brown alge

hey guys i am starting to get tons of brown alge on my sand and my rock. i had this problem last time i had a tank set up is there a way to get rid of it.

 

That is probably a diatom outbreak. It is normal. You will go through this stage and then a green algae phase. You will want to decrease your lights. That will slow it. I called the dude at the LFS (a real one) and they told me I could wash the rock with a toothbrush as long as I did it in saltwater that matched that of the tank. I was a little concerned that I would scrape off some benefitial bacteria, but the dude told me not to worry. So I did it, took the top layer of sand as well, washed it and used in my existing hospital tank.

So.........What I did was

Decrease my lights to a couple hours a day
Washed my rock
Washed my sand (in hindsight THAT was probably not a good idea)

The diatoms were under control after that. I think I was at the end of the phase and my numbers were unaffected. I bought a clean-up crew a week later and they took care of the rest.

WAIT UNTIL YOU HEAR MORE ADVISE ON THIS THREAD. I am a newbie. Enough said.
Good luck. John.

 

If your water params are good ammonia 0/ nitrates basically 0/nitrites 0/ ph around 8.2 get yourself a small janitor crew. They will keep the algea under control while your tank is finishing its cycle

 

That is a normal cycle algae break out. Diatoms. I would let it run it's course. No rock scrubbing , or sand sifting. Then yes water params are down to norm janitor crew it is. Good luck ! welcome to 3 reef.

 

I wouldn't hold the lights back either, that is just a bandaid for the problem at hand. As mentioned above, get a good cleanup crew going, they will take care of it.

 

what would you recommend as far as a lighting on off schedule i have it set right now to come on about 830 and go off about 830. is 12 hours too much regardless of the alge?

 

Nope let it flow . Give it light. It will subside later. It always gets way uglier before it gets better. 12 hours.

 

Seachem make a product called stability, dosn't get rid of it but speeds up the process.