brown algae on sand

[robbinson]

In the past several weeks, I've started getting brown algae on top of my pink somoa sand (its not thick, almost looks like rust). mixing the sand seems to provide an immediate cure, then hours later it is back and it does seem to cause the sand to clump a bit. Tank is 3 years old (reef) - all water parameters are good (ph 8.3, alk 4, ca 400, nitrate 5.0, nitirite 0, amon 0, phosphate 0.25, temp 78) - though I did change the sand bed about 2 months ago. I use only r/o water.

What is this and what is the best way to deal with it.

 

[aquarist=broke]

Sounds to me like your sandbed is just going through a normal cycle. It's like you when you start up a new tank. Just the standard algae bloom that will go away on its own.

 

[aquarist=broke]

May I suggest a filter such as a Power Filter for a little while. Those little algae thingys will definately get caught. Rinse the filter daily to prevent any kind of "bacteria" from growing on the filter instead of the rock, glass, and substrate. I think that two months after an addition of sand is a bit delayed, but many other factors such as a new animal, rock, or even a change in feeding habits.

Let us know what happens...

 

[smokin reefer]

Good advice givin above, I always keep a magnum power filter ready to go in case of emergencies. Saved my ass one time when one of my rio 800 PH burned up. Only lost one shrimp. But back to your questions. I had this problem before also, and my tank was a year old. What I did was to run the carbon media in the magnum, vacum the algea off the sand with a small 1/4in. hose, cut down on feeding, and aim a PH toward the algea. You can also do a couple of water changes, say 2 a month for a while. Even with all this it took a while for the algea to disappear, but just kept after it and it finally went away. Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

Adding a conch snail or two couldn't hurt either.