needing help with brown algea

[wishntoboutside]

one of my tanks is almost covered in brown algea. everything i have tried so far has ended up in no improvements. the general water tests are all fine.. phosphates measured .47 last check.
so far i have tried the following

ultralife slime remover
chem cleam
now trying algea magic

i have cut back the light cycle even..

this algea is starting from the sand bed and growing on to rocks an corals slowly going to kill them. i am looking for any suggestions at this point. thanks for you replies in advance
Richard

 

[Orochimaru]

Do you have high bioload? Water change will help, and so does a good skimmer. More flow and less photo-period also help but souce is usually high bioload. Well, unless your tank is new and you are going through a algae cycle.

 

[SteveOhh]

How long has the tank been established??

 

[Sk8r]

There's a difference between algae and the brown cyano stuff---not an algae, but a bacterial bloom. If it's algae, something should eat it. If it's cyano, the chemi-clean should have gotten it unless there was some problem with the directions. I wonder if it's not an algae after all...have you photos of this situation, particularly closeups? And can you describe which of your tanks is affected and what its equipment is like, ie, skimmer, sump, etc? How old are your lights? Are you using ro/di water or some other source? It sounds for all the world like cyano, but that the chemi-clean didn't at least knock it for a while is bizarre---dying lights, bad water, addition of new rock or sand---all these can cause bad problems. What's your water chemistry? Please give us the readings. And (terribly basic, forgive me for asking, but let's be clear on it: are you sure you got chemi-clean and not chemi-pure?)

 

[NaughtyCashew]

Just curious, but is your tank temp running too high? Higher temperatures seem to encourage growth of nuisance algae while limiting growth of Coraline.

You might want to invest in an algae clean-up crew and a fuge with some chaeto to help scrub the water of excess nutrients.

Also interested in how long your tank has been established. Nuisance algae loves to grow in areas unstaked by other life forms.

Other things to consider: What are you feeding the tank? If it is the frozen brine/mysis/etc? Make sure you rinse it off first before feeding. The extra juice from the packing process is like rocket fuel for algae.

I would also stop combating algae chemically (unless we are talking carbon, which would be good for you to use). Cyano loves areas with low flow; bumping up the waterflow through your display tends to dissipate this problem.

Good luck!

 

[GTR]

A phosphate level of .47 if correct is high enough to grow just about any algae and inhibit calcification of corals.

What kit is that measured with? What are you using for top off and water changes?

SteveU

 

[wishntoboutside]

hmm top off water is used with rodi

phosphate was measure with a hanna meter

water flow is strong although planing on adding a seio 1100 this weekend. an trying a 40% water change and srcub some of the rock.

i do like the tip about the frozen food...

will give an update soon