Weird Algae

[Turk30213]

Hey Guys,
I'm having a problem with my tank. Almost overnight, this brown algae looking stuff produced on the sand and on top of most of my live rock. I talked to one of the guys at my LFS, and he said it was ion-induced algae. He said to get rid of it, I need to get an ionizer or something like that. Heres a pic of what it looks like...

Any help is much appreciated. THANKS!!!

 

[Navarre]

Diatoms.

I would hazard a guess that this is a new system? If so then this is completly natural and nothing needs to be done. Diatom is the first algea to appear in a new system and it feed primarily on silica. Its basically using up silica in the sand and water etc. Once this has been used the diatoms will dissapear.

Nothing needs to be done and no fancy gadgets or money needs to change hands. Just patience. My new 100 gallon setup has been running for 6 weeks now. I had a diatom outbreak at week 3 and im just about seeing the last of this algea presently. Of course, once this algea has been used up there is usually another type ready to take its place. I would guess that you will see a build up a red algea (Cyano) as the last of this algea runs its life out.

Nothing to worry about and its a sign of a healthy cycling tank.

Cleanup crew should be prepared as it wont be long before you can add the.. they probably wont feed on this though (or the cyano) but it means that there is now a supply of nutrients that perhaps a cleanup crew could take advantge of.

 

[spanair]

Yep, thats normal for tanks under a year old ish. Most go through different algae cycles during the year. I had the green one at first. which is not to bad.

I now have the red kind, which sucks it grows in rocks, substrate etc and i'm having to do daily clean ups. Specially as it get thick . It's very smooth to the touch though .

Anyways as a year goes by you will find all sort of blooms happening, all very normal