help with algea......and update

Sarah84

hi all. going on week 2 of my tank being set up.. week 1 of 12 lbs of LR being in there.. I just noticed today I have brownish algea growth. After adding the LR last weekend, i notice Aipteasa (Sp), they were just little sprouts.. I bought a peppermint shrimp.. he has seemed to cleaned it up well.. i've been doing 20% water changes every couple of days, still waiting for my LFS to get the protien skimmer that fits my nano.
call me stupid.. BUT
I also wasn't so smart and implused bought two 'beginner' corals.. just smaller frags. they're so pretty.. I got Anthellia, and green star polyps.... the Anthellia is growing like crazy!!! and i was also stupid and bought a baby nemo as well.
however with that said. whats the best way to attack the brownish algea? i have a few peices of well aged live rock, with coraline purple coloring, and a few peices with lots of algea growth.. is it too soon to add a few crabs.. what kind?? there's 1 snail in there that has survived all of this, it's leaving my corals alone, mostly on the glass/eating algea..
any suggestions??
sarah

gm333

Sounds good, couldnt wait on the corals huh. It is justdiatom algae I still get this in my tank as well. I just put more flow over the spots that seem to have more algae. I suggest more snails. At least five or six more. they will not harm the corals. Also might add a couple more crabs as well to help with extra hair algae and such.

Sarah84

no i couldnt wait for the corals! LOL they're so pretty.. I cant wait to add more! I'm going to add a bit more live rock.. im more into the SW for the colorful corals.. vs the fish. I want to put a couple of neon gobys in there, and maybe a yellow clown goby!... maybe a fire fish even.. we'll see haven't yet decided
Sarah

Sarah84

Wow! Had a scare this smorning!! I thought my lil peppermint shrimp died.. he molted!! I must be doing something right
Sarah

Chitown1

I would add some more snails, a couple asteria, nassarious and ceriths should do the trick, maybe even 1 mexican turbo, the nassarious will burrow in the sand the rest are for surfaces and all will leave the corals alone.

Sarah84

thanks guys for the help! I'm going to add some snails this weekend and a few hermits my LFS has been great about everything, I plan on trading in some of my cichlids and my cichlid fry (errrr theirs worse than livebearers once they start breeding!!) and switch my 55 gal to something else!
Sarah

Tommy Gun

Glad to hear you are doing so well here Sarah!

I concur with the idea of snails.....I have found Cerith snails to be great for diatoms, but like GM points out, I still wind up with some brown 'patches' from time to time. In my tank, this is usually a good sign that I have been lagging in my water change schedule, but that doesn't seem to be the issue in your tank. Keep in mind that it will take the ecosystem you are trying to 'build' in this saltwater tank quite a bit longer to balance itself out than it might in a freshwater tank; which means that it wouldn't be a big surprise to see one form of algae become a problem, only to disappear and have another one rise up out of seemingly nowhere. In fact, I have been watching this same thing go on in my new 125 gallon tank even though everything i had in my 90 gallon is now in this one. I have been lucky enough to stay on top of things, for the most part, but I am not going to declare success just yet since I know how quickly things can change from bad to worse with these tanks.

I have exactly what Chitown points out as far as the various snails in my tank....and I have quite a few of each as well. They do not harm anything other than the items I want them to like algae so IME, there is really no risk to your corals. Just be sure to acclimate snails and other 'clean-up crew' members like you would your fish since there have been quite a few members posting questions on sudden deaths of these livestock items. Some seem to be tough as nails while others may die if you sneeze too loudly. Better safe than sorry is my point here.

Sarah84

Need more advice, i put zoas in my tank, and it has green bubbly algea growing, and i mean GROWING long legs and spreading.... im going to do many more water changes this week coming up... i havent gotten my nano protein skimmer yet.. will that make any difference??
Sarah

FFEric06

my LFS has that sort of bubbly algea you are talking about they are about 1/4" diameter and about 1.5" long i think thats what you are talking about. He has had them for about 7 months now, nothing hurts them nothing eats them and they dont cause any harm.

gm333

Take the rock out and use a toothbrush to scrub alot of them off. Dont do this in the tank though. If they are starting to grow back after awhile you can purchase a mithrax crab, alot of them will eat bubble algae.