My Aragonite and LR keep turning brown, help!

[Ganja Brasil]

Hi, I've had my tank going for about a month and a half now, and I do water changes every 2 weeks.
But now everytime I clean it, the aragonite will start to turn brown the next day! same with the live rock.

is there anything I can add to the water to make things better?

any help is appreciated.

thanks

[manderson0805]

New tanks will go through cycles with the algae. My tank didn't develop this until 4 or 5 weeks, and only lasted a few weeks. If your tank continues with this, I'd raise circulation in problem areas, and maybe keep the lights off an extra hour or so.

[Joel]

Just as a suggestion but you may want to loan that Mandarinfish to someone with a mature tank for a year or so or he will probably starve to death in your tank. Just my .02

[Joel]

sorry Ganja Brasil,
Welcome to The Reef Tank.

[thefatman]

where are you getting the water? tap? ro? rodi? supermarket? etc... if its tap water, you are helping to feed the diatoms, since htere are silicates in the tap water.

also, its a normal stage, everyone goes through it. a month is still a newborn tank. most here would recommend 2 months before even adding the first fish.

ditto what joel said about the mandarin. hard to keep alive in a new tank. there is no food for him yet.

[Cookie_Monster]

Yeah the brown algae is normal. I've had my 20 nano-reef tank up close to 3 weeks and I just started getting brown algae the other day. Mostly all over the live sand, but there is some on the live rock. The snails and the crabs seem to like it so hopefully it will stay under control. Otherwise I'll have to add some more snails to keep it clean.

[Ganja Brasil]

Joel: is that right on the mandarin?

the guy from the fish store just told me to feed him brine shrimp every other day.... but I haven't seen him eat it yet.

I see him eat stuff off the live rocks though. I've had him for 3 weeks now. Do you think he is still going to starve?

[thefatman]

everything i've read nad heard has said that its hard to get mandarin's to eat anything thats not live. thats why you aren't seeing him eat.

they mostly eat various pods. which an unestablished tank doesnt have for quite sometime.

i dont want to knock ALL lfs's but MANY will sell anything to make a buck, and give you false information either becasue they dont care, or because they dont know.

nipping at the live rocks, doesnt come close to supplying his necessary diet unfortunately.

i would really consider loaning him to someone you trust that has a well established tank, or returning him to the lfs until your tank is ready in about a year.

[Ganja Brasil]

thanks a lot thefatman, I will, I just posted a message asking if anyone in my area could keep him for a while, if I get no replies, I'll take him back to the fish store.

I've seen him eat those tiny white seastar lookalikes in my live rock, is that enough or should I still give him a better home?