Brown Algae

[igadget56]

I am newTo saltwater tank, I think I have the basics down. Like live sand live rock, cycling the tank. I started out with about 1 inch of life sand and 25 pounds of live rock and one damsel. I'm monitored the ammonia nitrite and nitrates. After ammonia spike I had zero on all three. Everything was fine. Then I found live rock on craigslist and checked it out, it was a 50 gallon Tank with 100 pounds of live rock. Still set up, all look really nice covered coralline algae, I bought it for $100. So now I have 125 pounds live rock. Well a week later I found some more and other hundred dollars for 100 pounds, so now I am up to 225 pounds. It all looked good for about a week now everything is covered in brown algae and my nitrate is 20 ppm ammonia and nitrite still zero. I have 250 Wats half actinic and half 10,000 K which I have set on a timer 12 hours on 12 hours off. I had and ehiem canister filter that I used on my freshwater set up I was advised not to use it. I also have four or five corals, that is why I leave the light on so long. I am not running a filter but I am running a skimmer. Amazingly the water is crystral clear. I added a clown fish and they seem very very healthy, very good appetites. I have 2 1400 GPH pumps running for water circulation. Two questions, what kind of filter should I be running and will the brown algae in time turn to coraline algae. I hope I have enough details for someone to answer thank you in advance, I know I'm going to need more help him down the road.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Hi igadget56! Welcome to reefland.
What size is your tank?
Plenty of live rock and a good skimmer is all the filtration you really need. 1-2 lbs of rock per gallon is about right. Canister filters, wet dry's, etc... aren't really needed. You can, however use the canister filter for running carbon.
The brown algae you have is most likely diatoms. Diatoms are normal and excessive amounts are notorious in new tanks. As your tank matures, the diatoms will fate to almost nothing.

Coraline algae will also come as the tank matures and when calcium, alkalinity and magnesium are within the correct levels (they also need to be balanced with eachother).

20ppm nitrates is a little high. For a reef tank, you want it as low as possible. Undetectable is best but under 10 ppm should be okay. There are a few ways to reduce nitrates. One would be to perform frequent water changes. Start by changing 10% of the total water volume a week and remeasure. If nitrates remain high, you might have to up that to 15% or even higher. Many people use refugiums to help with nitrate levels as well.

I can only speculate but it seems you may be moving a little too fast. Corals are best added after the tank has had some time to mature and the hobbyist has time to practice maintaining the big three (calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium). Corals and inverts are much more sensitive to water quality than most fish. Allowing the tank to mature for 6 months before adding corals would have been best.

I'm not sure weather or not you have done this but performing a quarantine process on new fish is very important. Disease spreads fast and can cause lots of heartache and can cost a lot of money.

This site has mounds of excellent information for new hobbyists and there are many who are always willing to help. Do much more research and take it slow. Your tank (and wallet) will be much better off. Feel free to post questions and even consider starting a "build thread". Lots of pictures are an unwritten rule on Reefland so charge up those camera batteries!

Again, welcome to Reefland and welcome to the most rewarding, fun, stress causing, stress reducing, time consuming, obsessive behavior causing hobby around! And it always ends up not being too nice on the pocketbook either .

[igadget56]

Tank is 125 gallons, new I would miss something. Kind of figured that's what was going on. I will snap a picture later.
Thanks for the quick response

[QueRico]

I'm going through the same thing myself I am so glad I read this.

[Evie]

We had the same problem. To decrease brown algae and get more coralline algae, I started using a product be CaribSea called Purple Up that our LFS recommended. So far, I am very happy with the results in only 1 1/2 weeks. It just takes a little bit each day for a few days. Our brown algae has decreased and our coraline is becoming more abundant. Yay! You might get good results too - try it!
(PS - I have no affiliation with this product what so ever - we just bought it, used it, & liked it.)

[chrisfont23]

Brown hair algae can be easily devoured in a week or so by a good clean up crew. Worked in my tank. IMO, if you keep your levels consistent, you will not need Purple Up or similar to promote coraline.

[Original Fin]

Brown hair algae can be easily devoured in a week or so by a good clean up crew. Worked in my tank. IMO, if you keep your levels consistent, you will not need Purple Up or similar to promote coraline.

+1

Please read the comments about purple up by Ninong in this thread:

Sea-Lab Formula 28

[Evie]

Well, Original Fin's quote of Steven Wright may be right! LOL!
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
So maybe I wouldn't have needed the purple up after all? I don't know.
Maybe it would have cleared up on it's own. Gee whiz! I guess I was afraid
it (brown algae) might take over the tank and that could get ugly quick!
Whatever you decide, we all hope it works for ya!

[chrisfont23]

Maybe it would have cleared up on it's own. Gee whiz! I guess I was afraid
it (brown algae) might take over the tank and that could get ugly quick!

Evie, just make sure you know what u r dosing and why. Purple up doesn't combat brown algae. It promotes and accelerate coraline. KIM, there are many natural ways to do both.