Brown and Green Algae identification and Treatment.

[Ryegye]

Hey Folks,

I'm relatively new to the Reef Central forums. So be gentile lol. I have had my 14 gallon bio cube set up for just over a year. I have a few issues though with algae. I have brown hair like algae and some green hair like algae. I need to get rid of it as it is starting to grow over some of my Zoas and GSP. Any ideas what this kind of algae could be and how to get rid of it? I have tried blacking out the tank for a few days with no casualties. It seemed to help the situation but I didn't want to leave the tank dark any longer. Didn't want to harm any of the corals or kill my fish.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Moeshi]

The algae feeds off excess nutrients.

Step one:
Do a series of large water changes.
Step two:
Cut back on feeding. (You are obviously feeding too much)
Step three:
Perhaps implement a GFO-reactor to remove phosphate from the water.

Optional:
Get a bigger clean up crew to manage the algae as it dies.

 

[RayAllen3422]

Brown and Green Algae identification and Treatment.

What are your parameters specifically nitrates and phosphates?

 

[Entacmaea]

Hey there, some additional tank parameters might help, as RayAllen suggests. What are you using for filtration - skimmer, water flow inside the tank, are you doing regular water changes, dosing anything, what fish do you have, etc?

Moeshi suggestions are good. However, I would suggest not getting additional clean up crew right now, as they only might help with your algae problem, and won't solve the source of it. When you do solve it at its source (from a nutrient input/output perspective) there will be no more algae to eat and they will likely die. Let's try to treat the core of the issue (excess nutrients) rather than the symptoms (algae).

 

[Swimtowin]

I took over an established 150gal reef tank and now I have a brown algae starting to form on rocks and sand bottom ( within a week ) I am using Maxspect R420R lights , just one in the center but have to additional lights , chems are within normal ranges. any advice