Saltwater Help?

Question

I jus recently bought a large piece of live rock for my saltwater tank. The tank is about 4 months old and all that is in it is two chromis. I have been having a bad algae problem and the lady at petco said I could stir the coral up to get the algae supsended and the filter would take care of it. After I did that I checked on it about 4 hours later and the coral was clean as can be, but all that algae seemed to cling to the live rock, turning it completely brown! Will the live rock be okay? Will it kill the algae, or vice versa? Or neither? What can I do to get rid of the problem? Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

Johnathan did you get your tank moved ok?

You need to remove your power head and blow off the live rock. Algae will clog the pores in the rock. No the rock won't kill the algae.

the best way to get rid of the algae is to do a water change using your siphone and add the phosporous pads to your filter. You do not want to add chemicals to the tank. You still need to have silica in the tank.

the spores on the algae will continue to grow if you do not remove them.

Answer 2

Algae will be unavoidable in both fresh and salt water fish tanks. I was having a bad problem with brown/black algae growing on the live rock. It's not going to hurt the live rock at all.
Sounds like your tank should be fully cycled after 4 months. I recommend buying 2-3 snails and dwarf hermit crabs for every 10 gallons of water. Also, I combated my algae problem by buying an algae blenny. This fish cleaned all my live rock within a week. Plus they are very fun to watch!

Other than that, I recommend regular water changes to help keep the nitrate levels at a minimum. Adding a protein skimmer, if you haven't already, will also decrease nitrates and improve the overall health of the aquarium.

Answer 3

Do you know what kind of algae this is? Is it something "webby" like this: http://www.sloreef.com/bojan/Cyanobacteria_files/Cyanobacteria1.jpg

Or is it more "plantlike", or the brown diatom "algae" that was growing on the coral gravel?

If it's the brown diatom algae, it's there because the tank's new - plus you've probably just had a major move and it will take some time before your tank settles in. When you add some inverts for your cleaning crew, they'll take care of this.

If it's like what's in the photo, this is cyanobacteria (a bacteria), not algae. See this link for treatment options: http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/cyano.shtml I like using macroalgae to out-compete it for nutrients (plus it adds a place for pods to live and food for some herbivorous fish), but some types of macroalgaes (especially caulerpa spp.) can tale over your tank as well. Just about anything you do chemically involves antibiotics (it IS a bacteria) and will upset your cycling process. A few treatments use redox reactions (Redox, hydrogen peroxide) but these can damage beneficial bacteria as well if not used carefully.

Depending on what else is on the live rock around the brown stuff, you could try removing it with an old toothbrush or aquarium sponge.

Answer 4

What type of lights are you using? the brown algae is the live rock going though its cycle. although the light could be contributing to this unsightly algae. you should only have your light on for about 8 hours a day. and at the same time everyday. use a timer it works best. the brown algae is not harm full to any of your 2 chromis. it just looks ugly.