Algae, Algae, Algae!
 

Greetings,

Just looking for some advice on algae control. I made the mistake of filling my tank with tap water (have a ro/di now). Couple of questions pertaining to different types of algae (mostly curious what you guys do):

1.) Brown Algae on glass - Asides from scrapping it, what is the best method? I have a bunch of snails, and they don't need seem to be keeping up.

2.) Bubble Algae - no idea what to do about this guy...

3.) Algae in sand bed - I really want a white sand bed. I think it makes the tank look amazing.

One other point. I am having amazing coraline growth right now on my new rock. The colours are amazing. Green, orange, white, and purple. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize this growth.

Details about tank:
55g
Weekly 15% water change
Prizm Skimmer
Two 802's and a 402 for circulation
Coralife Lunarlight - 48" 4 PC - 260 watts
(will be a remora pro in 2 weeks when I get my 33g sump going)
10g refuge will be set up in 2 weeks as well

Thanks a lot!

Chad

how old is the tank? New tanks will get brown diatoms on the glass and sand. This will go away o it's own. Bubble algae, or valonia, will need to be manually removed, or you could try an emerald crab.

Tank is pushing about a month and half. I'm assuming then it is still in its new stage :)

How effective are Emerald Crabs?

Ya, it's new. Give it time, the brown will go away. I understand the results are mixed with emeralds. Some eat it, some don't.

Thanks a lot!

For every secondhand account of emerald crabs eating <whatever> algae I read, I read a firsthand account of them destroying valued livestock. I trust crabs about as far as I can throw John.

Don't worry too much about the tapwater - our water around here is just great. I switched to pure DI water just to eliminate another cause, but I ran for several months with tapwater, skimmerless, and overfeeding as I love to do and the hair algae grew and grew but was really easily managed.

For the sand bed, do you have any current low in the tank? I had a powerhead places about 1/2 way down pushing horizontally.. My sand bed was always pure white. I eventually unplugged it because the suction cups kept giving way and now I'm starting to see a few brownish sections of sand. Hurrah for circulation!