. I have 4 clown fish and one anemene. Cleanup crew of 4 pepperment shrimp, 3 hermit crabs, and a red crab. I also have 2 sea urchins and 32lbs of live rock as well as base rock. I have one 1300gph power head, an Emperor 400 hob filter, and a protein skimmer. All levels are good, salinity is 1.024. I am scraping brown algea off the glass daily. What can I add to help with this problem? I have heard the cerinth snails would work. Please advise

 

[Trueerfan]

Cerith or Trochus both work really well

 

[chiclidlover81]

is the algae on the substrate? or is it on the glass?

 

[begginersluck]

Well he said he's scraping brown algae off the glass daily.

Have you tested for phosphate and nitrate recently? Let us know what the readings are.

Adding something to eat up the algae isn't going to get rid of it. You need to irradiate the problem from the source.

 

[chiclidlover81]

are you using tap water or ro/di?

 

[Bectan01]

Also, what kind of lighting and how long do you tub them? What is you feeding schedule? On a side note, Has it been mentioned to you that you may encounter issues with the 4 clowns?

 

[Bectan01]

*not tub, use them. What is your lighting cycle?

 

[Hart62]

ok, lets see if I can answer everything at one time. The algae is primarily on the glass, not much on the substrate because the power head keeps that pretty clean. I have tested the water and the salinity is 1.024, amonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, ph is7.8 (down from the norm of 8.2, not sure why) whats the best why to get my ph up again? I use ro water not tap water. I have T5 lights, they are on for about 3 hours in the morning and 5 hours in the evening. I feed once a day.

No problem with the clowns yet, I hope one doesn't develop. I added 10 snails, 10 hermits, a Kohl Tang and a Diamond Watchman Goby this weekend. I also did a 10% water change. Now I have 4 clowns that I see whenever they aren"t hiding in the anemone (which moved and is now hidden in a cave) and a Tang and Goby that I never see. I need to buy fish that aren't shy.

On a side note, I'm looking for a 125g if anyone knows of one nearby (Cols/Ft Benning, GA) that they're wanting to get rid of. I'm tired of being told my tank isn't big enough for the fish I want to buy. lol

 

[Bectan01]

How often do you feed your fish? Adding more fish was a really bad idea, particularly ones that aren't appropriate for your sized tank. Even though you show 0 nitrates you obviously have high levels of nutrient in the tank that is feeding the algae.

 

[Hart62]

How often do you feed your fish? Adding more fish was a really bad idea, particularly ones that aren't appropriate for your sized tank. Even though you show 0 nitrates you obviously have high levels of nutrient in the tank that is feeding the algae.

I feed once a day. Both fish are small, and I am looking for a larger tank so I can move everything. I'm tired of being told my tank is to small for most of what I want to put in it. I took a sample in to two different lfs and the water tested fine. However that's the reason for the additional clean up crew and Tang to get rid of any extra food and Algae. The tank is looking better already and the water is (knock on wood) crystal clear.

I have also discovered I have a baby long spined sea urchin... and I seem to have some new corals or plants growing on my live rock. I will post pictures so someone can tell me what it is. My base rock is starting to turn purple so I guess my coraline is spreading. I'm still trying to learn everything but it's a slow go, there's so much to learn

 

[Hart62]

Can someone tell me what these new creatures are.



Closer look


Also my anemone that has now hidden in the cave behind him. I can no longer easily see the clowns hosting.

 

[Pisces3473]

How often do you feed your fish? Adding more fish was a really bad idea, particularly ones that aren't appropriate for your sized tank. Even though you show 0 nitrates you obviously have high levels of nutrient in the tank that is feeding the algae.

I'm gonna jump in here cause I'm having the same issue. Sorry in advance, I'm not trying to to Hi-jack. I've got a 10 Gallon with 20 lbs of LR and 10 lbs of LS. One Maroon Clown, a Zoa cluster, small candy cane, open brain frag, two mushroom frags, and a yellow eyelash. I feed once a day and had the lights up pretty high last week. I went away on vacation and only the sec at the office put water in the tank. Sparkletts Distilled Water. I came back after being away for a week and brown algae every water. My LR is brown and there is some on the LS. It's growing on the glass. I feed once a day. I turned the lights down about half of what they were so slow the growth of algae. Any help appreciated.

 

[Hart62]

No worries, we are all in this together. Any help for you will surely help me as well. With all that can you identify any of my new discoveries above? With the exception of the Anemone and Clowns of course.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Algae, especially brown (which may be diatoms, not algae) grows with even tiny amounts of organic waste that many test kits cannot even detect. I run a algae scrubber and keep phosphates below .05 ppm. I still have to clean the glass every couple of days. Watch your feeding, cut it back some.

 

[Pisces3473]

I think that maroon cluster is Zoanthids. Not sure about the yellow blob. Lots of Coraline Algae, and that looks like a clam shell. Don't know about the little guy on the sand.

 

[Hart62]

I think that maroon cluster is Zoanthids. Not sure about the yellow blob. Lots of Coraline Algae, and that looks like a clam shell. Don't know about the little guy on the sand.

Thanks, yeah my Coraline Algae seems to be spreading quite well. The clam shell moves around quite a bit and the little guy on the sand is a hermit but I was hoping someone would identify that stringy algae looking stuff in front of it. It's better today but not completely gone yet.

 

[Grizz]

1st pic top left is a coral i was told there called hidden head coral they have long tendrils and will sting other coral watch them 2nd pic the clam shell is a limpet good algae eater 2nd row pic 1 looks like a yellow sponge pic 2 zoas? 3rd row looks like diatoms

 

[Hart62]

1st pic top left is a coral i was told there called hidden head coral they have long tendrils and will sting other coral watch them 2nd pic the clam shell is a limpet good algae eater 2nd row pic 1 looks like a yellow sponge pic 2 zoas? 3rd row looks like diatoms

That is the spot that my hermits killed and took over a couple of snail shells. Could that cause the diatoms?

 

[Grizz]

the snails decomposing can feed algae growth It's most likely growing there because of low flow in that spot

 

[Hart62]

So rearrange my power head?