Brown Algae?

L

lawless

New member
My tank has been doing great, has been running for just about 7 months. I had all my regular cycles in the beginning and had looked great since. About 2-3 days ago I noticed some red/brown algae forming on the sand and rocks. I did a water change yesterday hoping that will help. I did upgrade my lights to LED's a little over a month ago. Could that start a second cycle? Had anyone had this before. Any thoughts on what I should do so it doesn't take over my tank?

Thanks!
 
Put some tussin on it! That fixes everything. Jk ive used that red slime fix stuff and worked great, not sure if its the best solution but definitely the quickest.
 
I've noticed that anytime I make a semi-major change in my tank, I sometimes get a little breakout. I figured the change some how upset the balance in some way, leading to a minicycle, or at least a disruption of the balance. I did notice it with changes in lighting. I would avoid any chemicals, and just give it a month or 2 to work itself out.
 
Im actually dealing with that right now. I have a mix or red cyano in my display and brown slime in my frag tank. I finally bit the bullet and used some Boyd Chemi Clean. I have about 110 gal total and i only used 5 of the spoons which comes out to 50% or less the recommended dosage. Well see how it goes. I have been battling it for a while. I know these "fixes" are not the way to go and we need to find the source, but the "fixes" will make a dent in the problem and then coupled with better husbandry it usually can help eliminate the issue.
 
I think of it like this...when you get a wound or infection, you dont just let it heal on its own. You clean it, sterilize it and then tend to it and monitor it closely and take better care of it. Well thats what im doing. I cleaned the tank (water change), sterilized it (chemi clean) and now i will monitor it to make sure there are no adverse affects. :lolspin:

In a reef i definitely recommend doing a lower dosage. Some people have nuked their tanks with this stuff thinking adding "extra" will make it work faster.
 
I'm one that does not like to use chemicals but I have found that Chemiclean does work well. Keep an eye on your skimmer because it will go crazy pulling stuff out but keep it running. This means you'll probably have to clean out your skimmer cup more often. Also make sure you remove all carbon. Do a 25% water change after 48 hours and then another 25% after another 48 hours. Also you are just going to have to do some manual labor too. Siphon out as much cyano/brown algae as you can from rocks and sand. If you do those things you should be fine within two weeks.
 
Gillguy said:
I'm one that does not like to use chemicals but I have found that Chemiclean does work well. Keep an eye on your skimmer because it will go crazy pulling stuff out but keep it running. This means you'll probably have to clean out your skimmer cup more often. Also make sure you remove all carbon. Do a 25% water change after 48 hours and then another 25% after another 48 hours. Also you are just going to have to do some manual labor too. Siphon out as much cyano/brown algae as you can from rocks and sand. If you do those things you should be fine within two weeks.
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I use this stuff every six months or so and its fine. Just follow the directions. turn off the skimmer and carbon and do a water change after a few days. never had any losses or any effect on anything in the tank.
 
I have a mixed reef with several sps and no ill affects. Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine.
 
Check your TDS from you RO/Di system. I Had the same exact thing. When was the last time you changed the filters?

I bet the TDS is 50+
 
blackthunda77 said:
Yes, SPS dominated mixed reef.
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let me know how it goes

AdamSabina said:
Check your TDS from you RO/Di system. I Had the same exact thing. When was the last time you changed the filters?

I bet the TDS is 50+
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We had a ban run of water about two weeks ago and my tds was pushing through at 25++ for a few hours before i caught it. Have a small patch of cyano on the back rocks now. Going to do some heavy waterchanges but wondering if i should just do this since it requires the water changes anyhow
 
My TDS is coming out at 0 (atleast based on the TDS meter) I have been battling this for a couple months now. Coupled with water changes and blowing off the rocks with a baster most of it would go away for a day or two but then slowly show back up. I am tired of it and decided to just give it a go. Almost at 48hrs and i have no issues. I have a harlequin shrimp and last night i checked with a flashlight and i had tons of pods running around as usual.

I do however still have a couple patched of cyano still holding so im planning on doing the water change tonight, turning on my skimmer again and then friday evening repeat the treatment.

I have about 110-120 gals total volume. 80 gal tank and 55 gal sump. I should have used about 10-11 of those spoon fulls based on the directions but i only used about 6-7 so i under dosed. Next round i might take the dosage up to 9-10 spoonfulls since i haven't seen even my polyp extension being affected and everyone is acting normal.

I did however set up a air pump with air stone in my sump in my return section for added O2 based on the instructions. I added the stone pretty close to my return pump so every so often it will blast a bunch of micro bubbles in the main tank.
 
going to wait it out and see what happens at recommended dose in your tank, but i like what i'm hearing so far.

blackthunda77 said:
My TDS is coming out at 0 (atleast based on the TDS meter) I have been battling this for a couple months now. Coupled with water changes and blowing off the rocks with a baster most of it would go away for a day or two but then slowly show back up. I am tired of it and decided to just give it a go. Almost at 48hrs and i have no issues. I have a harlequin shrimp and last night i checked with a flashlight and i had tons of pods running around as usual.

I do however still have a couple patched of cyano still holding so im planning on doing the water change tonight, turning on my skimmer again and then friday evening repeat the treatment.

I have about 110-120 gals total volume. 80 gal tank and 55 gal sump. I should have used about 10-11 of those spoon fulls based on the directions but i only used about 6-7 so i under dosed. Next round i might take the dosage up to 9-10 spoonfulls since i haven't seen even my polyp extension being affected and everyone is acting normal.

I did however set up a air pump with air stone in my sump in my return section for added O2 based on the instructions. I added the stone pretty close to my return pump so every so often it will blast a bunch of micro bubbles in the main tank.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for all the help!!

I put in some chemiclean and pulled the carbon. Hoping when I get home from work today some it is clear and going to do a water change tomm and try and suck up all I can.
 
For what it's worth, years ago, I had a rainford goby who consumed any film algae that developed in my reef.
 
Just started my second treatment. Yesterday i basted all the remaining patches from the rocks and siphoned out the patches on the sand that were still hanging on while i was doing the water change. Also ran the skimmer for a couple hours and it skimmed out almost 1/2 a cup so i know it was skimming out some of the previous dosage. At night before bed added my second treatment. Followed the directions more closely this time since i saw no ill effects with the first treatment. Still running the air pump in the sump. Checked the tank in the middle of the night and pods still running around strong. Corals (SPS, LPS, softies, zoas) all look normal when i checked on them this morning before going to work.
 
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