New Tank Algee

[Petey]

I've got a 40g tank that has been running about 1 month now. I was expecting to start getting some algee and it's comming fast and furious now. It's a brown color and it's forming on all of the glass. I've put in 6 hermit craps to clean up the scrap food that's in the tank and put in 6 small snails. The algee definatley is too much for the snails. Is there some kind of a star fish or other critter that would love to take care of this for me?

 

[klam]

Sounds like a diatom bloom. It occurs a lot in new tanks and the diatoms should burn itself out over time and disappear. keeping up on your water quality will help.

 

[RMPD109]

This is probably diatoms which is normal/common in new setups. It will burn itself out as it uses up the excess silicates that cause it. I used hermits and mexican turbo snails in my tank and they cleared it quick. What type of snails did you purchase? Some are better at sand sifting than glass cleaning.

 

[sdaccord03]

Yea I've got the same problem in my 55 gallon that's been up for a couple weeks now. I was going to post a question about it but I guess it's already been answered!

I'm building a refugium to help with any algae and/or nitrate problems. It's pretty cheap (<$50) to build the actual unit, but the overflow box and pump were a little costly.

One nice thing about the diatoms is that my phosphates are now close to 0... too bad it makes my tank all ugly though. :?

JimW