Brown stringy algae

[Nascars]

How do i get rid of it. It is all over the live rock.

[Aadler]

A bit more information would be helpful. But, depending on how old your tank is it may just be part of a normal cycle. If you tank is more than a few months old you likely have high phosphates. This could be from overfeeding your tank. Things you can do to help remove algae include, increasing water movement by adding powerheads, feeding less, cutting down on how long your lights are on, increasing the number of water changes, adding snails/crabs, using a turkey baster to blow debris off the rock and buying a phosban reactor. these are some steps you can take im sure there are others but all these combined should help you get things in check.

Also, before you begin, pick as much of it out as possible.

[slimbolen99]

I've had this problem as well. Here are a few things I have found out:

1. I use tap water, which apparently is a big no-no. The phosphates that the city puts in the water really add to the algae's growth.

2. I don't have a protein skimmer, which would help in removing many of the chemicals that algae uses to grow.

3. I have an insufficient cleanup crew - I have six turbo snails in a 75 gallon tank. I'll be adding 3x that after I get back from vacation, which should help considerably.

[Mavrk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11118399#post11118399 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by slimbolen99

3. I have an insufficient cleanup crew - I have six turbo snails in a 75 gallon tank. I'll be adding 3x that after I get back from vacation, which should help considerably.

I hope by "3x that" you don't mean more turbo snails. You have more than enough of those. You need a variety of snails. If you mean adding some ceriths, nassarius, and trochus to total 3x your current CUC, then that sounds fine.

[uscharalph]

Work on lowering phosphates.

[pablodub01]

If its a recently cycled tank... you might be having "the new tank syndrome" the brown algae is called diatoms and as long as the nitrates and phosphates are under control it should go away in a couple of weeks... :)