brown algae

hi there i had my 50G tank up for a month now and was thinking the cycle was done????? but now i'm geting brown algae in the tank i been testing all my ph ammonia nitrite and nitrate there all ok but the ammonia is starting to spike it went to 0.50 and now it's at 0.25 i'm trying to do water chang's 25% and i still can't get the ammonia down now i'm trying to use api ammo lock it's a ammonia detoxifier to help but still have ammonia what can i do to help should i try a 50% water change i have two trigger's in there now i was thinking of turning off the skimmer and see what that would do because when i add the ammo lock the skimmer will clean it out right

 

I have the same stuff occasionally. Try to get as much of it off the glass as possible without releasing all the spores into the water. Paper towels work pretty well for this, as does filter floss...just keep using new pieces of it.

Do you test for phosphate?

Did you overfeed (WAY WAY overfeed?). I would think after a month it would be good, but have you added anything recently?

Try taking your LR and rotating it 360degrees to get any trapped air out of its crevices. << Could be the cause of some die-off, but I am not sure.

Best of luck

 

Brown algae (diatom) blooms are perfectly normal is a new tank as are fluctuations in ammonia/nitrite/nitrates. Sounds to me like your tank hasn't finished cycling yet and changing water during this time is going to stall the cycle even further. Adding two dumptrucks (triggers) to a new tank is not a good idea as they are producing more waste than your system can handle at the moment.

 

1st off, diatoms are perfectly normal. Are you using tap water or RO/DI? Diatoms can sometimes be attributed to high silicate levels. Do you have a CUC? They will usually take care of the problem as well.

 

i use tapwater buy i mix it with prime by seachem i don't know what i can do to stop the ammonia and i'll try that filter floss thank's

 

I'd get RO water from your LFS and use that. Tap is a bad idea and will cause problems in the future (let alone it might be a problem now).

 

brown algea isnt to bad its part of the cycle.But I agree you did put those triggs in to soon boss.I let my tank sit for about almost 2 months with damsels in it and thats it live rock of course but gettin the fish you really wanna keep in the tank I would suggest lettin your tank mature a little bit longer before spendin on the expensive stuff.

 

There is your problem right there Diatoms that you see are brown and dead the brown dusting that you see on the rocks and bottom are the remains you can't see a live one with the naked eye. Now they feed on silica and when the silicate's are consumed they die. Now with a R/O D.I replacement water the silicates are removed and then you reach a point of no food no diatoms . But with what you use in Tap water you keep feeding them..the cycle never ends. You have to use at least R/O water and R/O D.I is the best. OOP's I just answered your origional question on page one .. Man you are screwing up on so many levels its not funny you have seriouly overloaded this little tank with the worse fish there are as for making fish crap from fish food LOL and then to keep adding the water you are using .. Time for you to drop back and punt. Good luck

 

+1 on that!

I believe you are going way too fast for something that needs so much patience. And this, in the end, will completely turn you off on the hobby because you will be fighting problem after problem. JMO

 

<P>well then it's time for plan B and that's more $$$$$$$$<IMG alt=0 src="http://www.3reef.com/forums/images/smilies/cool.gif" border=0 smilieid="6">&nbsp; LOL thank's for all your help and i was thinking i had the cycle down i had the tank for a month and put in 1 clown fish he was good for two week so i got the trigger's and put then in and got the clown fish out and then all that brown algae came then ammonia spike up and down so i got the trigger's out there at the FS till my tank get ok </P>