Benefits of Brown Algae?

Hi everyone! I just have a quick question about brown algae in my marine aquarium. I have had my aquarium about 6 month. A few weeks ago, brown algae started appearing on my aquarium, plastic plants and gravel. I have removed them from the plants and aquarium, except on one side. Because I read( I forgot where) that these may have benefits to the inhabitants of aquarium. Is this fact true? Thank you for any input!

My inhabitants are 3 ocellaris clownfish, 1 threadfin butterfly fish, 5 hermit crabs and 1 snail(unknown species)

 

No benefit that comes to mind. The problem with plastic plants and ornamental rocks in a saltwater tank is that they tend to become magnets for brown algae. I would forgo the plastic plants and remove them.

 

+1, no benefits, and you'd be better off removing plastic plants and fake rocks.

You may be thinking of dust/film algae, which is usually green. Snails and some sea stars will eat it.

 

+2

Artificial plants and deco designed for freshwater tanks tend to leach phosphates and/or silicates, fueling nuisance algae in saltwater. Scrubbing them also removes what precious little biofilter that was able to colonize.

 

Mr. Bill said it right. plastic items within the aquarium leach silicates into the water column and in turn create establishment of Diatom spp. which thrive off of SiO2 production. Diatoms have the appearance of a brown dust on surfaces.