HELP HELP!!!Weird Brown Algae of some type...

[Stuart McCowan]

Ok...new 125 gal tank...still cycling...3 VHO's overhead, 100lbs live rock, 3-4 inch sand bed...1 mushroom rock...1 button polyp rock...BROWN algae all over the rocks...nasty looking stuff... AM .5, Nitrite 0 (Wierd) Nitrate .5...How do I get rid of this stuff??? I don't have any snails or hermits yet (they are coming) to clear any of this...no hair algae yet...well...a little...2 little patches...so what do I do???? HELP?!

 

[Minotaur15]

Relax - you're in the middle cycling your tank. The brown stuff is just diatoms if my memory isnt failing me.

You're going to encounter many different types of algae as your tank matures in the first year. Know that it's going to happen, and avoid the urge to throw a ton of whatever is popular at the LFS to eat your alga de jour - all you'll accomplish is the death of those animals once they've either eaten so much of the alga that there is too little to sustain their population, or the bloom ends and they starve anyway. IOW, take it easy. Do a water change or two when the nutrient levels have stabilized.

[ November 24, 2001: Message edited by: Minotaur15 ]</p>