brown slimy algae

Hi Guys,
I'm getting loads of alga (mostly coraline) however,

I'm starting to get brown algae on my sand -glass and rock,its kinda middle to left side of the tank, levels seem normal- (something to take into consideration is i left the red lights on inadvertently for the last 3 days),i did a 20% water change on sunday before adding my test fish(2 damsel 1 clown) and this has shown up today - water was ro using my own system - currently i only have a shrimp and a crab for my 4x2x2 tank - could i just whack 15 snails in to clean it? tank age approx 3 months old - any help appreciaterd:-X

 

Brown algae normal for cycling tank. Clean up crew will help but to know more about your system would be great. You could have high phosphates from feeding too much. Snails and hermit crabs are a great way to keep extra food from polouting your tank. I would post back with test parameters if you can.

 

Those look like diatoms to me. That's normal part of the cycle. Your nitrates should be zero-ing out now, which is why the diatoms are dieing off and leaving the brown scum in your tank. Turbo snails will take care of that. Post your water parameters to get a true idea how your cycle is going.

 

What do you mean when you said you left your red lights on(3 days)?
Algae blooms are commonplace wth the cycling of a new aquarium. Their really is nothing you can do to combat this problem, just let nature take its course.
I wouldn't get too carried away with snails and other invertebrates right now as the cycle will kill them, plus the avoidance of adding too many at once will be helpful in reducing the chances of starvation after the initial onslaught of the algae bloom has run its course.

 

hi guys,

thanks for responses:

Parrams have been stable last 3 weeks
parrams all in mg/l -
ammonia 0
nitrit 0
Nitrate 0.05 - 0.1

Red lights - i installed some red LED so could watch what was going on at night (see i made this thread DIY LED), apparently this helps algae grow - sure enough after 3 days of having them on I now have nice brown algae - I've cleaned most of it off and have cut back on light intensity and time and feeding - think i was overfeeding a bit- this and a few snails will hopefully solve it

Hope its not still cycling as have a few fish in their - alovely lil clown and i love my shrimp hesabout 3-4inchs long and sitson my hand to eat (he likes his flakes!)

thanks again matt

 

Greeny, I'm not sure that those leds are going to put off enough light to truly affect your algae growth it would have to be a very small and shallow tank. Like already mentioned it is just a normal cycle in the tank.

It will however give you hours of fun watching the things that go bump in the night! That end of the spectrum most of the nocturnal things in your tank wont notice so you'll see a lot of "bugs"!