Brown Algae

I have hada 34 gallon setup now for about 3 months or so. I use RO water and changed the water a few times but I keep getting brown alge on the rocks and sand. Tank light is pretty new it's just a florscent light blue and white nothing fancy. Ill be getting an HQI soon. Is there s simple way to control this? All I have in the tank is sand and rock should I get some snails and shrimp to control it?

I have not testes the water as of yet I'm going today to geta kit and see what's going on. I have been leaving the light off to keep it under control but when I turn it on within 2 day's it starts to come back. Any ideas?

 

You asked if you should get some snails......do you have a cleaning crew period? You should really get some snails and maybe a few small hermits to roam around in there and help you clean up if you don't.

 

Thanks for the reply Johnny. As of now I have no cleaning crew. I'm about to head out and get me some. Is alge soemthing we will just have to deal with? I hate the brown color on my pretty white sand.

 

Got alot of that going on in my 55..going on 5 weeks of cycle....started adding cleaning crew..lights on about 8 hours a day...things are cleaning up nicely....
Good luck
LG

 

Clean up Crew + salt with less bio-available silica will ehlp you out a bunch. Here is a good salt comparison chart:

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Re:Which salt? - Reef Cleaners Support

 

How many members of a cleaning crew would you recommend for a 20 gal tall with live rock?
Currently I have two snails and 5 hermits. I know this is not enough, but how many would everyone recommend?

Thanks

 

light should not exceed 12 hrs daily & if you want to cotrol thise algee use terboo snail by the way thise kind of algea in the new set up tank is normal beacuse of cycle period the time that nitrate shoot up algea take the chance too appear ,cleane youre glass ,mix the live sand turn the effective area , after some time thise algea will disapper , or you can add kh buffer ,kalkwasser this kined of brown algea did not like this addative ,thise is my openion.

 

Dark126 is right about the light. Limiting the light will limit control it somewhat. But turbo snails just concentrate on rocks and glass. They are great for that. They won't touch the sand.

Do not mix the sand. The "sea bed" is best left alone. Get a clean up crew to eat it up. If you mess the LR or the LS, you risk setting off a mini-cycle.

Talk to johnmaloney....reefcleaners.org and get a custom clean up crew suited for you. John will take care of you.

Peace.......John.

 

I went and got about 6 turbo snails. There was good amount of Brown Algie on the back wall of the tank and all over the rock,, tanks was still in it's cycle. I now know why they call them turbo snails. Within 3 to 4 day's the snail got rid of every bit of the brown alge and it has not came back. I hope there is enough in the tank to keep them feed.

Should I remove some of them? If alge is controled a lot by water quality and there is little alge for the snails to eat on should I remove some of them and just keep like 3 or so?