Brown Algae??

[reefkpr391]

I have been battleing a brown (algae) for over 6 months now. I can do a water change and a surface siphon and within hours the brown stuff starts showing up on my substrate...readers digest version of my tank is as follows....90 gal reef. NNR, protein skimmer and VHO(fairly new lights, within 3 months). My Nitrate has been consitantly 2.5 or less, SG has been .022-.023, reef crystals and light duration 12 hours. It was suggested that I may have an alkalinity problem and that I should add Kalkwasser to all my top off and do no water changes for awhile...tried that, no success as of yet. Have not tested for Alkalinity or PH. I have done several water changes since then. Also, there are signs of air bubbles in the algae...it almost reminds me of red cyno but brown. Not as smoothe or "carpety" tho. It does seem to appear on the live rock also if left un attended..ie...blown off with a turkey baster..Any help would be appreciated. This is the first time I have had this kind of situation without being able to get a handle on it. I could post pics if necessary.

[scoop]

How much flow/how many powerheads, do you have in the tank? What kind of substrate? Do you vacuum the substrate? What are the contents of the tank, fish and corals? Let us know these things to provide the most accurate help. (Also, you may be running the lights too long, most people do their full lighting less than 9 hours, that could help some.)

[tellycoleman]

Algea problem = phosphate problem.
what are you feeding you fish
what kinda flow

[reefkpr391]

I have used the same set up for many years, Power heads , lighting and such. This is the first I have encountered this(brown) problem. I have a spray bar accross the top, a rio power head for mid column flow and the return from the skimmer just below the surface. I have aragonite as substrate. I vacuum just the surface(bout 1/2), bout an inch at the edges...I have a Purple Tang, a Yellow stripe Maroon Clown, an Orange Spot Rabbit and a chromis. Corals are Green Sinularia, button polyps, Euphyllia, Caulastrea, Leather and Lobophytum.

[reefkpr391]

Originally Posted by tellycoleman

Algea problem = phosphate problem.
what are you feeding you fish
what kinda flow

Yea, that's the easy answer, "phosphate"...could be, I dunno tho. I was doing water changes nearly every week to combat phosphate for awhile, no go, and then the suggestion to stop water changes and add KW every oth day...still no go. Uggggg. I feed green seaweed almost every day and 2 cubes of some sort of the sally's frozen stuff, (marine cuisine, eneral entree) bout every 3 days.

[Loverotties]

That's alot of phoshate (food) you add.

[reefkpr391]

Originally Posted by Loverotties

That's alot of phoshate (food) you add.

really? Alot in two cubes of food every 3 days?? There in no phosphate in the sea weed far as I know? I used to have more fish and fed more often in the past witout this stuff. I am trying to post pics, can't seem to upload them tho.

[reefkpr391]

Here is one pic of the brown stuff...

[reefkpr391]

And another...

[Fat Tony]

i am also battling this same brown algae... water changes seemed to make mine worse (using 0ppm RODI and IO salt) i did notice that the algae seemed to start after i started using the Geis. 6000K bulb over my tank. I removed the bulb and the algae has disappeared on the rock, but not on the sand.

[reefkpr391]

Originally Posted by Fat Tony

i am also battling this same brown algae... water changes seemed to make mine worse (using 0ppm RODI and IO salt) i did notice that the algae seemed to start after i started using the Geis. 6000K bulb over my tank. I removed the bulb and the algae has disappeared on the rock, but not on the sand.

I believe this is why I was told to stop water changes for awhile and to keep adding KW as top off...Any accuracy to this solution that anyone knows of? Has'nt seemed to be working for me thus far however. I also use RODI water.

[scoop]

You actually could feed a little less. Maybe the equivalent of .5 cube per day (or .3/day). Also, as I mentioned earlier, you should consider reducing your photoperiod, maybe to 8 or 9 hrs. for the main lights. You really could use a little more flow, too, it seems most reefs are shooting for 30x turnover per hour (or more.) A couple more powerheads would help there. However, all that said, since this has been set up for some time w/o problems until now, it would seem that the issue may have to do w/ your sand (aragonite) bed. How deep is it? you said you vacuumed the top .5 to 1 ", so what is total? Also, how long has the tank been set up in its' current form? It sometimes takes a while for a sand bed to accumulate enough gunk to where it starts to leech back into the tank.

[reefkpr391]

I only feed 2 cubes every 3rd day or so, mostly I feed the Seaweed(Nori), which should'nt add phosphate right? Yes, It is the same set up I have been using. Lighting as well as powerheads and skimming. I can add another power head and reduce the photo period and see.

I have about 4-5 inches of aragonite, recently added about an inch, to replentish some calcium and buffer half way back of the 18in width. This was done after I was been having the brown stuff. So I don't think that was the cause. This tank has been set up in this manner nearly 10 years. Yes I know, gunky gunky...

About 6-8 months ago, I vacuumed 2-3 inches down to get some of the accumulated "gunk" from a bit deeper, again about half the 18in width. I performed this in 4 separate water changes(1/4 of the exposed substrate each time) so as not to shock the system too badly. I have been wondering about the sand bed over the last year now and if there may be aging issues...Uggg.

[Kevin1000]

My 02

Your picture is not clear enough to identify the type of algae. Normally these problems tend to be either cyano or dinoflagelletes. Cyano is a PIA but is something that almost every aquarist runs into .. dino's are a major PIA and on occasion can be a persistent problem that even experienced aquarist have a hard time with.

Cyano is a result of a phosphate issue and the "battle" boils down to trying to reduce the amt that goes into the tank while trying to increase the amt that goes out of the tank.

The two primary sources of phosphate are water and food. If your using tap water switch to RO/DI. All foods contain phosphates .. some more than others. If you using flake food switch to frozen .. if your using frozen then start to thaw & rinse before feeding. Most aquarist overfeed their tanks .. new aquarist tend to WAY overfeed .. consider cutting back on food.

Best methods to export phosphates include : water changes (if you think your OK on this ... think again and do more), use both a phosphate binder as well as wet skimming. Kalkwasser will help precipitate out phosphates. Macro algae (best in fuge) will compete for phosphates. If you use a mechanical filter rinse/clean the filter media every day (in SW) until the problem is behind you.

Dino's sometimes can be fixed with the same solutions as Cyano .. but frequently not. Std solution for Dino's would include light deprivation combined with running a very high PH 8.6 or so for a prolonged period of time. That often means turning the lights off and covering the tank for many days as well as running Kalkwasser to maintain a high PH.

If it were me I would start out by implementing the std Cyano solution probably combined with cutting back your light period by at least a few hrs

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

[dobejazz]

Nori is extremely high in phosphates