Algae Issues???

adman

Hi everyone

So I just recently set up my first marine aquarium (journal to come). Over the last couple of days I have noticed that I am starting to get some algae in my tank. One type seems to be a browny colour and the other seems to be some kind of green algae. It has only been up and running for just under a week so it may be too early to add a Blenny or something. I installed a power head last night as I heard this would circulate the water more and maybe combat the problem (would appreciate if someone could shed some light on that)...

Is the algae something I am going to have to live with until the good bacteria builds up in my filtration or can I drop a few turbo snails in to help get rid of the issue?

Thanks, Adam

puma85

I had the same problem with mine however mine is fresh water. I can't comment too much on marine though as I don't have the slightest clue how it works.

The brown stuff would without a doubt be Diatoms they are apparently meant to just go away with time once all the silicates in the water have been consumed as they will die off.

The green algae though is usually caused my too much light. Do you have it in direct sunlight or do you have the light on it turned on all the time?

Seems a little odd for it to show up after only a week of it being setup, mine took about 6 weeks to show.

I have also added a UV to my tank now this can help prevent it from showing up. However it won't remove what is already in the tank as the algae will have to pass over the UV light to be killed.

Brengun

Do you have a protein skimmer removing phosphates from the tank?
It takes a few day to a week for even a skimmer to work properly.
It is going to take quite a few weeks for algae to reduce as its part of the cycle. If you want to lessen it, do some small water changes couple times a week.
Try a turbo snail or similar for the sides and coral and a strombosus snail for the bottom to clean up algae.

adman

Thanks bren

Yeah I have a protein skimmer running. I think it's dry skimming. My water level is in the neck of the skimmer but no froth/foam is bubbling up through the skinny neck in the cup. The whole tank has only been cycling for 7 days and I only have my lights on for about 4 hours a day to try and starve the algae so hopefully it starts to die off soon...

Do most marine aquariums run into a brown algae problem during cycling?

Thanks, Adam