brown algae

[gquimby1]

Is brown algae something you just have to fight with forever or will it go away eventually. I have a protein skimmer running. My tank is a 29G reef tank with both lps and sps. 3 fish. Tank is a year old. I have a bio wheel penguin hang on the back that i took the bio wheels out of because I read that can cause major algae problems. I just don't know what to do. Lighting is LED. Does really well. Good growth and color on corals. Just wondering why I seem to be in a constant battle with this stuff. Any pointers? Or is this just the life of a reefer

[scooter31707]

How much are you feeding the tank? Have you tested your phosphates and nirates lately?

[gquimby1]

feeding once a day in the morning. I had a fish starve to death on me once, partly because he was shy and would never come out, even with target feeding, so I'm afraid to let that happen again. Is once a day too much? They eat it all in about 60 seconds. Obviously some goes uneaten.

[scooter31707]

No, you are fine with that. I feed 3x a day. Anyway, I would say your tank may be still in the maturing stage. They say it takes about 3 years for a tank to fully mature. Do you have a CUC?

[gquimby1]

Number unknown lol. I just had a batch of turbo snails hatch so there's who knows how many in there. Little tiny things so they do do much. Then I have some regular snails and a couple crabs. Had a lot more but something keeps ripping these guys out of their shells. I might have a shrimp but I have no idea where he'd be or if he's the one killing all my snails. About to go buy more tonight but it is just weird.

[AlSimmons]

By brown algae I'm assuming you mean Diatoms? If so then you need to find a way to limit the amount of Silicates in the water.