Brown Algae

quincyman, Thought I'd chime in here.
It really sounds like your still going through the cycle process. The brown Algae is horrible I know but again it is part of the cycle. It will seen totally unmanageable and despite all your efforts it will not die, until one day when it runs it's course and just goes away.
Like everyone has said. I would just stop adding anything to the tank. Wait until your nitrites reach zero . Then ensure your ammonia is zero. Then do a water change and add a small clean up crew. The clean up crew will do little to help the brown algae. But it will go away. When it does you will be ready to add more clean up crew and a fish.

J

 

Good news, some of the Brown Algae is starting to trun green. Thank you guys for all the replys. I will try adding some ammonia directly to the tank to see what happens, I hoping my cycle had ened but I guess it has not, just have to be a little more patient. Will give you guys an update on monday to let you know how it is going, I will also start posting pictures soon. AGain thanks for the advice.

 

Two more questions, Is it a good idea to keep the lights off for now? Also my tank reached 82 degrees yesterday is would this be too hot for most corals thinking of purchaseing the microchiller.

 

Quincyman,
I mentioned the ammonia only because this is ONE WAY to start a cycle and test to see if the cycle is complete by taking note of how long it takes for the ammonia to turn to nitrite and then to nitrate. If the cycle from the addition of the ammonia to the appearance of nitrates ends in a day or so you have a good sized bacterial colony. This test is meaningless if there are still ammonia or nitrite readings before the test.

Be very careful with the ammonia and use only PURE AMMONIA. Some of the stuff has other nasty ingredients. The only reason to add ammonia, at this point in your cycle, is  to test the bacterial growth. Read what John O posted, just after my (DX) longwinded post, very carefully. The brown (red) algae will run its course. It is very unsightly but it will go away. These things take time. It took my tank a good month and a half before the brown algae was completely gone.

There are a lot of good articles at reefkeeping.com and advancedaquarist.com that you should be reading. Reefkeeping has a good series called "Mything the Reef" that explains a lot about all of the things that you and your tank are going through. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

Eventually the coralline will take over. The first coralline that you will notice, that is not already on the liverock, is a bright limegreen coralline that will soon start getting overgrown with the purple and pink corallines.

Be patient, my friend, and read some articles about the alk, calc and ph correlations to prepare for the next phases several months from now. 8)

82 degrees is about as high as you want the tank to get without worrying, so if you can afford a chiller great because it is going to get hotter this summer for sure.

Just to reiterate what JohnO said, the algae feeds off of light, nitrate, phosphate and other nutrients that are suspended in the water column. You will not be able to eliminate all of them, but you can learn to control them and keep them in balance. This is not something that is learned overnight, but with experience. Every tank has its own set of parameters because of the diversity of every set-up. 8)

Drew

 

Drew, thanks alot for the info I will try the ammonia test and see what happens. I will give you guys an uodate on moinday if there are any changes. Good News I did notice some green algae taking hold on the sand, it is starting to come up in some places that the brown algae is.

 

great reading guys.. this is great input..