i have a brownish substance growing along my glass hard to see straight on but can see it at an angel. Is thing something i must clean or could i get snails or something to help?
algae?
- Thread starter camaro2ner
- Start date
It's a type of algae. If you don't mind snails, they will do a great job of getting rid of all that. I have hundreds of little brown snails in my 75 gall tank -- they clean the glass, the live plant leaves, eat uneaten food from the gravel. People think they are a nuisssance -- but I've found they help to make the tank more of real eco system and are helpful. OR -- you can wipe down the brown algae with a sponge or folded up paper towel if you prefer.
Sounds like a Diatom bloom. This is normal in a newer saltwater tank. If your tank water perameters are good I would get some astrea snails. Don't worry about them reproducing heavily. That happens only with some fresh water snails.
they definitely dont breed like FW snails. I have some small SW snail and in the 2 months ive have them, my FW snail have quadrupled in # wile my SW snail have not reproduced at all.
Sounds like diatoms to me as well which is perfectly normal and expected with a new tank. The astrea snails won't do anything about diatoms (nothing really does) but still a good idea to have some. The diatoms will go away on their own assuming you keep youe water parameters in chech and your water source does not contain silicates. Good RO/DI water will not have silicates.
I should have put in more details. Generally the next stage will be a algea bloom so the snails will help control that.