29 Gallon BioCube Serious Brown looking algae problem

patrickpernell · 09/10/2017, 07:02 AM

I have had a 29 gallon biocube for going on 4 years, so I'm not necessarily new to the hobby. But in the past couple of weeks, I have an overtake of brown looking algae in my tank. It's all over the rock, glass, and sand. I have 2 clown fish, a blue tang and several snails and crabs.

I've visited my local fish shop and have done everything they have recommended me to do to stop the algae. Here's some things I've done:

1). I feed the fish once every three days.
2). I've removed most of the filter pads in the tank to prevent further nutrient overload
3). I've added purigen and phosnet to the tank as well as one chemipure bag.
4). I've added a brand new protein skimmer.
5). I was recommended microbacter drops and began using that.
6). For about a week an a half I was doing water changes every other day.

Nothing I've done has helped decrease the algae growth. Does anyone have any recommendations? All parameters of the tank are normal except the nitrate and I'd assume the phosphate but I don't have a test for phosphate.

SAT · 09/11/2017, 01:54 PM

As you may have already figured out, nuisance algae is one of the most common problems facing marine aquarists. Here's the short answer: you will have some flavor of nuisance algae problem as long as there are sufficient nutrients in your water to support it.

Start by getting decent nitrate and phosphate test kits. The phosphate kit should have a range that is accurate down below 0.1ppm. You should see the algae start to slow down once the phosphate gets down into the 0.1ppm range.

Assuming this a problem caused by long term accumulation, it will probably take a while to get the nutrients under control. I had a similar problem which has taken me almost 2 years to tackle (my problem was with hair algae). Phosphate can be very hard to remove because a lot of it may have deposited over time into your rocks and sand. As you clean the water, the deposited phosphate will slowly redissolve.

Brown algae may be diatoms, in which case silicates may be a contributing factor. Make sure your water is mixed using demineralized (RO/DI filtered) tap water.

The steps you have taken might be sufficient if you keep it up. For me, I finally got good results by growing and harvesting large quantities of Chaetomorpha in my refugium... and being patient. As long as your test kit shows progress in the right direction, you're doing it right.

Good luck!

mcgyvr · 09/11/2017, 02:13 PM

Double post...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2650972

09/10/2017, 07:02 AM	#1
patrickpernell Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: Florida Posts: 40	29 Gallon BioCube Serious Brown looking algae problem I have had a 29 gallon biocube for going on 4 years, so I'm not necessarily new to the hobby. But in the past couple of weeks, I have an overtake of brown looking algae in my tank. It's all over the rock, glass, and sand. I have 2 clown fish, a blue tang and several snails and crabs. I've visited my local fish shop and have done everything they have recommended me to do to stop the algae. Here's some things I've done: 1). I feed the fish once every three days. 2). I've removed most of the filter pads in the tank to prevent further nutrient overload 3). I've added purigen and phosnet to the tank as well as one chemipure bag. 4). I've added a brand new protein skimmer. 5). I was recommended microbacter drops and began using that. 6). For about a week an a half I was doing water changes every other day. Nothing I've done has helped decrease the algae growth. Does anyone have any recommendations? All parameters of the tank are normal except the nitrate and I'd assume the phosphate but I don't have a test for phosphate.

09/11/2017, 01:54 PM	#2
SAT Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Berwyn, PA Posts: 4,073 Blog Entries: 1	As you may have already figured out, nuisance algae is one of the most common problems facing marine aquarists. Here's the short answer: you will have some flavor of nuisance algae problem as long as there are sufficient nutrients in your water to support it. Start by getting decent nitrate and phosphate test kits. The phosphate kit should have a range that is accurate down below 0.1ppm. You should see the algae start to slow down once the phosphate gets down into the 0.1ppm range. Assuming this a problem caused by long term accumulation, it will probably take a while to get the nutrients under control. I had a similar problem which has taken me almost 2 years to tackle (my problem was with hair algae). Phosphate can be very hard to remove because a lot of it may have deposited over time into your rocks and sand. As you clean the water, the deposited phosphate will slowly redissolve. Brown algae may be diatoms, in which case silicates may be a contributing factor. Make sure your water is mixed using demineralized (RO/DI filtered) tap water. The steps you have taken might be sufficient if you keep it up. For me, I finally got good results by growing and harvesting large quantities of Chaetomorpha in my refugium... and being patient. As long as your test kit shows progress in the right direction, you're doing it right. Good luck! __________________ Stuart Current Tank Info: 300G Caribbean biotype reef set up in 2003.

09/11/2017, 02:13 PM	#3
mcgyvr Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 20,050	Double post... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2650972 __________________ Who me?