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[Jim_Barry]

I have had my reef tank set up for 5 weeks now.....

120 gallon tank, 2 175w 6500 metal halides, 2 actinics, wet/dry filter, protein skimmer, 1200 gph pump, 5 fish and 4 corals, 120 lbs of live rock and 1" of reef sand.

I am now fighting brown algae on the glass and substrate. Is this normal and part of the cycleing or maturing of the tank?. I use RO water and do 10% water changes every 2 weeks. My halides are on from 10:00 am to 8 PM. The tests report......

Salinity.. 1.021
PH... 8.4
Iodine... 0.03
ammonia...0
nitrites...0
nitrates... almost 0
calcium... 440

I move the sand around almost daily, but the brown algae returns within a couple of hours... I have minimal hair algae and green algae.

Is they away to reduce or eliminate this brown algae from the sand and glass...

Thanks for your help

Jim

pic attached