brown algae

[jesman002]

Iv recently set up a 20 gallon reef tank and noticed im already starting to get brown algae on my sand and rocks i have 20 lbs of live rock and 10 pounds of live sand in the tank is this normal after only 10 days iv been runing the lights for 12 hours a day they are 2X65 watts

[jesman002]

anyone have any info

[Paidbychrist0825]

the algae can be expected as the tank matures. it should subside as the cycel goes through its phases

[SaltyDawg]

I had the same problem when I set up my tank, it took about 5 months before it went away. Actually it did not go away on it's own, I vacumed the substrait and eventually it stopped coming back. From what I have read on these boards hermit crabs are the way to go to control this algae. Are you using any crushed coral or shells for your substrait? If so this could be what's causing the bloom. Also if the Nitrates get high this will cause it. Do you have any fish or is it just the live rock and live sand? If so the live rock could be dieing where it is touching the sand and this will cause your tank to get higher level of Nitrites and of course then come the Nitrates.
If you don't have your lights on a timer I would suggest doing so. I would also cut the time back to 10 hours until you get the algae under control. Just my thoughts from my personal experiences.
If you are only using Live sand as a substrait I think you don't have near enough. From what I have been told you should have at least 2 pounds for each gallon of water. Good Luck and keep at it.
Wayne

[jesman002]

could this also be caused by using tap water?I started using distilled water for my top off think this will help get rid of it?also is it too early to put any snails in the tank

[jesman002]

also should i be running carbon in my filter?

[Paidbychrist0825]

tap water will contribute VERY much to algae growth. it contains phosphates, a major source of growth for many undesireable algae.
Distilled will help, but i would reccommend getting a REverse Osmosis unit, i know that one of the forum sponsors selles them.
depending on what kind of tank you are running, carbon can be good. in a reef tank, carbon is not used except under certain curcumstances.

[ubasst]

so after u take care of all this (im having the same problem now) how do u get the purple coraline to come back to your tank..do u use any additives?

[MikeS]

the coralline will need good water flow to spread throughout the tank, and you will need to maintain your calcium and alkalinity levels.

Mike