I have lots of brown algae in my tank and was wondering what it is, any ideas? and how do I get rid of it? I have noticed that it seems to be in the hi flow areas.

gotta pic? is it "slimey" or "prickly". if more prickly looking then its probably diatoms - you need to reduce nutrients. if slimey, then probably inadequate lighting.

can you post details of your tank?

Well I don't think its inadequate lighting but here are some pics sorry about the quality of them.

(third time lucky thank you edit)

diatoms no doubt (although does have the texture of cyano?)

how old is your tank? (if young, this is perfectly normal!)

what are your nitrate levels at?

what type of sand is that?

what type of skimmer do you have?

only way to cure diatoms is to starve them, take away the source of food that they consume - that being nitrates and silicates.

- cut down on your photo-period (lighting per day)

- do more frequent water changes

- use RODI topup water

- dont overfeed

Well that tank is still quite young, the skimmer I got from jetskisteve I can't remember what kind it is and I'll have to do another test for nitrates but last time I checked about 2 days ago it was about 0.25 I think like I said I think I will have to do another test to make sure. I think I will cut back on how long I have the lights on for.

Make sure that your test kit is right. I had an old test kit and thought that my nitrates were fine (5 ppm) untill I received a new kit which said that the nitrates were 10 times higher (50 ppm).

My tank is still young (6 months) and find it hard to keep the nitrates low.

Jeroen.

My frag tank sometimes used to get diatoms exactly as you have pictured. I would put this guy in, he LOVES diatoms, would eat it until his tummy was bulging.

Once it was cleaned up he'd go back to the other tank.

Actually, should add, those diatoms often crop up in a new tank & will dissapear reasonably soon as long as you skim heaps.

It's what comes next, algae, which is harder.

hey wasp whats that little guy called? lawnmower blennie? I think the LFS has 2 of them

Seriously don't worry about the diatoms at this stage, I had them for a few weeks when I first started, then cleaned up by themselves, now the algae is setting in... come on coraline algae :lol: :lol:

lawnmower blennie?

yup. dont think they all eat diatoms though? i thought their specialty is green hair algae

Some critters learn quicker than others that you get what you get in this world! :lol:

Most of the blennies are great algae eaters, but unless your tank is huge you can only have 1, so pick one you really like, I got a bi colour blenny think that its tail would colour up as it grew but it has stayed a boring brown, still a very cool fish but...

A blenny is a good idea to because if it is a young tank you will likely have months of different algaes to go yet.

hey wasp whats that little guy called? lawnmower blennie? I think the LFS has 2 of them

Actually this is not the standard lawnmower blenny, it is actually called a seaweed blenny it is smaller than the lawnmower blenny, not as good at hair algae as a lawnmower blenny, but does enjoy the more slimey types of algae such as what you have pictured.

A great personality he fearlessly eats out of my hand, to transfer him to a different tank all I have to do to catch him is put my fingers in, he comes and pecks at me, and I guide him into the net.

Had him for several years now I'm not sure how long they live but I'll be pretty gutted when he eventually does die.

When I first got him he would not eat fish food, only algae, nearly starved a few times I had to collect algae covered rocks from the beach for him. Took about 2 years till he figured out how to eat fish food.

wasp, you should hire him to me

My frag tank sometimes used to get diatoms exactly as you have pictured. I would put this guy in, he LOVES diatoms, would eat it until his tummy was bulging.

Once it was cleaned up he'd go back to the other tank.

:bounce: :bounce:

So cute :lol:

Looks similar to my rockie

Just got myself another blennie for my hospital/isolation tank he is the Highfin blennie, already started doing his job by cleaning up the tank. Plus to keep the Blackbar Filefish company