brownish alge on live rock

john w-a

Registered Member
Feb 20, 2006
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I have a 55 gal fowlr I went on vacation for five days I must have screwed up the timer When I got back I checked on my tank the light was still on now theres this brownish greenlike algea growing on the live rock wich is 65 pounds I thought If I left the lights off for about two day's it might die off any suggestions :bowing: :bowing: :bowing:
 
most like diatoms. they flourish when you use unfiltered water for water changes or top offs. they thrive on nitrates/ites, phosphates, and expecially sillicates. high nutrient tanks are also very common hosted by them even if good water is being used (note: you absolutly can have high nutrients even if all your levels check out to be 0)
you can get some hermits and snails to help clean. but you might also want to try lowering nutrients as well and you should see an improment
also, how old is your tank? if it is pretty new then the phase will msot likely pass as everything becomes established
 
How can you tell brown algae from diatoms?
 
Wrench said:
How can you tell brown algae from diatoms?
i said it is most likely. either way they have the same causes so any cures i said above still will have an effect. it is jsut diatoms seem to be more common so i said it was most likely what there was
 
fishieness said:
i said it is most likely. either way they have the same causes so any cures i said above still will have an effect. it is jsut diatoms seem to be more common so i said it was most likely what there was

Calm down, I wasn't questoning you. I asked because I want to know how to tell the difference. I've got some sort of brown bloom in my tank and just want to figure out if it's algae or diatoms.
 
Wrench said:
Calm down, I wasn't questoning you. I asked because I want to know how to tell the difference. I've got some sort of brown bloom in my tank and just want to figure out if it's algae or diatoms.
? i wasnt flaming you :)
haha
in no way was i upset or anything
see? :) :) :)
haha, anyways, sorry about that but i assure you i wasnt mad
diatoms usualy appears to be a fuzzy film while a brown algae is usualy a really soft algae that will actualy have strings that looks like hair algae.
MANY people also refer to diatoms as brown algae. anyways, what it is doesnt matter because the cure is pretty much the same thing
sorry once againf or the misunderstanding :cool2:
 
No prob :)

and thanks for the answer.
 
but if you have grazers in the tank it is benificial...right?
 
Every now and then I see one of my hermits eating it but they don't do much. Best way I've found to remove it so far has been to use a powerhead to force it off the rock. Then use a net in front of the return line in the current to catch the stuff that comes off the rock.
 
i just set up my 55 gal and added about 25 lbs of LR to start with and within the first 5 days I have the brown algae all over it. Ive been reading through the thread and I just wanted to know if this is part of the cycling process and is there anything I should be doing?
 
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