Brown/Purple Algae in Marine Fishtank

shomrockkid

My setup is that i have a 90 litre marine fish tank. It's been on the go now for about 3 months. I have a protein skimmer, heater and all the prerequisite equipment. I test the water regularly with the hydrometer. I have one clownfish and a seahorse which seem fairly happy and healthy.
In the last 3 weeks thereabouts i've noticed a brown algae appear around the tank. Also patches of the coral sand have started to turn a purple colour in places.
Has anyone experienced something similar before? If so how would one go about fixing it?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

cos!!

I have never had a marine setup, but since its up and running just 3 months, i would presume its just starting to mature now and thats why algae growth has started?just a guess though sorry!im sure wolfsberg would know better and give you better advice?

Pimp Ninja

Im not a marine keeper myself, but I dont think the hydrometer will give you any help, that only assists with the salinity or specific gravity of the water, not the conditions itself ??

From a freshwater perspective, algae comes because there is some kind of imbalance in the water.
Algae is pretty much the same as a plant, in that it uses photosynthesys to reproduce/grow. There is an imbalance of either nutrients, light or possibly CO2 in your setup which is allowing the algae to develop.

Have you any other test kits? like nitrate or phosphate?
What is your lighting period like, and what types of lights do you have.
How often are your water changes ?

Theres a really good forum (yes Im a forum Pimp) at www.irishfishforum.com with loads of marine and freshwater fishkeepers that will have a lot more info than me about it.

I hope this is of some help.
-Dan

Wolfsberg

It's normal. Just keep doing your proper water changes... as in 25% every week or since you don't have too much stock 30% ish every 2 weeks. You should use Reverse Osmosis water for a much healthier marine tank. Get your water fully tested very regularly as things go very belly-up, very quickly in small marine tanks, as I know all too well! :rolleyes: I give my setup around 10 or 12 hours light a day, with blue LEDs on all night.

I really recommend the use of PurpleUp. It promotes the growth of purple coraline algae in the tank and you may notice corals will benefit too.

You would want to start introducing cleaners around now (3 months) such as hermit crabs, sally light foot crabs and turbo snails. But check compatibility of inverts with your seahorse first. I don't keep seahorses myself so I can't tell you.

My tank is setup around a year or so, it is for sale at the minute as it happens though as I want to finance a big amazonian biotope.