Algae taking over!

Please tell me if this is normal it is getting out of control. This is my first tank 75g and I think its getting rather dirty. I have 10 snails but i need more cleaning. Will this go away?

 

Welcome to 3reef
How old is your tank?

 

How long has the tank been set up because the algae on the sand looks like a normal brown diatom bloom to me. If however the tank has already been set up for several months then it would most likely be cyanobacteria.

Both are very common.

I need a little more info on your tank but I will go ahead and point out a few things regardless if you are already doing this.

You should be using RO water for water changes and top-offs rather than tap water

You should be doing 20% water changes every 2 weeks

you should be running a protein skimmer other nutrient export such as macro algae in a refugium

Make sure you are not overfeeding your fish.

 

Also, 10 snails is nowhere NEAR enough for your tank. Check out ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Home and look at the quick crews they have set up for a 70g tank.

 

6 weeks old

 

has your tank completed the nitrogen cycle

if so then your ammonia and nitrite levels should read zero. But what are your nitrates? Algae feed off of nitrates and phosphates, but if it's just a normal brown diatom bloom that happens at the end of every cycle, it feeds off of silicates from all the new equipment and will go away on its own as long as you keep your water quality high.

How long has the algae been like this?

 

I believe you have a bad water problem, diatoms are way out of control here, high silica minerals in the water and your lighting will affect this also. if your using ro water check the filters. i would use an anion resin to take the silica and other minerals out of this water. James

 

both at zero have it tested freq been like this about 5 days. if I wait for it to go away on its own should i still get the clean up crew?

 

regardless of if the algae goes away on its own, you still are going to need a sufficient clean up crew. Make sure your RO water reads zero TDS and just keep doing water changes. It should go away on its on. If it's still like this after a few weeks, then we need to have a detailed look at your system and water parameters. But to me this just looks like the standard diatom bloom every tanks gets at the end of a cycle.

 

tank six weeks ive been using deer park spring water for my top offs havent done a big water change yet either. still trying to get salt level down a little also