jar05g

So I'm starting to get this nasty brown algae all over the top of my sand and live rock. I did just change to an upgraded light which I'm pretty sure is causing all this...is it safe to add some kind of algae medication to the tank to get rid of it? I only have fish...no corals.

sgould

You would be better off trying to identify the root cause of the problem and addressing that, rather than resorting to chemical treatment. Otherwise, even if you get it knocked out once with treatment, it will just come right back. Here are some of the things that could be causing the outbreak that you should be looking at: high phosphates, high nitrates, over-feeding, inadequate substrate cleaning, and lighting. Here is what I would do...1) test the phosphates and nitrates to get an idea where you are at with those; 2) do a water change and vac the substrate while you are at it; 3) following the water change, black the tank out for 3 days...cover the tank so not even ambient light from the room gets in. During the 3 days, do not feed the fish. The tests will give you a baseline to tell if either the phosphates or nitrates are part of the problem. The water change, vac, and 3 days of no food will all work together in reducing excess nutrients in the water that could be feeding the algae. The black out will knock out the algae growth you already have so that you can bear to look at your tank again, and to give you a clean slate to help you evaluate how effective your efforts are.

jar05g

So I just put all my live rock into my quarantine tank and took out all my fake corals (which are in my bathroom now). So the only thing that is left in my display tank are the fish. Some of the fish had ICH and the water I got from the LFS wasn't exactly ready so that's why I did it the way I did. I have cleaned my entire filter box and only have the bio-fiber in it now because I'm treating the tank with ich medication. I mixed up some water tonight for a water change on Tuesday. I plan to vacuum up my substrate to get rid of the algae and then do my water change. Hopefully after everything is done my tank will be healthy again. By the way...I think the algae is coming from my nitrates because they were a little less than 10.