need advice with 3 month old setup!!

[1sttimer]

My tank got brown algea at first and it went away. Got hair algea and that went away thanks to the hermit crabs.
Now I got brown algea all over the tank.
Not so much on the rocks but on the substrate (aragonite) and espacislly on the glass. I scrub the glass before water changes but it gets all brown by the next day. I changed the poly filter 2 days ago
And it already turned light brown.
I added a skimmer yesterday. I'll remove one ac 50 since I have 2 running. What should I fill it besides poly filter?
What else should I do? Maybe add chemi pure blue? Purigen?
Can't wait till the skimmer is done breaking in.
The microbubbles are annoying.

 

[AlSimmons]

What kind of water are you using? This brown algae your seeing might be due to an abundance of Silicates in the water.

http://www.reefcleaners.org/nuisance-algae-id-guide

 

[shifty51008]

most likely canyo due to excess nutrients, not enough flow, ect. what are your water parameters, what is your source water?

 

[Tom39]

It looks like from your pic that the algae growth has trapped air bubbles in it. Or are they micro-bubbles created by the skimmer and are clinging to the algae on the glass? If it does have air bubbles in it that were created by the algae, then my guess would be that it is Dinoflagellates. But pray that it isn't, that stuff is terrible.
If the algae is not making bubbles then my guess would be that it is Diatoms and if it is Diatoms they will die off in time. IME Diatoms are seen in most new tanks or on occasion when new rock or sand is added and is just part of the process. Regular water changes, good husbandry and the maintenance of parameters are key in keeping things in check.

Good luck

 

[1sttimer]

Those bubbles are caused by the microbu .Ammo 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 phosphate 0. Water source till last week was tap. Switched to distilled this week.

 

[Tanthaitrung]

Those bubbles are caused by the microbu .Ammo 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5 phosphate 0. Water source till last week was tap. Switched to distilled this week.

Tap water may cause the problem. A RODI is cheaper

 

[lildevil079]

Diatoms. Reduce light maybe 4 hours a day to the more blue spectrum. Remove phosphates in the water. Phosgaurd works well. Or purigen. White light makes them grow real fast.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[RobZilla04]

Must switch to RO/DI water or buy water from a local fish store. Phosphate pads or phosguard may help. You have phosphates held by the algae or dino. Also all those micro bubbles are not good.

 

[1sttimer]

Those microbubbles are caused by the skimmer I just added 2 days ago. I switched to distilled water this week.

 

[1sttimer]

will daily water changes get rid of this annoying diatoms issue i'm having? The glass is all hazy and brown a day later. Normally the poly filter pad gets brown about 2 weeks after putting it in the filter. This time around,it turned brown 4 days later.

 

[StatelineReefer]

Patience will cure it faster than massive water changes. Diatoms will fade away once they uptake all the silicates. More rock will help as well. Like you said, this tank is three months old. You're going to have a lot more algaes and problems spike up before it begins to stabilize.

 

[1sttimer]

What should the maintenance be like during this stage?

 

[StatelineReefer]

What should the maintenance be like during this stage?

Steady regimen of testing once every week. This is a great time to start a logbook (I have a junk tablet with a free app I use for my logbook). Test everything you have a test kit for, and write it down.

Clean the glass as needed. Since it doesn't look like you have a DSB, stir the sand and gravel vac it. Use a turkey baster to blow detritus and mulm out of and off the live rock. Top off water, and water change every two weeks to a month.

Actually, if you could post your current water test results, that would give us all a good idea where your tank is for it's 3 months. Informed responses are better responses, in every case.

 

[JeffyT]

You have almost the same exact setup I have in terms of filtration. An Aquaclear HOB and A Remora from what it looks like.

I would change out the media in one of the HOBS to just the sponge, a nano sized chemipure blue which has something similiar to purigen and the HOB activated carbon. Or you can run a combination of Purigen and Chemipure-Elite which has GFO/Activated carbon.

the second combination you can regenerate the purigen. Even though I never do bc 7 dollars for 3 months saves me a lot of time. My bioload is fairly small though.

Also like everyone says you need to change your source of water to RO/DI. I would find a way to test your LFS water unless you are making your own through a RODI unit.

Remember to also clean out your mechanical filtration when you water change. To preserve the good bacteria, what you want to do is just use the bucket holding your old water and give your mechanical filtration gentle shakes to get the detritus/gunk off. Remember to also clean your Protein Skimmer.

Lighting schedule is also a huge factor. If you don't have many coral I would just turn off your light schedule for a day or two and see if that helps. I open my drapes and just let the tank run a natural light course instead of my LED when i start seeing a little cyano. Goes away in a jiffy.