Brown sand algae

[rglauson]

I have a well established 75 gallon reef aquarium with a 20 gallon sump equipped with a protein skimmer and phosban reactor running. I do about a 20% water change weekly and the parameters are as follows: 1.024 salinity, 350 mg Calcium, 8.0 dKH alkalinity, 0 nitrates, 0 phosphates, 8.0 to 8.3 pH, and a temperature of 79F. There are a number of LPS corals and a blue tang, six line wrasse, 2 clown fish, 3 blue-green chromis, and a hector goby. I also have about 80 lbs of live rock and a 2 in sand bed with live sand. Their are number of snails, a few hermit crabs, 2 peppermint shrimp, an emerald crab, and at night a host of small copepods scrurry in the tank. All corals and fish seem very healthy and are growing nicely. However, I just can't seem to get rid of the brown algae in the sand (see attached picture). I vacuum it out weekly with the water change and can't figure out how to get rid of it. For a while I had a orange spotted sleeper goby that did a nice job of keeping it clean but it was burying all the coral on the sand bed. Any suggestions

 

[Netsecpro]

I have the same problem. I thought I may be overfeeding, so I cut back to every other day, but the algae keeps returning. I'm starting to think it may be where I buy my water from?

 

[Anonymous]

Two fighting conchs will solve that problem nicely.

 

[rglauson]

I thought is may have been overfeeding as well and cut back but it did not seem to matter. I approciate the suggestion on the conchs and will investigate that approach.

 

[panther1]

hey i have the same problem did the fighting conchs solve the problem????

 

[rglauson]

I have not tried them yet since my LFS does not have any in stock. The LFS does have what they called a Dragon Sleeper Goby which I actually believe is a banded hover goby. I may try the hover goby (Amblygobius Phalaena) first since they are supposed to be good sand sifters and yet not as aggressive as the Sleeper gobies with respect to burying corals and digging under the rock in the tank such that they topple over. Of course I would have to quarantine it first and need to get my quarantine tank set up first. I will keep you posted.

 

[panther1]

hey thanks for the response, dont know if u guys have heard bout the website reefscavengers.com, it has nice prices on some inverts, but like 17 buxs to shipem. im just going to get the conchs and letem fight this slimy algae. im also getting an ecoaqualizer tomorrow chek it out at ecoaqualizer.com it almost sounds too good to be true. but once i get it and the conchs ill post the results. i think the conch idea is a good one tho so thanks for that

 

[Ben1]

ecoaqualizer tomorrow chek it out at ecoaqualizer.com it almost sounds too good to be true.

It is a waste, don't use it. Just return it if you already ordered. This hobby see's a fair share of gimmick products that are useless.

BTW

:welcome:

 

[rglauson]

Regarding the fighting conch snails, I will likely order them online if the LFS can't get them. The Banded Hover Goby is still my ultimate solution if the conch snails don't work out. I just hate to add a goby if it starts burying my sand dwelling corals because then it will be impossible to get it back out of the aquarium without removing everything. The hover gobies are not supposed to be as bad as the sleeper gobies for burying stuff but if the conch snail work it would be a a great solution.

 

[panther1]

hey i returned the ecoaqualizer, thax for the feedback, i still havn't gotten those conchs but i shall